The Pirate Prince

Rating:
Summary: One of the Top 10 Best Romances in Print!
Review: I have read literally thousands of romance novels in my 22 years....The Pirate Prince had me thoroughly enthralled from the very beginning! I couldn't put it down! Ms. Foley draws you into Ascencion and into Lazar and Allegra's lives. I laughed, I cried, I wanted more when it was over! I'm eagerly waiting for Ms. Foley's new book, Princess to be published this summer. In fact, I've already ordered it! =)

Rating:
Summary: A Delicious Read!! I Love this Book!!!
Review: The Pirate Prince has to be one of the BEST romance novels of the year!!! The hero, Lazar, is so sexy, dangerous, and ridden with guilt for his family, and his love for Allegra Monteverdi... you will laugh and cry with him as he sweeps his heroine off her feet, and takes her into a passion that can only be timeless. The author's writing is rich, funny, passionate. I can't wait for Gaelen Foley's next book!!!

Rating:
Summary: One Hot Prince!
Review: This is one of the greatest books I have ever read. The prince reminds me a bit of Antonio Banderras in his role of Zorro---sexy and sassy and so typically male! The heroine puzzles him and confounds him and drives him crazy---in all, making the prince absolutely adorable and the heroine interesting and witty. Don't think twice about getting this book---you'll love it!

Rating:
Summary: In pursuit of dark revenge, a pirate prince finds love....
Review: A true-born prince of the isle of Acension, Lazar di Firore barely escaped with his life the night assassins murdered his family. A mere boy, he jumped into the sea to flee his pursuers and was rescued and raised to become the Devil of Antigua, a blood-thirsty pirate. One dark night fifteen years later, he returns to Acension to wreak his vengeance on the man responsible for the slaughter of his family and finds love and compassion in the form of his enemy's daughter, Allegra. While Lazar plans to turn his back on his birthright, Allegra works to help him come to terms with the demons of his past and take back his throne, even if it means she must lose the man she loves to a royal betrothal... Gaelen Foley writes an incredible story of a tormented hero and the woman who loves him, a tale of boundless love and soul-shaking passion that will stay with you forever. Definitely a keeper.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!!!!
Review: Gaelen Foley creats two very simpethetic characters in her novel The Pirate Prince. I think Lazar was wonderful with full of passion and a past he can't seperate from. My type of hero! Allegra was his perfect match. I got through this book in record time so anxious was I to see it outcome.

Rating:
Summary: Passion, danger, and romance! A great book!!
Review: I absolutely loved The Pirate Prince! Gaelen Foley's debut novel has it all: high-flying adventure, steamy romance, dark intrigue, and best of all, two bigger than life characters that leave you breathless. I can't wait to read more of Ms. Foley's books!

Rating:
Summary: Another winner for Foley!!
Review: I read the second in this series first not knowing there was a first book - I do not like to do that but it was so worth the trip to read about the beautiful and romantic couple of Lazar and Allegra. WOW what more is there to say - they are so real. Some authors just have this ability to make you feel like you are reliving the lives of the characters. Foley does this with Allegra and Lazar. Their love story is one of the most heart felt and passionate I have read in awhile. Although Lazar has his demons and seemed so strong about revenge Allegra strikes the very core of his being and immidiately he becomes this loving emotional man with such a passion - I just could n ot put this book down. It was so sweet the way Allegra had loved the legend of Lazar and did not quite believe in the beginning that this Pirate was her Lazar - so he found himself competing for her love with himself. This book was a page turner from beginning to end!! Also since I had already read Dariaus 's story it was nice to find out how he became so important to these people. Absolutely a 5 star plus book!!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, *Tortured* Hero!
Review: This is a sweeping tale of adventure and betrayal set in the 1780's on the (fictional) island kingdom of Ascencion--off the coast of Genoa, Italy, and on the high seas. I think that Gaelen Foley is a very talented writer, although at times her work is a bit uneven. I found the plot and setting of this story to be both unusual and engaging and the characters are well-drawn.

At 13 years of age, Prince Lazar di Fiore had miraculously escaped during the slaughter of his entire family by his father's political enemies by jumping off a 200 foot high cliff. Fifteen years later, Lazar, now the captain of a pirate ship, returns to Ascencion to exact his revenge upon his father's betrayer--Ottavio Monteverdi, the current Governor of Ascencion--and all of the Monteverdi family. But when Allegra Monteverdi, the Governor's lovely daughter, pleads with Lazar for the lives of her family and offers herself in return for his mercy, he relents and sails away with Allegra as his captive.

Lazar is a first-rate tortured hero. He feels guilty, guilty, guilty! about running away and surviving while the rest of his family was murdered. After his escape, he was pulled from the sea by Barbary corsairs who promptly sold him into two years of dehumanizing slavery with a sadistic master; then he escaped with the help of a cruel pirate captain into his life of piracy. Since everyone he has ever loved has died (even his dog got washed overboard!), Lazar believes himself to be cursed and avoids getting close to people. He feels unworthy of his birthright--the Kingdom of Ascencion.

Allegra is a good (but long-suffering) heroine. She has a very strong social conscience and is even willing to marry someone that she doesn't love for the good of the citizens of Ascencion. When she realizes that her pirate captor is really the lost Prince Lazar, she shames and bullies him into facing up to his responsibilities to his kingdom. She is a pretty plucky heroine and I liked her.

The plot is exciting and moves along for the most part. There is the usual "sexual tension on the pirate vessel" plotline (Will he be able to overcome her moral scruples with his practiced seduction???? Of course!!! But when?????) At one point a weary and confused Allegra asks, "Why don't you just rape me and get it over with?" Lazar tells her that he would never do that "Because I know how it feels." A good answer and good reason for the consumation of their relationship to be so drawn out, I think. The eventual love scenes are *very* steamy--a Gaelen Foley specialty it seems.

I have a few quibbles with the book:
The writing is generally very good, although I find the use of modern slang expressions to be very jarring in a historical romance (the characters say things like "Have at you", "Hello there, beautiful." and "Huh?") The public displays of affection in the book would have been scandalous in the time period of its setting. The secondary characters are mostly underdeveloped (with the exception of Darius) and the villains are flat. The love between Lazar and Allegra is very beautifully developed, but Lazar's treatment of the heroine is not always first rate (to put it mildly) and I am not sure that he did enough of a grovel at the end to warrant forgiveness.

In summary, this is a well-written historical romance with an unusual setting and engaging characters.
Recommended to historical romances lovers, especially those who like high adventure tales with tortured heroes.

Rating:
Summary: so-so
Review: I had fun reading this one even though I didn't get a whole lot out of it. Long and fairly uneventful--I'm surprised I finished it, but I love the pirate romances. This isn't one of the better ones unfortunately, doesn't have much depth to the story. Nice scenery set ups...

Rating:
Summary: Wow!!!
Review: This was one of the best romance novels I've read in a long while, and I've read literally hundreds of them. The intriguing plot, the depth of the characters was superb. I felt like I really knew and understood Lazar and Allegra. Although I liked the Knight books, judging by this book, the Ascencion trilogy will be much better. My only criticism was the peculiarly American expressions the characters used throughout the book: "huh," "nah," and "honey." There are very few romance novels I will buy (I normally check them out for free from my local library), but Foley's definitely worth the money.