The Serpent Prince

July 9, 2007
Incredibly vivid lead characters, earthy writing and an intense love story buoy the third entry in Hoyt’s Georgian-set romance series (following The Leopard Prince
), which kicks off with Lucy Craddock-Hayes’s page-one discovery of Viscount Simon Iddesleigh in a ditch near her home, naked and beaten almost to death. Though her blustery father fears for Lucy’s virtue, they take the battered man in, and the insightful, beautiful Lucy is soon as drawn to the handsome, witty gentleman as he is to her. But Simon’s mission, to avenge the death of his brother, pulls him in two opposing directions: his soul-deep need for revenge and his desire to protect Lucy. The exquisite romance, flawed slightly by a dearth of historical details, is touched by Hoyt’s mesmerizing storytelling; in a less talented writer, the love story could easily have been overwhelmed by the revenge subplot, but Hoyt skillfully uses Lucy and Simon’s internal and external conflicts—including the threats against their lives—to enhance her love story.

August 1, 2007
Lucy Craddock-Hayes thought the man lying in the ditch was dead, but he survived theassault. With the help of her servant, Lucy brings the gentlemanhome, and learns that he is Viscount Simon Iddesleigh. As Simon slowly recuperates, he finds himself falling in love with sharp-witted and surprisingly sharp-tongued Lucy, but he also knows that the longer he stays, the more likely it is that his quest for vengeance will endangerLucy and her family. Delectably clever writing, deliciously complex characters, and a delightfully sexy romance between two perfectly matched protagonists are the key ingredients inthe third book in Hoyts superbly crafted, loosely connected Georgian-era Princes trilogy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)