Taken by the Prince

February 21, 2011
This serviceable and solid Victorian romance mostly takes place in the fictional country of Moricadia, long oppressed by the despotic de Guignard family. Raul Lawrence, the rightful heir to the Moricadian throne, is distracted from his covert revolutionary activities by Victoria Cardiff, a traveling governess, who recognizes him from a childhood encounter. Afraid that she will betray him, he kidnaps her. The sparks of their romance flicker against a backdrop of revolution, as Victoria slowly yields to Raul's caresses and the de Guignards decide to put a stop to his ambitious activities. Dodd (Chains of Fire) combines the two stories in a satisfying arc that delivers sensual sizzle, though some readers will flinch at scenes of aggressive seduction that verge on the nonconsensual.

April 15, 2011
Victoria Cardiff doesnt believe in fairy tales or Prince Charmings. So when her best friend, Belle Lawrence, tells Victoria that her half-brother Raul Lawrence is really Prince Saber, the rightful heir to Morcadia, a small, but extremely wealthy, European country, Victoria dismisses the whole thing as a fanciful fabrication. Of course, three years later when Victoria unexpectedly runs into Raul in Morcadia, she begins to think that she may have to revise her initial views on his claim to the throne. Especially after Saber kidnaps Victoria to keep her from identifying him and ruining his plans for revolution. With its captivating characters, imaginative plotting, delightfully witty writing, and delectably sexy romance, best-selling Dodds latest is the literary equivalent of a case of bubbly.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)