The Raven Prince

"2.5 stars out of 5<br/><br/>This book was a sometimes confusing read. I liked the dynamic between the two characters, Mrs. Anna Wren, a destitute widow who comes knocking on Earl of Swartingham’s estate door looking for employment. Earl of Swartingham, also known as Edward, has a notorious ill temper and has lost all of his previous secretaries who have been transcribing his notes for him. He is forced to keep her as his secretary despite his misgivings about her gender (secretaries were not female at this time period). <br/><br/>Their relationship grows from there and he sees that they have more in common than he first thought. They both lost loved ones (he his entire family, previous wife and child; her mother and her first husband), they have good banter and seem to enjoy talking about the estate and agriculture, among other things. <br/><br/>He is in need of a bride who can give him heirs to his estate, or else his line will die with him and go to the Crown. Anna divulges to him that in her many years of marriage, she was unable to give her first husband any children. This concerns him because at that point he seemed to be developing feelings for her, however, he instead goes and finds himself a betrothal to a young girl who will be able to give him his needed heirs. <br/><br/>With his betrothal set, he decides to go to a brothal to get out his lust for Anna at a upscale, private members- only place called Aphrodite’s Grotto. It’s just as lurid as you might expect, only Edward doesn’t know that Anna knows he had a payment for this place. When Edward leaves for London on “business” Anna knows that she must follow him and disguise herself as one of the prostitutes before he marries. That premise along is why I picked up this book in the first place.<br/><br/>Their first encounter at this place was so erotic and surprising to him, that he plans a second encounter with her, not knowing that it is in fact Anna behind the mask. He is angry and disappointed again when he asks for her again a third night in a row, Anna isn’t there and returns back to the estate. <br/><br/>Now this is where I get upset because Edward soon clues into it that Anna was the woman that he met at Aphrodite’s Grotto two nights in a row. He gets so upset (basically calls her a ***** and a liar about her true motives/feelings) and she leaves his employment. He forces her to work for him again because he knows she is destitute and also tries to get her to marry him (still don’t really get why).<br/><br/>Later on they are together again in London at his townhouse. They hook up a couple more times, and they admit that they have feelings for each other but she still refuses to marry him. He thinks it’s because he is ugly (he has smallpox scars all over his body) or because of his temper. It’s really because she can’t really trust anyone after her first husband’s betrayal and she can’t give him the family he desperately wants. <br/><br/>There was a blackmail plot by Anna’s first husband’s mistress Felicity Clearwater. In my opinion it was totally unnecessary. Also, there were characters that were only really used as a plot device, like for instance the delivery scene with a character called Rebecca. I felt like it was only used to show that Edward had lost his first wife and baby in childbirth. Two prostitutes that showed up earlier in the story needing help maybe could have not been included later on because I felt like their story lines made the book longer than it needed to be. There was no clear conclusion to their stories and it felt pointless to care about where they were headed. <br/><br/>This book felt longer and more confusing the more I got into it. The more I read it, the more I disliked Edward’s character and I didn’t see why she needed to be with him, other than she had no money and HAD to work for him. I can’t for the life of me explain why he is such an ill tempered person except that maybe he is still upset that he is alive and alone, and his family all died. But still though, REALLY !!!<br/><br/>For the way I read it (ebook edition), I don’t understand why only a 200 and something page book felt like it was AGES to get through. The first quarter of the book would have been a 5 out of 5 stars, but it slowly but surely got knocked down the more I read it and have been writing this review. I am so glad that I didn’t buy this book out of sheer impatience for waiting for the library to have it. I would have been so mad at myself for wasting money."