To Wed a Wicked Prince [Mass Market Paperback]

London, 1807. Livia Lacey cannot help feeling intrigued with Alexander Prokov, a Russian prince, when she meets him at a ball. After all, he pushes the next man in Livia's dance card into a fountain just because he wants to dance with her. Then he woos her with attention and gifts -- from impromptu calls to sending flowers and giving her horses and diamonds. Livia is taken aback by his boldness and its lack of propriety, and she wants to discourage such scandalous attentions, but how could she resist such a charming man? Alexander Prokov has his own reasons for pursuing Livia. He wants to marry her so that he could own her estate, for the place holds answers in terms of his past and his mother. He is also a Russian spy, keeping close tabs on Bonaparte and his dealing with Russia by way of the English, and what better way to this than to gain the English's trust by pretending to be a rogue with no other interest than attending parties and playing cards? Livia is nothing but an ends to a means to him... or is she?

Yawn. To Wed a Wicked Prince is one of the most boring romance books I have ever read. Alex pursuing Livia during a large portion of the beginning of the novel is coma-inducing, and things don't improve after that. Well, there is more action toward the end, but it's too little and too late for this reader. The novel lacks passionate romance and page-turning adventure, and aren't those the reasons to read historical romance novels in the first place? The political intrigue aspect of it has been done to death, and Feather adds nothing unique to it. In spite of Gaelen Foley's anachronistic style of writing (modern language and situations), the political parts of her novels are well researched and nicely executed, something that Ms. Feather lacks. But political intrigue aside, the characters simply never drew me in, and I found myself not caring for them either way. The actual feel of the time period -- aside from a few modern words and phrases -- is not bad, so at least I wasn't thrown with some glaring inaccuracy, but that does not a good read make. I miss the novels of this genre that make you fall in love with the characters and make you bite your nails during the sexual tension, the misunderstandings and intriguing adventures (if any). Most of today's romances lack the aforementioned things. That is why I will look to older romances I haven't read. The warm weather has finally arrived, and I look forward to reading good romances to balance out my appetite for meatier literature. This is my first Jane Feather novel and I think it will be the last. After all, I'd like to stay awake when reading a romance book.

Like others who reviewed the first book in this series (A WICKED GENTLEMAN), I am a fan of JF's older books. She just seemed to be trying harder then.
What I like about the series is the fact that the three women are mature and sensible. In AWG, Harry (the hero) even remarks twice [in case the reader missed it the first time] that these women have a mature sense of humor and can laugh at sexual jokes - and how unusual that is.
Like AWG, this book had too many characters and it was often difficult to figure out just what the Russians were plotting. Nothing happened for 80% of the book. The only suspense was at the end and the denoument could have been lifted from any other romance novel. Nothing original there.
There were also lots of dangling threads: What was the scene in the lawyer's office about when Alex asks him to vet the will? Why was Sophia so self-sacrificing, when Alexis wasn't? Just too tortured.
I was also bothered by the fairly constant misuse of titles. Very sloppy.
I didn't mind the yapping dogs as they added some comic relief.
An okay book, which I did finish, but if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't buy it.

I was very disappointed. If it didn't say Jane Feather on the cover, I would never have believed she'd written To Wed a Wicked Prince. I didn't care a bit about the characters; the romance-meter never budged off zero; and, the conflict, which should have made me cry, left me yawning. I can't believe I actually read to the end; this dreadfully dull read was a chore to finish. Instead of taking a place of honor on my shelf of romances worth reading again, this book is destined for the paper recycling bin.