My brother's missing! I'm in love! La la la!
Written: Feb 25 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The story warms up once you get used to the writing style. Royalty! Kinda cool.
Cons: Stupid incomplete frustrating @!%#^&@ ending!
The Bottom Line: Might have been a good book, might be worth reading the series, if not for the serious ARGH factor of the non-existent ending!
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| spalmero's Full Review: The Princess and the Mercenary Books |
What's that? The title of this review doesn't make sense? Guess what? Neither does the book!
Okay, wait, let me catch my breath, gather my wits, and attempt to explain.
In The Princess and the Mercenary, Marilyn Pappano has created an interesting scenario. Anna Sebastiani, our heroine, is the youngest princess of the island nation of Montebello. She is pampered, spoiled, and naive about the ways of the world outside her father's nation. She's also got a stubborn streak a mile wide, and an urge to get into trouble.
Anna's older brother Lucas, the heir to Montebello, has gone missing. At the time the book opens, he's been missing a little over a year. When news is delivered that he was seen at a ranch in Colorado, posing as a drifter named Joe, the royal family is naturally interested in tracking him down and bringing him home.
No one more so than Princess Anna, who concocts a scheme to do just that. Older sister Christina has married an American and lives in Montana. Anna cajoles her father, King Marcus, into letting her visit, since she was close to her sister and misses her badly. Of course the plotting princess doesn't mean to visit Christina at all, but rather to lose her bodyguard in an American airport, and to head for the mining towns of Montana, where 'Joe' is reported to have gone.
Of course Anna's assigned a bodyguard of her own. Unfortunately, it's not to be Roberto, who has a love for all things Old West, and who would love Montana, and be easy to lose. No, King Marcus assigns Tyler Ramsey, part of a family currently in service to Montebello. Tyler Ramsey, whom Anna has seen before, and admired from afar, but Tyler Ramsey who, as luck would have it, seems more interested in duty than in the pampered girl now in his care.
And of course things don't go as planned. Anna is actually delivered to Christina's house, and left behind by the infuriating Ramsey. She confides in her sister, and catches him up at a mining town, startling and dismaying him. The two won't separate again. Predictable, n'est ce pas?
There is a snow storm, and several days of being trapped in a cabin together. There is more investigation, though the bulk of the book is devoted to Ramsey's rationalizing a way into giving in to the urge to hold and kiss and make love to Anna, not the search itself.
Ms. Pappano introduces us, as well, to the 'bad guys' of the book. Ursula Chambers is the older sister of the woman who owns the ranch where 'Joe' stayed. The woman whom 'Joe' abandoned without knowing she was pregnant. Ursula has decided that, now that the search is on for the missing prince, having his only child could be a good bargaining chip. After she gets rid of her sister with the help of her midwifing friend Gretchen.
She also introduces us to Desmond Caruso, the half-brother to the sons of Antonio Sebastiani, the king's brother. Desmond has no love for 'Joe', and heads to the states intent on finding him first, and killing him, so his younger, legitimate brother, Lorenzo, will inherit the throne. Desmond, snake that he is, meets and falls into bed with Ursula Chambers. A perfect partnership, or so you'd think.
Except that Ms. Pappano completely blows the story. Desmond and Ursula never manage to accomplish anything but plan. As a matter of fact, Desmond ends up taking Anna back to Montebello before the investigation is concluded. Tyler stays behind, but he doesn't finish the investigation either. No, he passes it on to another character named Max, another of Lorenzo's brothers.
We never find out whether Lucas is found.
Excuse me??
Now, let me explain further. This is a book in one of Silhoutte's ongoing mini-series. This one is called Romancing the Crown. The teaser included in this book for the next in the series, The Disenchanted Duke, picks up with Max's story, and presumably tells us more about Lucas, but for pity's sake.
I have read several books that were part of a category mini-series. I've never read one that leaves the ending so up in the air. While I'm interested to see whether Lucas is ever found, I'm so dismayed by the way this was handled that I'm not sure I'll pick up the next book in the series to find out.
ARGH! ARGH! If you're an aspiring writer, I beg you, don't fall into this trap, no matter how much they pay.
ARGH!
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
spalmero
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Member: Sarah Palmero
Reviews written: 58
Trusted by: 11 members
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