Gaelen Foley: Princess

Princess: C

Princess Serafina & Darius Santiago
Ascension Trilogy #2

Imperious and beautiful, Princess Serafina has loved Darius Santiago, the king's most trusted warrior, since she was a child. But Darius was plucked from the gutter by the king to be trained as a spy, and although he loves Serafina beyond reason, he conceals his heart for he believes his background forbids a union between them. When Serafina is betrothed to a ruthless Russian aristocrat in a bargain that gains her tiny island kingdom protection from Bonaparte's armies, Darius intervenes to save her. His actions set in motion a sequence of events that will challenge the strength of their love and threaten their lives as well as the survival of the kingdom.

This energetic plot has the hero and heroine poised on the razor's edge of physical danger at the same time they're struggling to trust each other with the deepest secrets of their hearts. The supporting cast of secondary characters is excellent, especially the members of the heroine's family. Their normalcy provides a stark contrast to the hero, whose childhood of neglect and abuse has left scars and built emotional walls that only the heroine's love may heal. (amazon)

Princess Serefina has known Darius Santiago all her life…and has been in love with him most of the time. She knew that she would always be his when he risked his life to save her father’s life. However, she is in despair because Darius sees her as the young, spoiled daughter of his boss.

Darius Santiago is Ascension’s top and most trusted spy. As a young child, the King Lazar and Queen Allegra took him in and raised him; going out and completing dangerous missions is the only way for him to redeem himself and to show everyone that he is doing something worthwhile with his life. To his horror, he falls in love with Serafina, putting him in an awful position – there is no way he is worthy enough to marry Serafina. Darius is a “fabulous” tortured hero and the demons he faces are more than trivialities.

When Serafina is betrothed to a Russian count, Darius is furious. The King has arranged the marriage because of the fear of Napoleon – if Napoleon attacks, the Russians are the only ones with enough man-power to protect the small island of Ascension. However, Darius discovers some unpleasant discoveries about the Russian and Darius is dead set Serafina marrying him.

So he comes up with a plan to rescue Serafina from the marriage.

But before he leaves, he and Serafina admit their feelings to each other and cause a bunch of ruckus.

With the classis male I’m-not-good-enough-for-her syndrome and the classic female I-don’t-care-about-anyone-but-you counter-attack, this tale is full of hot scenes, of fluttery, flowery dialog, and of love.

I love the ending where Darius finally realizes his self-worth, when he finally stands up to King Lazar and I especially love it when Serafina walks into the room and shows Darius that she will always love him, no matter what. It is very sigh-worthy.

But as it is with most books, there were some things that did not click with me.

I did think “jailbait” while reading most of the book because Serafina is twenty and Darius is thirty-four. Plus, he’s known her since she was four. He’s literally seen her grow up. That’s kind of like… him being there, like her father was there. Fatherly figure? Icck! I know it was normal for young young girls to marry old old men, but something about it still gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Second, Ms. Foley is very flowery with her dialog. Some of the things that Darius is to have said to Serafina had me snorting. Men don’t really say things like that, especially not while doing the hanky panky. (…do they??)

Third, Serafina grows in the story, but I still thought that she was a spoiled, pampered princess. She acted like she was a child for most of the book and when she commits the unthinkable (because she doesn’t want to lose Darius), I was grimacing. But! the internal struggles of both Serafina and Darius are believable and intricate – they deal with their problems separately, then finally deal with it together.

Fun read – A good sequel to The Pirate Prince, I would probably continue reading the last of the series, Prince Charming.

Note: I didn’t realize that we were introduced to Darius in the first of the trilogy. He is the boy that Lazar brought home, which means that the current King and Queen were the hero and heroine of the first book…

I read The Pirate Prince well over a year ago, so I don’t remember much of it. But those of you who like to read series in order, definitely read The Pirate Prince first!