AAR

[Luvfly]

I was disappointed with the book and I wonder if anyone else felt the same? Perhaps my expectations where to high but I just did not get this book at all. In the other books I really liked Winter but in this book he just wasn't the same and Isabel wasn't much better. Also as I was readying I kept wondering why the focus on Meg and Penelope but of coarse at the end I get it Megs book is next. I felt as if this book went in a different direction. Not sure I will keep reading this series I feel really disappointed.

[MissRubyJones]

@Luvfly: my thoughts exactly. If you go to my blog (you'll have to go to my profile for the link, since the boards don't allow me to link to it), you'll see my extensive rant/book review on this book. I was very disappointed. I realize that series are a big deal right now, but if each story in the series has to suffer in order to set up characters and plot points for the next book, then something is very wrong.

[ajeans]

I loved the book. I wasn't really into this series and ToS was the first book I enjoyed, before it, I only liked Griffin from NP. I loved Winter since the very beginning and prayed he would get his own book. I was not disappointed, I was actually expecting his story to be this way, since the first book he was described as very reserved and somewhat coldish.

The little parts of Megs didn't annoy me as much, I was also expecting this as a set-up to the next book, given that Hoyt had done that for Silence since the first book and had set-up Winter and Isabel's story in SD. I say that it didn't annoy me because there was not too much of it in the book, not like Silence. I really disliked all the time Silence and Mickey got in the first two books, that was a main reason why I did not look forward to their book.

Anyway... I will finish this post with saying that I loved that Winter was a virgin. I just felt for him. I think that is was what did it for me. Loved the book, and loved Winter.

[PJ]

The Serpent Prince is hands down one of my favorite romance novels. I adored Hoyt when she debuted with her first trilogy, but I have to admit that every book following has been a major disappointment.

I believe that I am done with this series.

[KataO]

I just finished reading Thief of Shadows and loved it! I think this is the best book in this series (Maiden Lane) and I loved virgin hero and Winter's personality.

[Danielle D]

I enjoyed this but it was not my favorite!
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[Rosie]

I'm not a huge fan of this series, but I liked this one. I'm a sucker for a serious hero who finally lets himself experience passion and joy. I liked that Winter recognized that he'd never be the same once he got to know Isabel.

The few scenes with Megs didn't bother me.

[jaime]

The Serpent Prince is my favorite by Hoyt and nothing she wrote before that and after it I have loved as much. Of this current series the first one is my favorite so far - I haven't gotten started on Winter's book yet.

To me a mediocre Hoyt book is still better than some of the other romances out there.

[stl_reader]

Finished this today. If I had to grade it, I guess I'd give it maybe a B-.

I found it much better than Silence's/Mickey's story, but that's not saying a lot, since I wasn't crazy about that one. Still, this one is a decent read, and I think that fans of Hoyt's Maiden Lane series will like it.

I like the story line of the younger virgin male + older experienced (widowed) female. I also enjoyed the fact that in this case, they were from different classes. (Unlike Harry Pye, though, Winter Makepeace wasn't terribly troubled by the class difference.)

What would have helped this book more, I think, is less hyperbole (for example, Isabel concludes that because she has feelings for Winter, he has "the power to destroy her," or some such twaddle), and more introspection. Hoyt's characters don't seem to spend a lot of time examining their motivations and emotions, compared to, say, Mary Balogh's characters (who sometimes go to the other extreme, IMHO). I'd like to have seen Isabel and Winter each have some meaningful inner dialogue, where they might wonder what life as a couple might be like, how they might each have to compromise, whether each was really prepared to accept changes in their carefully structured lifestyles, and so on.

I'd also like to know why Isabel did not ask Winter why he'd been named Winter.

Something else that annoys in this book is when Hoyt explains things unnecessarily. Like she doesn't trust the reader to draw the correct inference, conclusion, etc. For example: "For a split second he was shocked to see pain on her face. Then she smiled brilliantly as if to mask whatever true emotions she might be feeling. " I think--given the context of the story up to that point--most readers would have inferred that Isabel's "smiling brilliantly" was to mask her pain. Why does Hoyt need to explain this anyway?

Finally, I didn't really buy the HEA, and of course, the epilogue is not about this story but is a setup for the next one, so no help there. There was nothing about ToS to suggest that Isabel and Winter's marriage would flourish. Oh, the sex was great. But surely the difference in their classes would cause some friction and require some adjustment in future, wouldn't it? Yet that wasn't really touched on. (Winter basically blew it off.) Also, I saw nothing about Winter that made me feel he could really change his lifestyle enough to make Isabel happy. In fact, I don't think he thought overmuch about the many changes he would need to make for Isabel's sake, other than that he would have to give up his nighttime activities to someone else.

In summary, an okay read, but for me, nothing special. I haven't read every Hoyt book out there (this series, the Princes trilogy, and To Beguile a Beast), but the only one I really loved was The Raven Prince.

[willaful]

I found this the best of the series. The previous books all felt on the stale and somewhat melodramatic side to me. This was the first that felt like genuine Hoyt to me. Also, was extremely tired of icky rakes.
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"I say, don't read the classics -- try to discover your own classics; every life has its own." -- Rudolf Flesch, _How to Make Sense_

[stl_reader]

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention that annoyed me in this book. And that was Winter's rather out-of-the-blue thought about Pilar (Peach) being Jewish and his momentary consideration about raising her as a Christian. He decides that this might be the wrong thing to do as it would be fundamentally changing who she was.

Okay, first, this is not followed up on in the rest of the book, IIRC. So I'm guessing it's a set-up that will be further explored in, say, the next book of the series? Whatever, it should not have been just thrown in there like that. Or did I miss another reference to Pilar's religion elsewhere?

Second, there's just no way (except in Romancelandia) that 18th-century Englishman Winter would have had doubts about raising Pilar as a Christian. He himself is a devout Christian, reading his Bible and trying to be a godly man. I don't have enough suspension of disbelief to buy that he would not grab this opportunity to save little Pilar's soul and keep her from going to Hell.

I'm not saying there weren't *any* Londoners who didn't respect Jews, sympathize with their treatment, etc. I'm saying that no way do I believe Winter would have thought twice about raising Pilar as a Christian. He would consider it his Christian duty.

Anyway, that little scene in the book (Winter thinking about Pilar) totally took me out of the story, because IMHO, it could only have been the product of a 21st-century mind.

[Romance Reader]

[KataO]

Tastes differ so much. I LOVED the book and it is now my favorite book of Ms Hoyt, The Leopard Prince dropping second. (It seems, that I like commoner heroes.) TOS goes to my top 10 favorite books of all time, too.

Speaking of secondary characters, narration of Joseph Tinbox made me cry.

[AmyG]

I thought the book was okay, about on par with the rest of the series. The one thing that I did have a hard time with was Winter's sudden and dramatic personality change. I get that part of him was the dour manager of the children's home and part of him was a strong, swashbuckling, adventurous man out there helping those in need...but when he was interacting with Isabel in the beginning he came on so strong, especially with all the innuendos. It just didn't fit so early on in the story. Later, maybe, when he was having a harder time keeping the two sides of himself separate.

[Eliza]

I loved Winter's story. I don't think Ms. Hoyt knows how to write anything but the best. Oh well, only one more book to go in this series, if I remember correctly, that I really have enjoyed. I wish more romances had the settings this series has.