Kiss of the Goblin Prince by Shona Husk

Author: Shona Husk
Publisher:  Sourcebooks Casablanca 
Release Date: 1 May 2012
Pages: 353 pages
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Source: NetGalley
Reviewed by: Lyuba


Sexual Content: 
Surprisingly mild and I loved that. 


Rating: 
3.5 out of 5


Description from Amazon: 

The Man of Her Dreams

He is like a prince in a fairy tale: tall, outrageously handsome, and way too dark for her own good. Amanda has been hurt before, though. And with her daughter's illness, the last thing she needs right now is a man. But the power of Dai King is hard to resist. And when he threads his hands through her hair and pulls her in for a kiss, there is no denying it feels achingly right.

In a Land of Nightmares

After being trapped in the Shadowlands for centuries with the goblin horde a constant threat, Dai revels in his newfound freedom back in the human realm. But even with the centuries of magic he's accumulated, he still doesn't know how to heal Amanda's daughter—and it breaks his heart. Yet for the woman he loves, he'd risk anything...including a retun to the Shadowlands.

Review: 
I've read The Goblin King some time ago and absolutely loved it, so I was eagerly awaiting the release of the second book in the series. After reading Kiss of the Goblin Prince I am left with somewhat mixed feelings about it.


On one side Dai was my favorite even in the first book (ok I have a thing for hot nerds, and he is the ULTIMATE nerd), but on the other his endless pity party was just annoying. There wasn't much story in the Goblin Prince, but more like characters coming in terms with their changed circumstances or realizing that it was time to change their lives or let go. It was different, refreshing almost, from the usual paranormal books I read, but at the same time I was almost wishing for something to happen. Something DID happen at the end of the book, but it wasn't enough to make up for the overall slowness and the lack of action.


I felt that Dai was the type of character that would really benefit from a series of books, (view spoiler)[ I mean her just got hired by the Birch bank and got access to their library, and got better at magic (hide spoiler)] but I doubt that will happen. His story still has a lot left to tell, because he is still pretty much who he was in the Shadowlands (while Roan is happy to be "normal", and has no powers as far as I could see), he has powers, it was heavily implied that he WILL use them too. I hope Dai will appear in the third book and I can read even a little about his further adventures.


Amanda took a definite back step compared to Dai, and while I felt that her character was very realistic and true to life, she just wasn't as interesting. At least she was honest with herself about what she wanted, and I loved how, as book progressed, she slowly started to let go of her past and move on.


Recommended For: 
Overall I did enjoy this book very much, although I would have loved to see more action. Still, I recommend this book to anyone who would like to read a somewhat different paranormal romance, one with the emphasis on character development and not on a constant action.


~*~*~*~*~
Disclaimer: A copy of this ebook was provided to me by the NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.

Utterly Charming by Kristine Grayson

Author: Kristine Grayson
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanka
Date: October 1, 2011
Pages: 320/512 KB
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: Purchased for Kindle
Reviewed by: Lyuba


Sexual Content
None, aside from some suggestions. 


Rating
4.5 out of 5


Description from Goodreads
Bestselling author Kristine Grayson's fairy tale romances bring the classic stories into the present day, where fairy tale characters must grapple with the complexities of modern life as well as their own destinies.
This time when Sleeping Beauty wakes up, she wants nothing to do with the man who kissed her. Consoling Alex Blackstone, the rejected suitor who is a brilliant magician but inept when it comes to women, falls to modern career woman and lawyer, Nora Barr. Nora now has to deal with Beauty's evil stepmother, and the discovery that Alex just might be her own personal Prince Charming...

Review 

Wait, is this supposed to be book 1 in the Fates series? Then I must be missing something, because I read Wickedly Charming first and was waiting for this book to come out. Well, I do not claim to know how the book world works, and for all I know, this could be a re-release. 

I actually did not pick this book right away, even if I absolutely loved Wickedly Charming. The reason? The blurb didn't exactly appeal to me for some reason, so I let it pass by until I've noticed that this book is on special for $2.99 and I figured what's the heck. So I've bought it, and I'm glad! 

I think the book blurb is rather misleading, because the book itself deals with Nora a lot more than it deal with the Sleeping Beauty. And Nora doesn't console Alex Blackstone, she spends the whole book fighting her attraction to him. And unlike many, many, many other romance books I've read, she doesn't give in to it just because Blackstone is drop dead gorgeous. This alone, was like a breath of fresh air for me. I'm so used to women simply loosing their heads in the proximity of the main hot guy, that here I was cheering for Nora. 

Of course everything works out at the end, but Kristine Grayson skillfully does it without an ounce of sex involved. I was pretty impressed by that. I was also pretty impressed by Nora. She tickled my feminist mind in all the right places, by asking all the questions I want to ask so many other female characters. Like, what about what SHE wants? Is it HER decision? She also has a very strong sense of ethics, and her struggle with wanting to do what's right made her seems extremely real to me. It was almost like I could meet someone like her in person. 

Blackstone was great too, because I could actually see him grow and change as the book progressed. I could relate to their romance, because I know how it feels to want someone that you're deeply attracted to, while knowing that he/she is just out of your reach for whatever reason (and while suspecting that the person is also attracted to you). 

The supporting characters were great, especially Sancho Panza. I even kinda liked the main villainess in the story, and early on I thought there would be more to her than there ended up being. 

Overall, it was a great read. The book kept my attention and I couldn't put it down until I finished it. 

Nitpicks

At first I couldn't even come up with any, but after thinking for a while I think I know some little things that I wish were in the book. More Sancho!!! I felt like there was a lot more story to him, and while Ms. Grayson hinted at it, she never developed anything further. At the end, I felt something along the lines of BUT WHAT ABOUT SANCHO?! 

Recommended For

Anyone who wants to read a romance book without having sex as a driving force in the story. 

~ Lyuba