Royal Passion (The Royal Princes of Ruthenia Book 2) by Jennifer Blake #review

Pages -  384
Publisher -  Steel Magnolia Press
Published -  September 11, 2012
Genre -  Romance, Historical, Family Saga
Series -  The Royal Princes of Ruthenia Book 2
Sold by -  Amazon Digital Services LLC

Sexual Content -  4/5

Language -  irrelevant

Mara has no idea how to seduce a royal prince, or what he will do when she betrays him...
During a grand tour of Europe, Mara's grandmother falls prey to a gamester. When she can't settle her losses, the enigmatic gentleman makes a chilling demand: Mara must seduce the brilliant and dangerous prince of Ruthenia or her grandmother will suffer.
Prince Roderic, dynamic son of Rolfe and Angeline from Royal Seduction, is intrigued by the Louisiana belle who comes to him in a French gypsy camp. He is also wary: France seethes with political unrest that has spread to his home country, and he must guard against assassination. Trusting kisses that come too easily would be foolish. He will take what Mara offers but guard his back -- and his heart.
Dread stalks Mara as the desire she pretends turns to fiery reality. Which of the two people she loves must she sacrifice when the time comes -- her grandmother or the prince?

The plot sounded so wonderful.

As I began to read this novel, I was immediately sucked into that plot and became anxious to discover how it all turned out.

Then, as I began to read more and learn more about the two leads, Prince Roderic and Miss Mara, I had to admit that there was definitely something there worth discovering.

Right away, though, I had to wonder about Mara's plight and was it truly as difficult/deadly as the author wanted me to believe.

I never believed or felt that she or her grandmother were in any real danger since Mara was never being hounded or watched over by the bad guys.

Mara's reasoning had no merit.

Once Mara and Prince Roderic are forced together inside his dilapidated yet palatial home in Paris, the story started to bog down with a lot of pretentious wording, situations that involved real people from that time period in France's tumultuous history, and Mara's having to 'think' about every possible variable for every situation she landed in and for every nuance of Roderic's character and motives.

Paragraph after paragraph, page after page of thought: could he be thinking this or that? Maybe it's because I did this, or is it because I said that? How about I'm wrong and it's because of this?

Constantly... about everything... chapter after chapter until I lost interest.

Roderic's cryptic speech patterns, his flowery prose, and a penchant for talking in circles around Mara and everyone else, gave me a headache.

I'm smart, but I'm not nearly as smart as the author (apparently) because I think I was supposed to know what he was saying, how he reasoned every move and decision he made, and especially how he truly felt about Mara.

I didn't, though.

I did, however, skim through the remaining chapters (and the numerous, detailed sex scenes) in order to finish the novel because I still wanted to know how it ended.

Which was rather abruptly, but with the anticipated HEA.

When I reached the ending, gave it my 3-stars, and swiped the next page, I was surprised to learn that she is also the author of Lancelot of the Pines, another novel I had started with excitement but ended up quitting after only a few chapters because I'd lost interest after an exciting opening.

Probably won't be reading any more of her work.