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dirtymartini 's review for:
Prince of Dreams
by Lisa Kleypas
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What was I thinking when I picked this one up?? I don't like reincarnation stuff usually, but I liked the idea of the wicked Russian prince.
Too bad he wasn't convincingly romantic. More like a creepy self absorbed bully with a split personality.
...but I had hopes he would redeem himself.
Nikolas is a Russian prince in exile for murdering the murderer of his little brother.
At the start he and Emma have known each other for years. She is now 20 and in her 3rd unsuccessful season due to her tall body and forward manner. When Emma was 13 Nikolas gave her a baby tiger he had rescued and throughout the story there are similarities drawn between Nikolas and the tiger.
Little does Emma know that the arrogant and aloof Nikolas has plotted patiently to have her for years. (but why did he take so long???)
I liked Emma, she was the best part of the story. She's a tall, red-haired, freckled vegetarian who likes to wear trousers and keeps a menagerie of rescued animals. She's also quite capable of defending herself and those she loves.
And the story was quite entertaining for the first half until the whole reincarnation debacle that basically turned the story on it's ear. Although I can't say as I liked Nikolas even in the first half. He is consistently self serving and after they marry, he puts her in a separate room and ridicules her when he's not sexing her up. His excuse I suppose is a dark history from a horribly abusive father
He kinda looses it when his illegitimate son (by a dairy maid) is brought to him after the boy's mother dies. A son that Emma had no idea existed. Nikki decides that he doesn't want Emma's love and does the unforgivable.
Then there's the whole reincarnation thing. At first it's a few brief 'visions' that he has, but then he falls unconscious for an hour and in that hour he becomes his past self for months!. Not like other stories where you are seeing things through the previous 'self's' eyes, but it's like he's gone back in time. For 62 pages you get to read about Nikolas being Nikolai and falling in love with Emelia... Not Emma.
Then for the last third of the book we are back in the present and it's like Nikki woke up a changed man. He's no longer an emotionally abusive asshole, but a loving man who swears undying love and asks for forgiveness, as well as becoming a father to his son. It was just annoying and unbelievable and not even romantic. He makes no effort to woo Emma. No little gestures of tenderness. Just talk about his previous life and how he's a changed man now. Like he expects her to just 'become Emelia'. Fortunately Emma finds it pretty convenient and unbelievable too, but only for a little while before she's lapping it up. But there's always Emelia lurking in his thoughts. When we see his POV we see him thinking about Emelia, not Emma.
Safety is NOT GOOD, for many reasons.
All this I could have shrugged of, but the kicker for me was the whole reason why Nikolas fancies himself in love with Emma.
When he was his 'past self' he falls in love with Emelia who, we are told, looks just like Emma. But I thought Emelia was insipid and weak. Nothing like Emma in personality. So to me it felt like I had to read about the H falling in love with another woman, and trying to transfer that love to his current wife, who happens to look just like Amelia. Even as he is trying to convince Emma that he loves her, he is paying people to find out what happened to Emelia because he is tortured by not knowing what happened to his love after his previous self died. He did know that she had been carrying his child. When he does find out at the end of the story he gets all teary eyed. And it just pissed the ever loving crap outta me!
And last of all there's his suicidal tendencies. When he first ends up in the past, he decides that if he doesn't consummate his marriage to Emelia, then his family line will never have created his hateful father and he himself would not have been born. Such a selfish ahole.
What was I thinking when I picked this one up?? I don't like reincarnation stuff usually, but I liked the idea of the wicked Russian prince.
Too bad he wasn't convincingly romantic. More like a creepy self absorbed bully with a split personality.
...but I had hopes he would redeem himself.
Nikolas is a Russian prince in exile for murdering the murderer of his little brother.
At the start he and Emma have known each other for years. She is now 20 and in her 3rd unsuccessful season due to her tall body and forward manner. When Emma was 13 Nikolas gave her a baby tiger he had rescued and throughout the story there are similarities drawn between Nikolas and the tiger.
Little does Emma know that the arrogant and aloof Nikolas has plotted patiently to have her for years. (but why did he take so long???)
I liked Emma, she was the best part of the story. She's a tall, red-haired, freckled vegetarian who likes to wear trousers and keeps a menagerie of rescued animals. She's also quite capable of defending herself and those she loves.
And the story was quite entertaining for the first half until the whole reincarnation debacle that basically turned the story on it's ear. Although I can't say as I liked Nikolas even in the first half. He is consistently self serving and after they marry, he puts her in a separate room and ridicules her when he's not sexing her up. His excuse I suppose is a dark history from a horribly abusive father
Spoiler
Nik wasn't sexually abused but his younger brother was and Nik was unable to protect him.He kinda looses it when his illegitimate son (by a dairy maid) is brought to him after the boy's mother dies. A son that Emma had no idea existed. Nikki decides that he doesn't want Emma's love and does the unforgivable.
Spoiler
He goes out, gets drunk and beds a prostitute. There's no details except that he returns home reeking of cheap perfume, booze and sex.Then there's the whole reincarnation thing. At first it's a few brief 'visions' that he has, but then he falls unconscious for an hour and in that hour he becomes his past self for months!. Not like other stories where you are seeing things through the previous 'self's' eyes, but it's like he's gone back in time. For 62 pages you get to read about Nikolas being Nikolai and falling in love with Emelia... Not Emma.
Then for the last third of the book we are back in the present and it's like Nikki woke up a changed man. He's no longer an emotionally abusive asshole, but a loving man who swears undying love and asks for forgiveness, as well as becoming a father to his son. It was just annoying and unbelievable and not even romantic. He makes no effort to woo Emma. No little gestures of tenderness. Just talk about his previous life and how he's a changed man now. Like he expects her to just 'become Emelia'. Fortunately Emma finds it pretty convenient and unbelievable too, but only for a little while before she's lapping it up. But there's always Emelia lurking in his thoughts. When we see his POV we see him thinking about Emelia, not Emma.
Safety is NOT GOOD, for many reasons.
Spoiler
Nikolas confesses in Russian so that Emma won't understand, that he has been pretending his lovers were her for years before they married. No details are ever given of the OWs. All brief affairs with married women. BUT. After they have been married a short while, there's the incident that I mentioned in the spoiler above...All this I could have shrugged of, but the kicker for me was the whole reason why Nikolas fancies himself in love with Emma.
When he was his 'past self' he falls in love with Emelia who, we are told, looks just like Emma. But I thought Emelia was insipid and weak. Nothing like Emma in personality. So to me it felt like I had to read about the H falling in love with another woman, and trying to transfer that love to his current wife, who happens to look just like Amelia. Even as he is trying to convince Emma that he loves her, he is paying people to find out what happened to Emelia because he is tortured by not knowing what happened to his love after his previous self died. He did know that she had been carrying his child. When he does find out at the end of the story he gets all teary eyed. And it just pissed the ever loving crap outta me!
And last of all there's his suicidal tendencies. When he first ends up in the past, he decides that if he doesn't consummate his marriage to Emelia, then his family line will never have created his hateful father and he himself would not have been born. Such a selfish ahole.