Reviews for Complacer al principe (To Pleasure a Prince)

The average rating for Complacer al principe (To Pleasure a Prince) based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-02-09 00:00:00 Kimberly Tily Perhaps the best thing Jeffries has ever written. Despite the title (how embarrasing was it to have to e-mail my coworkers asking them if they'd seen my copy of "To Pleasure a Prince" after it was misplaced?), this is actually a deeply touching and fairly scorching story. Regina was one of the first heroines I'd encountered who defy the romance stereotype of being the wallflower or the outcast. If you read enough Regencies, you begin to wonder about the "diamonds of the first water", the popular blondes who have all the men at their feet and never commit a social error. What's going on in their heads? Regina has carefully maintained her status as the unattainable beauty by steering all her potential suitors to other mates. Her perfect performance conceals a secret she believes will keep her from ever marrying--she can't read. When a notoriously anti-social nobleman tries to prevent Regina's brother from courting his ingenue sister, Regina intervenes, and of course the reclusive Marcus and our polished heroine are a combustible match. She agrees to help him reintegrate into society, and there's a painful and brilliant scene where Regina is torn between hurting Marcus and revealing her dyslexia when he invites her to sing a duet with him and she doesn't know the lyrics. The one flaw in the book is the ambiguous and unresolved relationship between Louisa and Simon--does he love her, or is he screwing her over?--and Regina's total blindness to her brother's assholiness. But they get their own book later, and they improve tremendously, so one must be patient.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-06-16 00:00:00 Emanuel Karas To Pleasure a Prince is a fairly entertaining read, but it's just not for me. Well-written and nicely paced, it showed great promise at the beginning, and would have easily garnered a 3 or 4 star rating had it not been for the slight inconsistency in characters, lack of character development and the unlikeable hero. I'm a fan of the Beauty and the Beast theme, but this one just really failed in its execution. I liked Regina at the start because I love headstrong and stubborn heroines. But as the story progressed, I felt that the things that she did for the hero were inconsistent with how she was established in the book early on. She was supposed to be strong, but there have been instances when she just quietly stood there and absorbed all the shit that the hero threw at her. God. It was so awful. I was like: It was so frustrating. Ugh. And ugh Marcus. I was prepared to love him, because I have a soft spot for scarred, insecure heroes. But the way Marcus handled the situation was just wrong. He was very hypocritical. He said that he hated society because he was stereotyped by it, but then goes on to stereotype Regina, saying mean things like "Oh, I don't want to associate with your kind". I mean, okay, I could have understood him if it was just at the beginning, but even near the end of the book he still harboured such prejudices against Regina. Sigh. I really felt bad for her. If I was Regina I would have kicked him in the balls (for all the mean things he said) and found a better man. I think what really made me hate him was when he kicked Regina out of their house, forcing her to live with her friends. WTF. Marcus was not able to redeem himself in the book. The secondary characters were also weak and not very substantial. I don't recommend this for those who like equality in relationships/like strong heroines/hate bullying husbands.