THE STOLEN PRINCESS

Author: Anne Gracie ISBN: 9780425218983 1/2008 HISTORICAL Publisher: BERKLEY SENSATION
Time Period: Regency

The estranged youngest son of an earl, Gabriel Renfrew earned glory and honor on the battlefield, but now, without purpose, he finds himself deliberately courting danger. One night he races his horse along a death-defying moonlit cliff—and stumbles upon a beautiful woman obviously in need of saving… A princess on the run, Callie has disguised herself and her son, the Crown Prince, as commoners, hoping to protect him from those intent on stealing the throne. She has no choice but to trust the handsome ex-officer who’s come to her rescue, even when he insists that only a marriage of convenience will provide her the ultimate protection. Can her new husband keep Callie and her son safe from assassins? And what will he do to her heart?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Gabriel Renfrew may not have stolen the princess in this one, but Anne Gracie definitely has stolen my heart with her latest Regency, THE STOLEN PRINCESS. Always delightful to read, Ms. Gracie kick starts her new Devil Rider series with a story worthy of royalty.

First off, I must admit that I wasn't the fondest of Callie's character as the "stolen" princess, and that some of the storyline fell short and didn't make much sense to me. But I loved all the other characters in this book, especially how the little Crown Prince was written and interwoven into the storyline. They say to be careful when you work (or write) with children and animals, but that didn't seem to be any problem for Anne Gracie. I truly cared for this frail, little boy with low self-esteem who is expected to act like a man. Slowly, as the boy begins to blossom under the care and protective eye of the emotionally scarred Gabriel, the "little man" helps the big man, even though the big man doesn't know it.

So, even though some of THE STOLEN PRINCESS was a bit flawed for me, with its action-packed drama intermingled with delightful humor and written in the flowing prose that can only be the voice of one author, this quick-paced romance still comes out a winner for me. Anne Gracie's THE STOLEN PRINCESS is sure to captivate and steal your heart, too, just the way that it did mine.

Nancy Davis