Stranger

It has been years since I last read this book, and it has not aged as well as I remembered. However, it is still a great introduction to the world of the Carpathians, their struggles against infertility, and this world's version of vampires.

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Mikhail Dubrinsky is the leader of the Carpathians, a powerful race that is dying out due to lack of females. Raven Whitney, a human, is vacationing in the Carpathian Mountains after using her telepathic skills to help catch a serial killer. Raven senses Mikhail???s distress and the two of them realize they have a connection to each other. Raven may be the life mate that Mikhail thought he???d never find and she represents hope for the Carpathians.

Ugh. I really hated Dark Prince and, though I tried to stick it out, I finally had to put it down after three chapters of torture. The first problem is the characters. Raven is everything you expect in a romance heroine: slender, small bones, tiny waist, big high breasts (how often does that combination happen naturally?), big blue eyes (???brilliant sapphires???), long thick lashes, skin like satin, full soft mouth, ???a wealth of raven hair tumbling down her back to draw attention to her rounded bottom??? (Ugh!). Raven???s physical features are described over and over and over. The phrase ???her slender?????? (fill in with ???arm,??? ???body,??? ???form,??? ???wrist,??? etc) was used 25 times (assuming that Amazon has the entire print version searchable, I???m not sure). Every man wants Raven, yet she???s completely unaware of it. And totally innocent. We???re told that Raven is also intelligent, but I saw no evidence of that.

Mikhail is everything you expect from the brooding blood-sucking type: tall, rich, important, dark, broad-shouldered, chiseled features, arrogant yet passionate and, for some unknown reason, completely infatuated with Raven. Not only does Mikhail look great, but he sounds great, too. ???Black velvet seduction was in the molten huskiness of his voice.??? (Ugh!). By the way, the word ???velvet,??? which applies both to Mikhail???s voice and Raven???s creamy skin, is used 32 times in a 447 page book which calculates to, on average, one ???velvet??? for every 14 pages. With that much velvet, I could reupholster my living room.

This kind of stuff offends my ears (I was listening to this in audio format), but this isn???t the worst of it. What I really hated was that these two meet telepathically and speak about 3 paragraphs to each other while Mikhail spies on her when she???s alone in her bed in a white lace push-up nightie (how many antisocial young virgins normally wear those to bed, I wonder). Suddenly he becomes outrageously jealous at the random unwarranted thought of Raven with another man: ???Rage shook him, raw and deadly.??? (Ugh!)

Then he claims ownership and control of Raven and starts bossing her around, calling her ???my woman??? and ???Little One??? (this title is used 132 times in a 447 page book ??? you do the math). Despite Raven???s protests (???Don???t try to intimidate me, Mikhail; it won???t work. No one tells me what to do or where I can go.???) He manages to get her exactly where he wants her to be and she seems to be rather ineffectual against his manipulation. Though we???re told she???s intelligent, she seems naively unalarmed when Mikhail says these sorts of things (which make up most of his black velvet seductive speech):

* Do not disobey me in this, Raven.
* You will drink. Obey me in this.
* Obey me at once.
* Why do you defy me?
* Do not try to leave me, little one.
* Stay!
* Do not try to leave me, Raven. I hold what is mine and make no mistake, you are mine.
* You need to sleep.
* You are not nearly as afraid of me as you should be.
* You will never repeat this foolhardy act again.
* I will not tolerate any foolishness that might put your life in jeopardy???. I will not lose you.[he???s got his hands around her throat here]
* American women are very difficult.

These examples are all in the first 60 pages of the novel when they???ve known each other for one day. This is Mikhail???s courting behavior. Raven???s ???foolhardy act??? was to take a walk in the woods around the resort while on her vacation. Apparently American women are very difficult because they like to choose their own activities while on their own vacations rather than obeying handsome violent strangers. After this conversation, he carries her off to his lair. And she???s not kicking and screaming. Does Raven think that Mikhail will become less demanding, controlling and possessive after the courting is over?

Well, I couldn???t stand it, so I gave up. I don???t like Mikhail and Raven and I don???t want to read any more about their twisted relationship. How any self-respecting woman can think this is sexy??? I have no idea.

When first starting this book I did not like it much. It seemed a bit trite at first. But once the story really started (about 3-4 chapters in) I started to really like this book. By time it ended I was hooked on the series.