Prince Charming by Gaelen Foley

Description: Ascencion's most elusive and widely loved Masked Rider has chosen to rob the wrong coach -- inside sits Rafael, the Prince of the Mediterranean island, and the future King. Not realizing her mistake until it's too late, Lady Daniela Chiaramonte has been caught red handed in her Robin Hood-like endeavor to keep her people fed and pay the outrageous taxes the crooked tax man has inflicted on her. Rafe is stunned by the beauty that dares rob him and his friends, and very intrigued -- He can't stop thinking of getting her into his bed. Prince Rafe has a proposition for her: marry him and give him an heir, or she and her coach robbing cohorts can hang. Dani agrees to the deal, and she even begins to fall in love with her husband, but soon she is caught up in the plot to get rid of the entire royal family and now she must save her husband from the treasonous plot.

Review: I have loved every other Foley book I have read. Not this one. I was caught up and engrossed through the first 100 pages, then got a little bored in the middle 200 pages, and then it picked up again in the last 100 pages. I liked the different setting; I've never read a romance set in the Mediterranean before. I did NOT like the hero. I thought he was an ass. He started out a total playboy, and never really lost that feel. He even nearly cheated on Dani with his former mistress, which I found appalling. That particular scene was nearly a 3-some, which kind of shocked me. Thankfully she veered off of that particular line. I never really got the connection between them. The writing was good, the descriptions of certain events a bit graphic (good and bad, depending on the description) but the character development left me bored. I was relieved to finish this book and still didn't much like the hero in the end. If I'm not mistaken this is one of Foley's early works, and all the other books I have read of hers were more recent, so perhaps she has simply gotten better over time. I am still a big fan of hers, but this particular novel will not be reread.