Born to an Indian maharaja and a British noblewoman, Princess Sarani Rao has it all: beauty, riches, and a crown. But when Sarani’s father is murdered, her only hope is the next ship out—captained by the boy she once loved…and spurned.
Captain Rhystan Huntley, the reluctant Duke of Embry, is loath to give up his life at sea. But duty is calling him home, and this is his final voyage. Leave it to fate that the one woman he’s ever loved must escape to England on his ship.
Review:
Not gonna lie, the dress on the cover is what sold me on this book. Even knowing how often covers match the characters inside, I had to read about this heroine. And then to find out that it’s more likely than not that she has fake pockets in there that actually give her access to the knives she has strapped to her thighs? I. Have. No. Regrets. 😉
I loved Sarani. She’s a strong, kick-butt heroine who does what she can to save herself (OMG, the scene with the kidnappers!) and those she cares about in a world that definitely doesn’t always make it easy to do so. I couldn’t help at times but feel like she deserved someone better than Rhystan–OMG, he does get better by the book’s end, but he’s really got chip on his shoulder for far longer than he should have had, especially once he knows the truth about what happened five years ago. The fact that he knows that he’s being 100% hypocritical when it comes to what he wanted Sarani to have done then and what he expects his sister Ravenna to do now but continues to expect it anyway wasn’t terribly endearing either. Again, he’s better by the end but jeez, there were times when I wanted the two of them to hogtie him in a closet for a while until he saw the error of his ways.
But Sarani and Ravenna? I. Am. Here. For. Them. Please tell me Ravenna get her own book? Though of course I totally respect her wishes to remain single, I would also enjoy watching her fall in love… 😉
Though I did have a copy of the original ARC for this book (when it was still The Duke’s Princess Bride) I never ended up reading it, since it was pulled from production for a re-write to (hopefully) remove some problematic content. So I can’t make any comparisons between the two. The author’s note at the end discussed the extensive sensitivity reading that this version went through, so hopefully most of the issues are resolved–though of course the hero did work for the East India Company for a time and their part in India’s history is horrendous, at the present time of the book he is making an effort to improve things where he can, so at least there’s that.
Rating: 4 stars / B+
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.