The Prince's Convenient Bride by Robyn Donald (HP 2615)

Reviewed by Janet85 on July 28th, 2008, 1:48am

by Robyn Donald

Format: Print Books

Series: Harlequin Presents

Back Cover:

The passionate prince—
When Prince Marco Considine sees model Jacoba Sinclair, he wants her—

The supercool supermodel—
But Jacoba can never surrender to Marco. She fears he'll discover her secret--
And a reason for a convenient marriage! When Jacoba's secret is uncovered, Marco seizes his opportunity. By announcing their engagement he can offer her royal protection--and royal passion!

Spoiler Warning: All my reviews contain spoilers to some degree  

Favourite Scene: (he propositions her, pretty coldly, but I like that it's direct)

He leaned back in his chair. ‘I’m going on to Tahiti for a week.’
‘How nice,’ she responded cautiously.
‘Come with me.’
The straightforward proposition sliced her composure into ribbons. It also hurt some hidden, vulnerable part of her; in his glance she saw nothing but cool speculation, as though she was something pretty he wanted and could afford, a thing to play with and then discard once the novelty wore off.
Outraged, she hid her seething emotions with a slight smile. ‘You’re very kind,’ she said calmly, ‘but no thanks.’ She wasn’t some glamorous, brainless sex toy willing to trade her body for a short passionate interlude.
He kept her pinned with that uncomfortably penetrating gaze. ‘Are you in love with Hawke Kennedy?'  

My Review:

Jacoba's family fled Illyria (they were in danger) and they have hid their heritage since then.  Now at 27, Jacoba is a model and meets a Prince of Illyria.  They are strongly attracted, but she holds back.  Her secret blows up (a little unbelievably fast) and all of a sudden the hero knows who she is and needs to marry her for political reasons.  I would have preferred the hero to KNOW her secret through her using the language or revealing it some other way directly to him, so that it showed that the hero could pick up on her emotions and know when she was hiding something (instead, he read it in a gossip rag). 

I think this was a good story, nice conflict, nice history of the people.  Good passion, though the heroine sometimes fought it, and sometimes caved in to it, which made her seem a bit inconsistent in her resolve to protect her sister and her secrets (it seemed like the heroine didn't know if she had to or wanted to keep the secret, she wanted to be discovered). 

My Rating: 3/5 stars, good story.