Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

Sounds good...I’m just laughing at the name Harry Pye (Hairy Pie)...how do authors pick names? I have to wonder sometimes if they’ve said them outloud...too funny though!

This is so weird, but I was ordering this book online & decided to check out this site for any new reviews.  & here it is! You guys are a little spooky. haha

I loved Harry, too! The story, not as much, although I’m definitely a Hoyt fan and can’t wait to pick up The Serpent Prince.

I have to say Hoyt really knows how to pull at my heartstrings.

i just had a variation of the deja vu experience annie described above (hi, annie!).

i just finished ‘raven prince’ and was debating whether to put ‘leopard prince’ on my tbr list. and voila! the smart bitches ride to the rescue again.

i originally picked up ‘raven prince’ on the strength of a recommendation from a published author in my writing group, and on how much i liked the little teaser provided by hoyt to whet reader appetite.  it’s a list of ‘rules’ for historical romance heros, and the hero of ‘raven prince’’s reaction to each. as it turns out, it’s the funniest part of the whole book.

‘raven prince’ is a worthwhile read, despite a couple of logical inconsistencies that took me briefly out of the story.

but the high comedy quotient of the teaser isn’t an accurate reflection of the tone of the rest of the book (despite a well-written and humorous opening scene in which the two leads meet) - and i’m trying to focus my current reading on candidates for

(WARNING! SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT!)

the ‘Laughter Reviews’ on my blog.

This would be a good place to thank the Bitchery once more for the outpouring of suggestions some time ago to my question of recommended funny romances. Further suggestions (don’t ncssarily have to be romance) still gratefully received. 

Maya, at: apprentice-writer.blogspot.com

I liked this book and I liked Harry too, but--here comes the inner history beast--land agents were generally NOT lower class men. It was an acceptable career for someone from the gentry or even an impoverished younger son of the nobility. You’d hire someone gentlemanly who could represent your interests to your neighbors and fellow landowners.

ahem, for a funny book Maya(shameless plug), try mine, The Rules of Gentility.

while I firmly believe that the first book in Hoyt’s prince series “The Raven Prince” is superior, I did like this book too.  Georgina was...a little daffy, but not hatably so because she’s very genuine about meaning well.  Harry was all right, but I think Edward and Ana from book 1 had much more chemestry outside the bedroom than Harry and George. I think my two favorite parts of the book were:

1- after sex, in the afterglow, Georgina asks Harry what he’s thinking and he replies by starting a conversation about crop rotation.  sexy, sexy crop rotation.

2- Harry barges into the wedding, rushes Georgina away, and leaves his two friends out in the church with the wedding party, standing around awkwardly while he goes and has sex in the rectory

oh yeah, and you gotta give points for naming her hero Harry Pye.  Nothing like a good pun to make you giggle every time his name shows up!

aw, I loved Georgina!  I liked how she was kinda believably quirky and was actually set up with unusual character traits that were consistently referenced throughout the work (her tendency to make sort of henwitted non sequitors when stressed, for example).  And like, this is one of the only romances I’ve ever read where the heroine runs away from the hero and I understand exactly why and think it’s an okay decision.

The only thing that disappointed me was that we didn’t get another hundred pages of Harry resolving his issues.

Shall pick up a Hoyt soon, then! Haven’t read anything by her, yet.

I loved Georgina, too!! I totally bought her as a smart woman who was limited in her world view by her class and upbringing, and that she hid behind a ditsy veneer.

I’ve been looking for a book which has a social inbalance between the two main characters. Looks like I’ll be giving The Leopard Prince a try, then.

I loved this book. Read it quickly and passed it on to my mom who loved it as well.

And yes, I crushed on Harry completely. But I also found George to be quite entertaining. She was quirky and funny and on more than one occasion made me laugh. Especially when she was telling the fairy tale. to me, the story itself wasn’t so important as the telling of it...she just came across as fun and it made me smile.

I mostly loved this book (Eliz. Hoyt has some mad writing skillz), but had the same reservations about Georgina that others have expressed. Chiefly, whenever she got to telling her fairy tale, she’d pull out some mannerisms (putting her hands on her hips, saying “What do you think of that?” after a plot point) that read very little-girlish to me, and I found it off-putting and somewhat creepy.

Also, the sex scenes tipped over into strokey territory for me, and it took me out of the flow (heh) of the otherwise expertly crafted story.

All that said, you better believe I’m logging onto my local library website every day to put “The Serpent Prince” on hold as soon as it’s available. I get a sense Hoyt is most partial to Simon, in her “Prince” trilogy of heroes, and so am I. A vain, fastidious, wig-wearing horndog with a self-deprecating sense of humor? That’s my kind of romance hero!