Book 73, 2020

Dark Prince by Christine Feehan

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I had one short chapter left in my work book, so I brought it home and just now finished it. The book was Dark Prince, which is the first installment in author Christine Feehan's series about Carpathians. The "Dark" series? Main characters were Carpathian male Mikhail Dubrinsky and human psychic Raven Whitney.

After centuries of living without his other half, Mikhail is on the verge of self-destructing. His dark thoughts are interrupted by the comforting mental touch of a woman. Mikhail instinctively knows that she is the light to his darkness, and he seeks her out.

Raven is in Romania, taking a break from her job of helping law enforcement track serial killers. When she feels another in despair, she can't help but reach out to him in compassion. She did not expect to meet the person whom she contacted, let alone be completely overwhelmed by him. Raven soon finds herself drawn into the dangerous, erotic world of the Carpathians.

I utterly loathed this story. I suspect, had I read it in my 20's, I would have found it swoon worthy. Instead, I found it gag worthy. Mikhail swoops in, quite literally, to steal Raven away. He has no thought or regard for her or what she wants or feels. It's all about him, what HE wants, what HE needs. He goes so far as to mentally compel her obedience. Reading this made my skin crawl. Textbook abusive relationship coupled with Stockholm Syndrome. He forced himself on her sexually, forced a binding on her, which now means she cannot be apart from him or she will go mad and die. Oh, be still my heart! How romantic! When Raven wants to die, Mikhail forces her to live because, once again, if she dies so will he. I cannot abide the archaic trope of the arrogant, domineering older man and the young, innocent, virginal woman. And, if I had to read about her "enormous eyes" one more time, I was going to put my head in an oven. What is she? An Anime character? Good lord. Oh, and let's not forget how tiny and fragile she was, compared to how big and muscular he was. Of course, he's also handsome and rich. Would this have been viewed as romance had he been short, fat, bald, and destitute? I think not. I am tired of books wherein the male character can be a complete asshat and it's okay because he's rich and handsome. Newsflash: It's not okay.

Favorite line (more like, most appropriate one): "Is this possession, or is it love?"

Unfortunately, I have perhaps a dozen more books from this series on my shelf, purchased once upon a time when I snapped up anything that had "paranormal romance" on the spine. Not only is this one going in the donation bag, but so are all the others. Yes, I hated it that much. I am not going to subject myself to reading any more of this shit show.

Giving this two stars. It gets two, because the author's writing is very good; I just detested the subject matter.