The Prince

Devil's Duke Series, Book 4

By: Katharine Ashe

Narrated by: Mary Sarah

The temptation of her lips...

Libby Shaw refuses to accept society’s dictates. She’s determined to become a member of Edinburgh’s all-male Royal College of Surgeons. Disguising herself as a man, she attends the surgical theater and fools everyone - except the one man who has never forgotten the shape of her exquisitely sensual lips.

...will make a prince say yes to her every desire

Forced to leave his home as a boy, famed portraitist Ziyaeddin is secretly the exiled prince of a distant realm. When he first met Libby, he memorized every detail of her face and drew her. But her perfect lips gave him trouble - the same lips he now longs to kiss. When Libby asks his help to hide her feminine identity from the world, Ziyaeddin agrees on one condition: She must sit for him to paint - as a woman. But what begins as a daring scheme could send them both hurtling toward danger...and an unparalleled love.

Contains mature themes.

©2018 Katharine Brophy Dubois (P)2019 Tantor

Interesting story

This book has two subjects I love — art and medicine — and isn’t a predictable story for the most part. My only complaint is the usual one objecting to the narrator. She does accents of characters well but her personal fake accent, breathy emphasis in the wrong places, over dramatizations, and atrocious mispronunciation of dozens of words is extremely distracting. Nevertheless, I still listen to the books she narrates because I like the authors, all the while knowing I will be cringing a lot. One note to the author—a prostitute would not have known about the Mona Lisa in the 1800s because it was a relatively obscure painting until 1911 when it was stolen in Paris and made international news.

Best Yet

This one really shines. Loved Elizabeth/Joseph strong character depiction. The details of her mental illness were wonderfully drawn. The characterization of Ziyaeddin was beautifully depicted as a strong, deeply loving man.
Both main characters made a great team. The author provided supporting characters enriching the tale of two unusual people.
The narrator isn't a favorite of mine. Just something about her voice puts my teeth on edge.

Wonderful Author

This was a wonderful series! The narrator was also good. Sometimes she makes the characters sound condescending when they shouldn’t be though. Overall though she is a good narrator.

Brilliant, inventive and moving beyond my expectations

Katherine Ashe’s books have a boldness and intellectual depth which distinguish them from other works in the genre. I always find her books to be frankly a bit eccentric. They often go where so didn’t think it was possible to go in the romance genre. This book really felt made for me ( I’m an oil painter and undertook my PhD in Scotland). The story has parallels with the real life of Dr James Barry who spent her life as a man in order to practice medicine. Ashe does an excellent job of reimagining this idea through romance. The characters are beautifully drawn. The MMC was such an unusually calm and dignified figure. I was all in knots by the end. While this had spicy bits it’s much more a genuinely beautiful love story than anything else.

The narrator’s scottish accent was a bit odd. The intonation was alright but she clearly struggles with rolling Rs. For some reason she elongated the ‘a’ sound in strange places. I got used to it along the way.

Unique and fun story line

Some stories may seem repetitive, but this one doesn't! It features a fun storyline filled with romance, mystery, and wit.