Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 12, 1993 TAG: 9309120290
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by HARRIET LITTLE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
On a dark and stormy night when her brother brings home a disheveled stranger who has been accidentally injured in a barroom brawl, Katherine Kendall has no idea that the strange man is really Crown Prince Alexander (and some other names) of Moreno.
The next morning, Alex, unaccountably drawn to the small red-headed woman, decides to pass himself off as Al Sanders and to stay on Pirate Island, a family resort off the coast of North Carolina, for a month. Of course, Katherine is equally attracted to her new employee and lets him help her and her brother run the resort in the absence of her ill uncle, the owner of the island.
Now, make no mistake, Richmond author Leanne Banks' "His Royal Pleasure" is a romance, so don't expect realism or believable characters. In addition to the romance, we have sex, sex and more sex.
This book, as with others of its ilk, should be strictly off-limits to impressionable teen-aged girls. Ladies, not many real princes (with even a couple of morals left) are out there to say, "Did I tell you that your eyes remind me of diamonds?" There are probably lots of people who would tell you, as Alex tells Katherine, that they'd like to teach you to utterly enjoy sex, but not so many who'll deliver the happy ending of a romance.
Even in real life, the royal family of Great Britain reminds us that happy endings are increasingly rare. Remember, unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases aren't part of a book listed as "Fantasy Men." That's what these books and characters are - fantasies.
- Harriet Little teaches at James River high school.
by CNB