The Third Son by Elise Marion (Kings of Cardenas #1)

First Published: 23 September 2011
Publisher: Self
Length: 118,000 words
Format: Ebook
Finished Date: 3 Feb 2012

Synopsis

Rake. Rogue. Scoundrel. Each of these words has been used to describe Damien Largess, youngest prince of Cardenas, most frequently by his ridiculously somber eldest brother. Damien is perfectly content to spend his days drinking at the card tables, and his nights in the bed of his scheming mistress, especially since doing these things seems to vex his high-handed brother to no end. But when he steps into a glittering ballroom on the night of his twenty-fifth birthday, the roguish young prince’s life will be forever changed.

Beautiful. Graceful. Sensual. When Esmeralda steps into the center of the King’s ballroom to perform for his youngest son’s birthday, every eye in the room is glued to the tall, lithe Gypsy dancer. One pair of eyes seems to burn straight through her, and though she has worked endlessly to shield her heart, she finds her defenses slowly slipping away in the presence of the handsome prince. She cannot resist his devastating charm, nor is she immune to the earth shattering desire in his kiss. As she falls rapidly under his spell, Esmeralda dares to hope for a future she would never have thought possible.

With a deadly plot against the royal family surrounding him in danger and intrigue, Damien will face a decision he never thought he would have to make. Would he step up to claim a responsibility that should never have fallen to the third son? Or will he abandon it to risk all for love?

My Rating

My Review

The Third Son was… an unexpected read. The plot was rather good and the overall plot was pretty interesting. The pace of the book was quite good too and I must say I don’t regret reading this book.

The characters in The Third Son were likable, if a bit predictable. Esmeralda is the beautiful Gypsy dancer who captivates almost everyone who sees her. Damien is the third son of the king. Hot to be certain, super charming and all. Needless to say, a rake.

The romance in the book was alright, if a little bit rushed. It happened within the first quarter of the book and the characters never really faced any problems. It was just strong attraction in the beginning which turned to love almost instantly. It isn’t bad, it was actually good! But I think I would have preferred it if the romance was really the main thing happening in the book. I felt that the mystery and the attacker was more of the main events in the book, instead of the romance. However, what we were shown of them together was pretty nice.

I enjoyed reading about the characters. They were all likable and Damien’s brothers are amazing, heh. I really liked seeing the way the characters interacted. Most of the time, the dialogue was interesting.

I have one major complaint about this book though. If not for this, it would definitely be a 4 star or maybe even 4.5 stars. So. I found the last eighth of the book really weird. It was unrealistic and it felt way too contrived. I won’t say what happened, but all I’ll say is that it simply isn’t right. Overall the book was good. Right up till these parts. I was practically laughing over the events that occurred. They were simply ludicrous. To be honest, I hated those parts. I felt that not much thought was put into that part. It would have been interesting to see how the problem was solved instead of what happened.

However, as much as I disliked the ending, I still couldn’t put the book down. No offense meant, but the book isn’t that fantastic. It was not too bad, but I was a little disappointed as I didn’t read as much about the romance as I hoped I would. But yes, back to my point. I was engrossed in the book and the events that were played out over the course of the book. It was something very different from my usual read.

The action and the mystery surrounding the plot made this a great read. It sucked me in and I was addicted, to say the least. I kept telling myself , “Just one more page then I'll stop.” Of course, it never happened. I finished this book in a couple of sittings and I must say, I enjoyed reading it. I hope you will too! It’s a good book, even though there may have been several things in the book that I didn’t really like. But then again, everyone has their own opinion.