Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: February
11, 2014
ISBN: 978-1626812536
Genre: Historical
Fiction
Format: Ebook
Obtained via: Netgalley
Reviewed by
name and email address: Gina Gina@loveromancesandmorereviews.com
THREE HEARTS
Queen Victoria’s daughter, Vicky, sits in
Potsdam grieving the loss of her beloved Frederick III, Emperor of Germany. Her husband taken from her all too soon her
days are empty and frustrated because her son, Wilhelm continues to sacrifice
the good of the country to add to his own coffers. When her niece Princess Maud comes for a
visit Vicky is delighted to see her until she hears Maud’s news—not only is a
man on the loose on London’s streets killing women—the police believe it could
be her nephew, the Crown Prince, Eddy.
Determined to help her family Vicky heads back to England with
Maud. There she begins her own search
for the killer who comes to be called Jack the Ripper.
Detective Inspector Thomas Edmondson is
determined to find the Ripper and while suspects appear, he cannot shake the
believe that the Crown Prince is the culprit behind the killings. Worse, he believes there is a royal cover-up
behind the killings. Determined to find out the truth he approaches the royal
family. But when he meets Vicky his world
is turned upside down. While his head
screams he is a mere commoner, his heart pines for the princess. He is not alone in his feelings—Vicky finds
herself drawn more and more to Thomas.
To protect her family, determined to track
down the Ripper, Vicky puts herself in harm’s way. Torn between duty and his heart Thomas seeks a
way to bring both parts of his world together.
Can they find and keep each other before the Ripper tears them apart?
I very much enjoyed Mary Hart Perry’s
first book on Queen Victoria’s daughters, the THE WILD PRINCESS. THE WILD PRINCESS combined history, a
fictional account of Queen Victoria’s children and romance into a well written,
thoroughly enjoyable story. I looked
forward to reading THE SHADOW PRINCESS
as soon as I heard about it. It was a
bit of a disappointment to me.
It isn’t a bad story. In fact the subject matter is pretty
interesting in terms of who Vicky was and the whole Ripper story. Just who was Jack the Ripper? They never found out, but rumours abounded
including that it was Crown Prince Edward.
Having a female member of Queen Victoria’s family investigate the murders,
at first because of she tried to clear her nephew’s name and then because she
cared to deeply for the women of London.
The whole mystique of Jack the Ripper has fascinated me for years. It isn’t an easy subject to successfully carry
off and Perry does it pretty well.
What disappointed me was that there were
times I felt like the author couldn’t decide if she was writing a thriller, a
romance or a young adult. Not that you
can’t have all three wrapped up in one good story—it was the jarring shifts
from one genre to another without blending them that had me rolling my eyes a
few times—mainly at the times the story slid into a young adult. Vicky is a forty-something adult woman, the
Empress of Germany and she will suddenly come across like a sixteen year old
with a high school crush. The elements
just didn’t blend together all that well.
You do need to suspect belief in terms of
Vicky and Thomas meeting in the first place—but their relationship does move along
so you do want them to find a way to be together.
As this is not a series there is no
definitive order to the books. I would,
however, recommend reading THE WILD
PRINCESS first because it is a much better told story and showcases Ms.
Perry’s writing far better than THE
SHADOW PRINCESS.
This is an objective review and not an endorsement of
this book.
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