Review of Love Storm

Love Storm (Russian Series/Kuzan Family #1)

by Susan Johnson

2.5 Starts of 5

 

Description:

Desperate to avoid a loathsome match, Zena Turku ran from the glittering ballroom into a snowy night—and threw herself on the mercy of a darkly handsome stranger. He was her only hope of escape, her one guarantee of safe passage to her home in the Causasus Mountains. But Prince Alexander Kuzan mistook the alluring redhead for a lady of the evening, the perfect plaything to relieve the boredom of his country journey.
Only after her exquisite innocence was revealed did the most notorious rake in St. Petersburg realize that his delicious game of seduction had turned into a conquest of his heart.

(From Goodreads) 

Review: 

I wanted to love this book, since I have read a few of Susan Johnson's books in the past and really enjoyed them. However, this books was just...bad. The premise/plot was nice and typical for a historical romance but I could just not get into the characters or their "romance."

Zena is a nice girl (and I do mean girl as in immature) who wants nothing to do with the man her aunt had selected for her to wed. Her goal, escape her impending doom, take her younger brother and try to find their grandfather. She happens to meet Prince Alex while they are both fleeing from the same party. 

As with most historicals, the hero tends to be a rake. Well, Prince Alex is an extreme case. He had slept with so many women before he met Zena and continued to hook up with other women through out the book. The hero completely disregarded the heroine's feelings, being the selfish, self-serving man that he was. 

Zena is the meekest heroine I have ever come across while Alex is the most awful hero. Truthfully, I did not like either character. The romance is cold, as in nearly nonexistent. Zena falls for him early on then, after he treats her poorly, sleeps around, Zena runs away twice. After she leaves for the second time (and he proceeds to sleep around some more) he finally decides (after she had been absent for months and not even mentioned for about 2 chapters) that he needs to find her because he loves her. In the end, she takes him back and he doesn't even no any groveling.

When I finished this book, I was disappointed and irritated. 

However, I do have another of Susan Johnson's books waiting on my self and I will read it. Like I said, I have enjoyed a few of her works and I will not write this author off because of this one bad experience.