Desire's Prize (The Chronicles of Claerwhen) Paperback – December 23, 2013

Desire's Prize is a medieval rather than Stephanie Lauren's normal Regencies. Thus, the pseudonym M.S. Laurens. The main characters in the story Alaun and Eloise are strong, confident characters.The reader is first introduced to Alaun and Eloise at Eloise's marriage at the age of 15. Alaun is one of the wedding guests. During Eloise's short marriage, she is tormented, abused and degraded by her husband. After her husband's death, she spends the next nine years first living at a convent and then serving as chatelaine for her father's castle.At a tournament that her father hosts, she meets Alaun, the Earl of Montisfryn. Alaun is instantly attracted to Eloise and quickly comes to admire her intelligence, strength and skills as a chatelaine. Being under the edict of the king to marry soon, Alaun decides that Eloise will do nicely as a wife. Eloise, haunted the her short marriage, has decided to never again marry and has rejected many suitors brought to her by her father. Alaun, determined to have Eloise, engages in a wager with her father over her person. If he wins the tournament, Eloise will be placed in his care as his chatelaine and run his castle.That is where the story starts. I found the story very engaging. Until the last portion of the book there is not much action, but I found that I loved the slow courtship that Alaun and Eloise engage in. Laurens allows the characters to build up trust and caring between them. It makes the relationship more realistic and interesting.The drama of the story mostly comes from Eloise's history and her fears. Alaun is a confident, caring man from the start. He respects Eloise and is not threatened by her intelligence, her sharp tongue or her strength. From the start, he is attracted to her because of these reasons and there is far more discussion of her personality and character than of her beauty.Towards the end of the book, there is some drama caused by outside forces, but I truly appreciate a book where the characters are not ninnies wallowing in misunderstandings and weakness. These characters are strong and their relationship grows from that strength. Eloise's fears are present, but she deals with them with intelligence, rational thought and strength.It should be obvious that I really like strong characters. Apparently, this story was written several years ago and is only now being published. The story and romance is more classic than many books I have read in the last several years.I recommend this book and give it 4 stars.Note on my ratings system:5 stars (I only give 5 stars for books I have read multiple times and would read again and again -- a true keeper)4 stars (4 stars is a book, I like a lot but lacks that extra special quality or a book I really love but have only read once)3 stars (a decent book that I enjoyed at the time but probably wouldn't read again)2 stars (book I couldn't finish or didn't like)1 star (yuck)

I felt this book was excellent so far as details and they were so rich you could smell the rushes on the floor and hear the armor clanking! It was a lesson in history and very good at giving a feeling of living in that age.My main problem was that is seems plot came in second to getting in very detailed sex scenes. The most sensual novel I've read, had the characters circling each other and never had sex till the last scene in the book!This one you feel for the heroine and you understand why she acts as she does. I really have my doubts that in this age when the majority of men thought it smart to beat their wives once a week to keep them in line and even the church said women should suffer for the sins of Eve----this hero had very modern ideas and was not an example of the thinking of this day (I believe).BUT Ms.Laurens has spun her usual web that catches the reader and you must finish this book once you pick it up, and you enjoy it very much. I did feel that the heroine ran away once too often but it fit in with the book's plot perfectly.

Wish the author wrote more like this, I loved that it happened in medieval times, I loved that the heroine was strong but had softness to her character not argumentative and overly stubborn, she made a couple of mistakes she learned quickly. The hero was fantastic strong and patient loved her from the start and gave her time to figure out that he was trust worthy. There is plenty of smex. It is done well, this book is about two individuals finding each other the story is fun there is some threats but the focus is on the couple and they are refreshingly open with each other so their misunderstandings are resolved without endless useless drama and angst. As I said this book is smexier than normal but it is so worth it, tired cotton candy and pink unicorns with the authors as a rule, wish they would write with more courage and less political correctness at least release 2 versions one rated PG and one rate R+ should be possible with digital releases , just a thought. Enjoy, I did.

I loved this book! This is the Stephanie Laurens writing style that I first feel in love with. Don't get me wrong - I like her new stuff - but this is classic. It is not as wordy and it is much steamier than her current work.I read the authors note and see that this book was written between Captain Jacks Lady and Devils Bride (my personal favorite) and it has the protective/possessive hero/warrior with a strong yet feminine heroine.Alaun the hero in the story reminds me of Devil - he sees Eloise and decides then and there that she and only she will be his wife. Eloise is a widow currently acting as her fathers chatelaine - I am not sure that I believe that in 1347 a widow had the right to decide if she was to remarry or not - but for the sake of the story I went with it.Once Alaun makes a wager with Eloise's father to "win" her all bets are off and the fun beginsI hope Ms Laurens decides to write another medieval story - because this one was fantastic !

Not historically accurate, but who cares. It does give a flavour of some aspects of life and happily it had a intriguing underlying storyline with sensual overtones.

I have all of Stephanie Laurens books and have thoroughly enjoyed all of them……until now. To say this was tedious is an understatement. There just didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. Her previous books had plenty of romance but also plots and adventures outside the bedroom. I don't think I'll buy the next one in the series (if there is one).

Great book

Stephanie Laurens never disapoints. Her books are the ones that always takes you back to whichever era she writes about. Wonderful stories.

Please remember potatoes were not available in the Middle Ages in Europe! Not as good as the first 5 books in Cynster serIes