Another hit from Katharine Ashe. While this is a series book this can definitely stand alone.
Great character development, this one was hard to put down from page one to the end.
Definitely 5 stars and would recommend to friends. ( )

Made several top 10 lists. I thought it was ok. Got better as I got into it. She's brilliant, but OCD? Panic attacks? Disguised as a boy to become a surgeon in Edinburgh. He's a displaced royal in hiding, painting pictures as he bides his time to retake crown. Ultimately, he chooses the girl. Part of a series. Maybe I'll read the others? Would not own these. ( )

Look. Sometimes someone says the words "neuroatypical/OCD-aligned heroine pretends to be a man to study medicine, and falls for the peg-legged foreign portrait artist who is her closest co-conspirator and also secretly a prince" and it doesn't matter that it's book 4 in a series, you drop what you are doing and read that book. Even if you stay up until 5 am. Especially if both hero and heroine turn out to be kind and generous and gifted and trying so hard. Have GOT to read more by this author now. ( )

Katharine Ashe’s writing is smart, sexy and sophisticated. Her story is unique, thoroughly plotted and she stays on-point throughout. I love that the story takes place over a long period of time – if you count the epilogue it is about forty years. The love that develops is the slow and enduring kind – yes, they were attracted to each other physically, but they actually got to know each other. I also loved that he was an honorable man – he kept telling her ‘no’ and avoiding her because he was so attracted to her and he knew nothing could come of their relationship. The heartbreak is palpable and I was sure that we wouldn’t see an HEA for our couple – I mean goodness – I was practically at the end of the book.

I really liked Ziyaeddin Mirza, AKA Ibrahim Kent, who is a Prince, in exile, of the small country of Tabir. He is a totally honorable man and is supporting himself as a portraitist while he is waiting for England’s government to assist him in taking his country back from the general who murdered Ziyaeddin’s parents and took over. Ziyaeddin is also a gifted portraitist – his eye sees beyond the flesh to the person underneath and that is what is reflected in his portraits.

Elizabeth (Libby) Shaw, AKA Joseph Smart, is a driven lady – she has to become a surgeon at all costs. Her father is a renowned forensic surgeon and they have lived all over England – wherever his rich and powerful patients resided. Libby has an anxiety disorder of some sort (and frankly she gave me one too). My friend described it this way – I hope she doesn’t mind that I’m borrowing her description, but it is just absolutely a perfect description of Libby -- imagine Temperance Brennan from Bones and Adrian Monk have a love child - that is Libby.

Ziyaeddin had met Libby a couple of years ago (in the last book). She is astonished when she sees him at an anatomy lecture she is attending. She’s dressed as a male, but she’s still afraid he might recognize her and call her out for dressing that way. However, he says nothing and leaves. He did recognize her – he’d recognize her however she was dressed – he was fascinated by her mouth and could never draw it just right.

Libby’s father is living in London for a year and she will be staying with a friend in Edinburgh. She sees this as the perfect opportunity to pursue her dream of becoming a surgeon. She’ll dress as a man and enroll in the program. She’s already more knowledgeable than most of the professors, but she can’t practice without a certificate. Now – I’m not sure what she thought she was going to do AFTER she got her certificate – was she going to dress as a man forever? Society would never have allowed her to practice as a woman. I’m not saying that is fair – I’m just saying that was the time she lives in. It would have been a huge scandal and she would have been ostracized.

Once her decision was made, she managed to convince all of her friends AND Ziyaeddin to support her. Her friends helped her cover with her family so they didn’t realize what was happening and Ziyaeddin allowed her to live in his home as a male tenant.

Over time, Ziyaeddin shares his secrets with Libby – his true name, family history and how he came to be living in Edinburgh. They draw closer and closer – Libby embraces it, but Ziyaeddin fights it. He doesn’t deny it – he just fights acting on those passions.

The defining moment comes when a nasty rumor is started and Ziyaeddin’s life is at stake. Can Libby set him free? Can she sacrifice everything to save him? Is there another solution?

I thought this story was unique, but I do have to confess that I thought it was pretty wordy. I found myself thinking “get on with it” on a number of occasions and skimming pages at a time. I’m not saying it wasn’t a good story because it was, it could have just been several chapters shorter.

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"I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher." ( )

Soul-shatteringly romantic, this incredible tale is filled with endless amounts of passion, devastating heart-ache and a happily-ever-after for the ages. A true love story that will leave readers smiling with tears in their eyes at the end.

Determined to follow her dream of becoming a surgeon and keenly aware that she'll never be permitted to do so as a woman, Libby Shaw decides to disguise herself as a man. But when a portrait artist known as The Turk recognizes her for the woman she is, she realizes that maintaining anonymity will not be as easy as she initially thought and that she may need an ally to help her with her ruse. Falling in love was never her plan, but not doing so soon becomes as unavoidable as pursuing the education she so desperately craves.

When the woman whose lips have haunted Ziyaeddin for the last three years appears as a man at a surgical lecture, he is intrigued. When she begs him to keep her secret, offering herself as his subject in exchange for his help, he cannot resist the temptation. Especially since he knows what it is to live a secret life, exiled as he is from his homeland, a royal prince disguised as an artist. But he knows responsibility awaits him in Tabir and that he will soon be called on to do his duty, making the fierce attraction he feels toward Libby a dangerous distraction he must resist at all cost.

Katharine Ashe is exceptional. She possesses the extraordinary ability to render complex human emotion on the pages of her novels, and The Prince is no exception. A story that stands apart from the rest in its uniqueness, this is one romance readers will not want to miss and one that I would highly recommend! ( )