Prince of Thieves by Melinda McRae

I used to have the bad habit of reading one good book by an author, and then going nuts and buying up every book the author had ever written. That's how I ended up with such a huge TBR pile. Sometimes it pays off, but more often, it turns out that most of the books in the author's back list just aren't to my taste. One example was Melinda McRae - I loved, loved, loved Sweet Rewards, but I found her other books to be dull at best. This was the last one that still remained in my TBR.

Prince of Thieves by Melinda McRae
(1994, Regency Historical) 4/24/08
Grade: 3

Jack Derry is about to be hanged as a thief, when he’s saved by Honoria Sterling, who needs him to steal a necklace from her uncle. The necklace should have been hers, and she plans to use the proceeds to save herself from destitution. Jack just wants to stay out of jail and escape his troubled past, but he finds Norry more and more attractive.

A book with an interesting premise and sympathetic characters that lost its way in a very dull and saggy middle section. Jack was a particularly interesting character, and I appreciated his relief at being saved from death, and his regret over his past mistakes. Honoria was also well drawn, if not quite as interesting. But then everyone headed to the house party, and it was chapter after chapter of searching for the necklace, scheming about the necklace, talking about the necklace, blah blah blah. Any character development also seemed to stall. The book finally picked up steam again near the end, although the resolution was rather stereotypical. This really could have been an interesting book, but it was more disappointing than anything else.

I haven't reread Sweet Rewards since I first read it back in 1996. Now I'm a little afraid to - would it hold up? Or would it seem as blah to me now as this book did?