elusivity's review against another edition
1.0
The good: Above-average writing. A good sense of historical setting. I could feel the dirt and smell the grime. The last third of the book settles into something resembles a true loving relationship. --Well, if it were badly written, I would not have felt the urge to at least skim this to the end, and would have been spared much finger-trembling rage. GARH!
The bad: the forcing together of a harsh, autocratic man and a "feisty" woman, in which they have nothing in common aside from all kinds of quivering at his touch and frequent f*cking, in which he grinds her down and she loves him for it -- oo little wife, how you defy me, but look, I will conquer you completely both in reality AND in bed, "cupping your sex" while I berate you to make my point that you still get wet. Aside from their frequent sex trysts, what reason has she to feel compassion for him and his crappy childhood? Has he shown her any particular kindness or worth, or is restraint from violence sufficient to woo her oh-so-soft-yet-feisty heart? But nooo, this was Destined and Meant To Be, and their Connection was evident when first they set eyes on each other, and she will eventually Crack his Hard Shell and teach him the Joy of Love. Again and again and again. I kept thinking, ok, another argument, another bout of sex, feels like an ending, wha--ANOTHER argument, another bout of sex, whoa--ANOTHER... ad infinitum.
All this, plus the poor bastardization of Taliesin, Welsh mystic wizard-bard that he was, into some kind of a comic sidekick boy-matchmaker.
The loathsome: several sex scenes in the first 2/3 of this novel borders on rape, all described as though they were delicious. YMMV, but I find such couplings repellent and hateful.
I SHOULD give this 2 stars for the ending... but no. I DISLIKE 2/3 of this book. Dislike. So there!
The bad: the forcing together of a harsh, autocratic man and a "feisty" woman, in which they have nothing in common aside from all kinds of quivering at his touch and frequent f*cking, in which he grinds her down and she loves him for it -- oo little wife, how you defy me, but look, I will conquer you completely both in reality AND in bed, "cupping your sex" while I berate you to make my point that you still get wet. Aside from their frequent sex trysts, what reason has she to feel compassion for him and his crappy childhood? Has he shown her any particular kindness or worth, or is restraint from violence sufficient to woo her oh-so-soft-yet-feisty heart? But nooo, this was Destined and Meant To Be, and their Connection was evident when first they set eyes on each other, and she will eventually Crack his Hard Shell and teach him the Joy of Love. Again and again and again. I kept thinking, ok, another argument, another bout of sex, feels like an ending, wha--ANOTHER argument, another bout of sex, whoa--ANOTHER... ad infinitum.
All this, plus the poor bastardization of Taliesin, Welsh mystic wizard-bard that he was, into some kind of a comic sidekick boy-matchmaker.
The loathsome: several sex scenes in the first 2/3 of this novel borders on rape, all described as though they were delicious. YMMV, but I find such couplings repellent and hateful.
I SHOULD give this 2 stars for the ending... but no. I DISLIKE 2/3 of this book. Dislike. So there!
ninasimonek00's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
gonturans's review against another edition
2.0
aggressively mediocre and it sucks that all of these conflicts have to be solved by the heroine begging the hero to believe her that she's not in cahoots with her shitty family. she deserved the hero g r o v e l i n g
juliereadsromance's review against another edition
5.0
Truly, one of the best books I’ve ever read. I loved every page of this story.
littlebookjockey's review against another edition
2.0
This had every opportunity to be a beautiful story—alas, it was not. A wishy-washy person cannot be loyal, and Arianna changed sides so many times that she lost every hope of my believing in her trustworthiness in the end. She asks Raine to trust her...only to keep life-or-death secrets from him, knowingly aiding and abetting her cousins who want to kill him. It's like she doesn't realize that not only will her husband be hurt, but she and all of his people will also suffer. The most unbelievable thing about this book isn't the magical aspect; it's that Raine never killed Arianna for all the times she betrayed him.
Overall, they're both idiots and jerks, but Raine deserved better.
(Note: There's an antisemitic section featuring a Jewish moneylender with gold teeth and even strips of gold tied into his beard that comes seemingly out of nowhere...)
Overall, they're both idiots and jerks, but Raine deserved better.
(Note: There's an antisemitic section featuring a Jewish moneylender with gold teeth and even strips of gold tied into his beard that comes seemingly out of nowhere...)
kgroberts13's review against another edition
2.0
*spoiler* The first love scene was tantamount to rape: the "you'll like this once I force this on you" kind.
And the Merlin/magical page boy character was just plain obnoxious.
And the Merlin/magical page boy character was just plain obnoxious.
drunkandreading's review against another edition
5.0
French perversions are the best.
Historical Romance with a heavy dose of Fantasy.
Historical Romance with a heavy dose of Fantasy.
whiskeyinthejar's review against another edition
5.0
You guys! Another older favorite of mine is only .99 right now! This is on my keeper shelf, it's a medieval, and only .99! Admittedly, I haven't read it in a few years now so I can't promise it holds up but it is a medieval and it is only .99!
Amazon Link
Amazon Link