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katiev's review
3.0
How to rate this one? It really deserves a 4 for the writing and extreme amount of historical research Graham did, but there were factors that definitely detracted from my enjoyment. This is probably more of a 3 for me.
Warning: There is a rape scene and forced seduction between the H/h.
As bodice rippers go, I thought the scenes between the H/h were fairly mild. He didn't smack her around. Odd that I can easily deal with a rape/forced seduction scenario in a romance, but be very upset if the H smacks the heroine. Ahh the mysteries of the human psyche...
Anyway, here's the gist with spoilers and whinings on my issues.
The heroine, Kyra, is 1/2 English 1/2 Scottish and lives in a castle in the Scottish borderlands that her English father had held successfully and peacefully for years. I suppose since his wife was a Scott and he was a fair man, the tenants were ok with things. Then he dies and King Edward I promises her in marriage to one of his favorite Barons who happens to be VERY supportive of Edward's quest to control Scotland.
The betrothed, Kinsey, is a real bastard of the raping, pillaging, burning sort. After the hero, Arryn, kills one of his kinsmen in a fair fight he uses it as an excuse to burn down his holdings after raping his pregnant wife and leaving her inside to burn along with many of his clan. Arryn is away at the time helping fellow Scotts against the English.
Arryn (along with the remaining members of his clan) is horrified, grieved, eaten up with survivor's guilt, and extremely vengeful.
He attacks Kyra's home because he believes her betrothed is in residence, when actually he had recently left with all his men. Since Kyra's men were not equal to Arryn's, she orders them to surrender after very little fighting.
Arryn sees Kyra as an extension of Kinsey. In his mind, she loves the man and supports what he does. He's also infuriated that Kinsey has slipped through his fingers, so he does the "next best thing". He rapes his betrothed. I think the book does a good job of exploring the attitudes of the time, that a woman is just property and not a person in her own right but an extension of a man. The heroine definitely challenges Arryn with that notion and you can tell it makes him think and therefore makes him very uncomfortable and sometimes angry. Bottom line, his vengeance was not quite as satisfying as he thought it would be and he is left feeling guilty and conflicted.
Arryn and his men find Kyra fascinating. She's beautiful and tough, yet very beloved by her Scottish tenants. They start to believe that all is not as they assumed. That maybe Kyra does not support Kinsey. Early on you can tell that both of them are developing unwanted feelings for one another.
I did feel for Arryn, even though I wanted to smack him at times. He loved Kyra (although he kept it secret and told her he never would).
His wife had been brutally murdered by Kyra's betrothed and now he finds himself more deeply in love with her than he ever was with his wife. It wasn't that he didn't love his first wife. They had known one another since childhood, but they didn't share the passionate intensity that he had with Kyra. He hated himself for that. He hated himself for being away when his holdings were attacked. Part of him didn't believe he deserved any happiness and certainly not with the betrothed of the person who killed his wife.
Also, he didn't believe he had anything to offer Kyra. He knew he couldn't keep the castle. Edward would eventually come after him and take it back. He was now a declared outlaw under sentence of death. Then when he realizes that Kyra is basically in the same position since Kinsey only saw her as a tool and didn't love her. Arryn's in a real mess and feeling even MORE guilt about the entire mess. He can't leave Kyra to be forced to marry Kinsey and then most likely have a mysterious "accident" soon after.
No, Arryn does not grovel to Kyra and I'm sure that's a source of irritation for some. In historical context, he didn't see his sins in the same light as we do. He raped her, yes, but he wasn't brutal. He'd taken the castle. She was part of the castle. That's how it was done. He sees his actions in the light of what Kinsey did and justifies that he's nowhere near as bad. But, he does feel guilt and even though there's no grovel his actions show it. He was determined to protect her from Kinsey.
This is what bugged me so much about the book.
#1. it is far, far into the book before Kyra admits that she hates Kinsey. She never wanted to marry him, etc. Arryn gave her ample opportunity to do so, because he was quite obviously jealous. I just don't understand why in the midst of one of the sessions of blaming her for Kinsey's sins that she didn't just say "yeah, dude's a bastard. I hate him. The king said I had to marry him. What the hell did you expect me to do?". Edward I wasn't exactly nice when defied. I realize Arryn might not have believed her, but still...
Also, Arryn should have thought about it. She was a young woman who after her father's death became ward of the King. Her property is in a strategic spot on the border of a country the King is determined to bring under heel. Doesn't it make sense that he would find her a very strategic match? It wasn't like young ladies of her station were allowed to go out and find a love match. Obviously, Arryn needed an outlet for his vengeance, but I don't understand why an otherwise intelligent man couldn't just use his damn brain and put two and two together. What did he expect her to do?
#2. All the history info dumps. This is YMMV, but I prefer my history to be a bit more seamless and honestly a bit more in the background in a historical romance. If there's something that interests me I'll go look it up to get more historical detail afterwards. This was filled with long conversations and internal dialogue about the current political atmosphere and often in odd places. Like the long discussion about William Wallace and Edward I just after the rape scene.
#3. The end. It was not a HEA. It was definitely a HFN. They married and Arryn held the castle for the moment, but he was running with William Wallace. Just ask Mel Gibson, that didn't end well. Arryn knew they'd end up having to run and hide in the Highlands eventually at the very least. It's hard to tell what actually befell the couple. Yes, that's historically accurate and not a crazy twisting of history to make a pretty HEA. But I like my pretty HEAs. That's why I read romance.
Warning: There is a rape scene and forced seduction between the H/h.
As bodice rippers go, I thought the scenes between the H/h were fairly mild. He didn't smack her around. Odd that I can easily deal with a rape/forced seduction scenario in a romance, but be very upset if the H smacks the heroine. Ahh the mysteries of the human psyche...
Anyway, here's the gist with spoilers and whinings on my issues.
The betrothed, Kinsey, is a real bastard of the raping, pillaging, burning sort. After the hero, Arryn, kills one of his kinsmen in a fair fight he uses it as an excuse to burn down his holdings after raping his pregnant wife and leaving her inside to burn along with many of his clan. Arryn is away at the time helping fellow Scotts against the English.
Arryn (along with the remaining members of his clan) is horrified, grieved, eaten up with survivor's guilt, and extremely vengeful.
He attacks Kyra's home because he believes her betrothed is in residence, when actually he had recently left with all his men. Since Kyra's men were not equal to Arryn's, she orders them to surrender after very little fighting.
Arryn sees Kyra as an extension of Kinsey. In his mind, she loves the man and supports what he does. He's also infuriated that Kinsey has slipped through his fingers, so he does the "next best thing". He rapes his betrothed. I think the book does a good job of exploring the attitudes of the time, that a woman is just property and not a person in her own right but an extension of a man. The heroine definitely challenges Arryn with that notion and you can tell it makes him think and therefore makes him very uncomfortable and sometimes angry. Bottom line, his vengeance was not quite as satisfying as he thought it would be and he is left feeling guilty and conflicted.
Arryn and his men find Kyra fascinating. She's beautiful and tough, yet very beloved by her Scottish tenants. They start to believe that all is not as they assumed. That maybe Kyra does not support Kinsey. Early on you can tell that both of them are developing unwanted feelings for one another.
I did feel for Arryn, even though I wanted to smack him at times. He loved Kyra (although he kept it secret and told her he never would).
His wife had been brutally murdered by Kyra's betrothed and now he finds himself more deeply in love with her than he ever was with his wife. It wasn't that he didn't love his first wife. They had known one another since childhood, but they didn't share the passionate intensity that he had with Kyra. He hated himself for that. He hated himself for being away when his holdings were attacked. Part of him didn't believe he deserved any happiness and certainly not with the betrothed of the person who killed his wife.
Also, he didn't believe he had anything to offer Kyra. He knew he couldn't keep the castle. Edward would eventually come after him and take it back. He was now a declared outlaw under sentence of death. Then when he realizes that Kyra is basically in the same position since Kinsey only saw her as a tool and didn't love her. Arryn's in a real mess and feeling even MORE guilt about the entire mess. He can't leave Kyra to be forced to marry Kinsey and then most likely have a mysterious "accident" soon after.
No, Arryn does not grovel to Kyra and I'm sure that's a source of irritation for some. In historical context, he didn't see his sins in the same light as we do. He raped her, yes, but he wasn't brutal. He'd taken the castle. She was part of the castle. That's how it was done. He sees his actions in the light of what Kinsey did and justifies that he's nowhere near as bad. But, he does feel guilt and even though there's no grovel his actions show it. He was determined to protect her from Kinsey.
This is what bugged me so much about the book.
#1. it is far, far into the book before Kyra admits that she hates Kinsey. She never wanted to marry him, etc. Arryn gave her ample opportunity to do so, because he was quite obviously jealous. I just don't understand why in the midst of one of the sessions of blaming her for Kinsey's sins that she didn't just say "yeah, dude's a bastard. I hate him. The king said I had to marry him. What the hell did you expect me to do?". Edward I wasn't exactly nice when defied. I realize Arryn might not have believed her, but still...
Also, Arryn should have thought about it. She was a young woman who after her father's death became ward of the King. Her property is in a strategic spot on the border of a country the King is determined to bring under heel. Doesn't it make sense that he would find her a very strategic match? It wasn't like young ladies of her station were allowed to go out and find a love match. Obviously, Arryn needed an outlet for his vengeance, but I don't understand why an otherwise intelligent man couldn't just use his damn brain and put two and two together. What did he expect her to do?
#2. All the history info dumps. This is YMMV, but I prefer my history to be a bit more seamless and honestly a bit more in the background in a historical romance. If there's something that interests me I'll go look it up to get more historical detail afterwards. This was filled with long conversations and internal dialogue about the current political atmosphere and often in odd places. Like the long discussion about William Wallace and Edward I just after the rape scene.
#3. The end. It was not a HEA. It was definitely a HFN. They married and Arryn held the castle for the moment, but he was running with William Wallace. Just ask Mel Gibson, that didn't end well. Arryn knew they'd end up having to run and hide in the Highlands eventually at the very least. It's hard to tell what actually befell the couple. Yes, that's historically accurate and not a crazy twisting of history to make a pretty HEA. But I like my pretty HEAs. That's why I read romance.
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