The supposed hero was a one-dimensional construct. The heroine was a child, despite her age, and never matured which made the hero come off as even less than heroic. The person that will undoubtedly become a villain or conveniently die in one of the next books, Phillipe, was actually more of a hero both in dimension and actions. He's pretty much doomed, you can read that between the lines. The wife will either croak after producing an heir or turn in to a witch despite being the woman wronged. I won't be reading the rest of the series to find out. Alas, the writing was all tell, little show, even the food and wine were flat. There was no historical sense of France or England, no transitional adjustments, heroine's realizations did nothing to develop her character or mature her along the way. Aside from locations and details that didn't advance the character development or keep me in the story, there was little to recommend this book.  It was rather like reading wikipedia with imaginary examples.  Everyone justifies their actions even knowing they're wrong and by the end of the book I wanted a hot shower and to forget it all. Formatting was fine, complete sentences used, and no obvious grammatical/ typo errors, though a couple anachronisms jerked me from the story, which is why it received 2 stars from me.
The supposed hero was a one-dimensional construct. The heroine was a child, despite her age, and never matured which made the hero come off as even less than heroic. The person that will undoubtedly become a villain or conveniently die in one of the next books, Phillipe, was actually more of a hero both in dimension and actions. He's pretty much doomed, you can read that between the lines. The wife will either croak after producing an heir or turn in to a witch despite being the woman wronged. I won't be reading the rest of the series to find out. Alas, the writing was all tell, little show, even the food and wine were flat. There was no historical sense of France or England, no transitional adjustments, heroine's realizations did nothing to develop her character or mature her along the way. Aside from locations and details that didn't advance the character development or keep me in the story, there was little to recommend this book. It was rather like reading wikipedia with imaginary examples. Everyone justifies their actions even knowing they're wrong and by the end of the book I wanted a hot shower and to forget it all. Formatting was fine, complete sentences used, and no obvious grammatical/ typo errors, though a couple anachronisms jerked me from the story, which is why it received 2 stars from me.