Urgh. What can I say? There was many a reason why I didn’t want to read this book from the offset:
1) Can we please take a moment to look at the cover?
I am aware that there are rules about judging books by their covers, but we all do it. The soft focus, the insipid look on the girls face, THE ROSE!! Not a cover that draws me in!
2) Still on the cover – can we please take a moment to notice that this is billed as ‘A Romantic Saga’? I can’t say this genre really floats my boat.
3) This is the first book on the list I’ve never heard of. And no one I spoke to whilst reading it had heard of it either, which in a list of people’s favourite books did not bode well for me!
4) As a buyer of second hand books (thank you Charity shops and Amazon marketplace – yes I’m saving the planet one book at a time) the telling tale of a less than enjoyable read by the previous owner is a bookmark/corner turn on an early page. Or look at where the creased spine stops to see how far Mr Previous Owner got in their reading. In this case it was a measly page 45 out of 573 pages (I know the amount of pages off by heart as I kept looking to see how much I had to go – not a good sign!)
So, with all these points in mind, I was less that thrilled to have to read this. But I did. And I got much further than page 45 thankfully, and actually finished it. But it was a hard slog and I couldn’t wait for it to end.
The novel is historical fiction based on the real events of a girl of lowly stock who falls in love with a Duke. They can’t marry for whatever reason(s) and she ends up marrying someone who is awful who then dies (murdered! Gasp!) And then she basically lives in sin with the Duke. Everyone knows about it but no one really cares as this was the norm in the 14th Century apparently. Thank god I was not a woman in these times. Basically nothing of note happens FOR AGES. There is a lot of swooning and longing glances and well to do people at court and forbidden love and what not. Then at about page 400 some interesting things happen involving rampaging, bloody gruesome murders, heads on sticks and exiles. This part is actually pretty grim but eventful! You do however have to put your time in to get to the good stuff, and had I not had this challenge to do, I would not have made it this far.
The novel covers many 14th century politics and events, which if I was interested in these times, I would probably have found interesting. But sadly I’m not. The character of Katherine is two dimensional, she basically has zero character flaws even though she is not really the best human being around, but she is forgiven everything by the characters she encounters as she is very beautiful. Although she does represent a pretty strong woman for the 1300’s which is kind of refreshing at times. Although at others I found myself rolling my eyes – a lot.
So although I was not overjoyed with this book, it was readable but I often had to force myself to read it. I would not recommend this I have to say. But hey, if historical romantic sagas are your thing, then perhaps this is the book for you…
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Two rather exciting things happened during the last month with concerns to this blog – first, my lovely ladies Liz, Sally, Kate and Jo all got me a Kindle for my birthday. Exciting! I must admit, I was a total naysayer about e-readers, however sat with one in my hand that was actually mine I was SO EXCITED! I have already started my next book on it and its sooooo good and very handy! It’s light so I don’t have to break my back lugging around my massive tomes and you can read with one hand! At any angle! Oh I love love love! And there are so many free books available too. I still love the touch and feel of a real book, and I will still continue to buy books I love which I want on my bookshelf, but I also love the ease of this for everyday life.
And secondly, my lovely sister came to visit and gave me 45 of the books on my list which had been dutifully scoured from the charity shops of Whitchurch. Take a peak at them below. Phew wee! I better get reading! And this isn’t even half of them! So my future reading adventures will be a mix of both Kindle and books. Hurrah!
Happy reading!
x
