Review: Too much "willing suspension of disbelief" required
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 09 30, 2013
The first two pages were a good teaser for a bargain book, which is why I bought the it, but if it were paper, I would not keep it.Alas, this book is all right as far as style goes, and the author can handle describing details  However, the rest - ploto and characterization is far too much like fanfic beta read by friends who don't want to hurt a friend's feelings.  It could have been a very good read, had the editors required the author to do a reality check.  Or three.  I hope the author continues writing, but thinks more about plausibility.  I recommend the author find a copy of Susanne Alleyn's recent "Medieval Underpants and Other Blunders" before submitting her next book.  It's $3.98 on Kindle.If one improbable thing is used as a plot device, and the author explains it, I will think about it and then "rate" the rest of the book on other factors: writing style, accuracy of detail (particularly important for historicals), what the characters are like (do they feel "real," are they so ditsy as to become obnoxious -- which is not a factor here) and so forth.What ruined it for me was that the plot depends on too many wildly improbable plot devices - actions and situations which which do NOT fit the period it was set in.  I won't reveal them - no spoilers here - but I counted the three main characters (female lead, male lead, and secondary male lead) constantly acting so far out of period as to make me think they were from an alternate universe.The most egregious was so bad that I would have thrown the book across the room if it were paper.  NO, and I repeat, NO real woman of that period, who was invited to the home of a high-ranking noble (or any other man, for that matter) to be "screened" as a bride, would have taken her brother's breeches along so she could sneak a ride astride.  Unless she intended to create a scandal so damaging to her reputation as to escape an unwanted marriage, this would be ruinous and she would most likely face a future as a single woman in an age where marriage was all too often necessary for survival.  And even then, the author would have had to really work to convincingly explain why this disastrous course was necessary.Another old and very tired plot device was used to explain the main male character's place in society.  The motive given for the persons who placed him in his position were not convincing.And the "explanation" for the male character's suspicious actions at the beginning of the book fell really flat. What he did could well have been done in a much more plausible way, while still maintaining the tension.