Review: Good for Romance, Not the Historical
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 25, 2013
PictureThis was the boxed set I got pulling the stories of the Cuvier widows together. The books start out with the death of the husband as each woman finds out in a span of minutes that they are widowed and they are not the only wives. The shock sends them all into disbelief, anger, and confusion as to what to do with the rest of their lives.Each of the books comes from the point of view of the three widows. The first book, Wronged, is from the mind of the legal wife who has given the bigamist two children. Betrayed is from the second wife who just finds out she is to give her dear husband a child as she finds out he is dead and not her legal husband. Beguiled is from the young, innocent wife who was forced to marry the bigamist and is accused of his murder.The stories flow at a comfortable pace: not too fast or too slow. The storyline idea is very unique. The beginnings of the second and third book seemed a little boring, but I really struggle with stories that go over the same scenes from different points of view. That is just something personal and isn't reflected in the rating.Characters were unique though there were not a large amount of them. Many were just on the edges and come in when needed. I do think the characters could have had a little more depth but they were pretty close.From an historical standpoint, I really struggled seeing the stories set in the period they were placed. I think it was because there was so little in the way of description of the world including clothing, houses, and such. As they moved through the scenes, I saw them in modern times which threw me for a loop when something would reference the late 1800s. These are historical fiction stories, but if you are big fans of this genre you will be disappointed. This is where I felt the story really fell short from being great.Good concept, interesting story, good characters, more of a romance than a mystery, and lacking in the historical area. If you like romances, I do suggest you give these stories a try.Note: I received this book from participating in a book tour with no expectation of a positive review.