Review: Quick, enjoyable, informative.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 25, 2013
This was a sweet, sentimental and satisfying story-- no real surprises, but it had vivid characters moving against a solidly depicted backdrop. Traditions were described smoothly and naturally, in the same tone and flow as the story itself; so, while interesting and informative, it avoids the pitfall of sounding like a dry medieval catalog of props and raiment. As it moved seamlessly from weddings to hunts, tournaments to trysts, the fast-paced narrative drew me in and kept me looking forward to what happened next.I found the heroine especially refreshing in that, while "strong", she did not fly in the face of tradition and defy all gender roles set down by the time. So many historical romances with a fiery or spirited female lead end up blithely ignoring societal rules that would be inconvenient, in order for the character to be more relative to women in the author's modern day audience, I suppose. I felt that the way Kate was depicted in this book more accurately reflected the life, expectations and aspirations a woman in her time would have had. No, she was not particularly wise or mature; but these flaws added to the realism, for me.I would have liked to see Rafe's character developed a bit more, but again... his single-mindedness and particularly male way of dealing with problems most likely represented very well the men of his time. He drew extremely straight lines in order to get from "this is what I want" to "this is what I have".An uncomplicated, quick read that I found altogether pleasant. 4 stars seemed too few, but 5 stars isn't precisely accurate either... so I opted to err on the positive. I appreciated the author's personal epilogue at the end, too-- that was a well-placed glimpse into her mind and heart during the writing of the book, and for me that added an extra dash of seasoning. I hope you enjoy it as I have. :-)