Review: Slow Development, Decent Story
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 9, 2012
This novel starts off really strong, with a lot happening in the first several chapters--the h's beating at the hands of her stepfather, the H being told he'll be forced to marry, the h's escape from the stepfather, the death of the H's intended, etc. Unfortunately, while these events happen fairly quickly at the outset, once the H and h marry, the story seems to slow down quite a bit before picking up again at the very end.On the one hand, the slow pacing at the center of the novel allows for the author to provide a lot of details about the myriad characters as well as let us see how the characters interact with each other. On the other hand, much of these interactions don't help to drive the plot forward quickly enough. The H needing to rescue his younger sister from an unwanted marriage seemed an unnecessary plot device, as did the H's expectation that he would be marrying another. If anything, that could have been alluded to without all the detail about how his intended bride died.I enjoyed the tidbits about Cameron because he appears to be the next character that Carmen Caine will write about. However, I'm not sure that Robert or Ruan's other family necessarily contributed to the plot. I find it difficult sometimes to keep up with so many minor characters when their existence doesn't directly drive the plot.I also generally prefer a steamier romance. At the very least, I would have liked to have seen the H and h kiss earlier on. I don't necessarily want more sex, but more sexual tension would have been nice. Having said that, I'm looking forward to reading Cameron and Kate's story because they seemed like much more interesting people.