Review: Good
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 10, 2013
A good read. Athena's Ordeal was an enjoyable historical romance. I had high expectation for it, since I liked book 1 so much. It didn't quite meet them all, but I still enjoyed the book.I'm going to start with the good, since the bad are several minor problems that became a major one when put together.I liked how Sabre was so bold. Normally, impulsiveness in a character would annoy me because it results in the character getting him/herself in a stupid situation. But, in this case, it worked for her. She was strong, fiery, knew what she wanted, and wasn't afraid to take it. So, overall, I liked her.Quince was sweet. He was a very calm, quiet kind of character, which was a nice chance from the alpha heroes, as nice as they are. I liked him as well.The romance was okay. Sabre and Quince were sweet together and there was definitely some hot chemistry.The plot was steadily paced. I was kept interested the entire way through, though there were some slow parts. I enjoyed the story and I liked the ending.Now, the bad.1) Sabre's character didn't always make sense. Why did she challenge Quince to a duel just because he propositioned to her? He didn't know who she was and didn't make any untoward advances. He literally just asked her to be his mistress. Nothing mean about it. So, I'm not sure why she was so offended. I could understand a little, but not up to the point that she took it. Then, right after the duel, she suddenly decides she wants to marry him. What? That was random and a complete 180. And, finally, it annoyed me that she ran away from Quince. Twice. What happened was that Quince was trying to find his blackmailer and wanted to ask Sabre's father. She didn't want him to, so she left. And claimed that he was the one who broke her heart. Again, what? She didn't even argue about it, which was out of character for her. She left and somehow Quince became the bad guy. It seemed to me that all the problems in the relationship were her fault but Quince got blamed for them.2) Speaking of Quince, I had a slight issue with him. In book 1, I really liked him. He was witty and honest and confident. He was a fun character. But, that didn't carry over all the way into this book. Several times, I wanted to tell him to man up, get some life back in him. He was kind of passive. It didn't fit the Quince we saw in book 1, which annoyed me because I liked that Quince.3) And, finally, Sabre's brothers. I thought it was really weird that her brother had no problems with her moving in with Quince to get him to marry her. What? That is definitely not something a normal protective older brother would do. It didn't make sense.All of these problems would have been minor if they were alone. But, put them together, and they became a big problem. It didn't ruin the book because I still enjoyed it, but it did set it back quite a bit.Athena's Ordeal was a good historical romance. Despite the issues I had with it, I still enjoyed it. Lovers of romance, I don't know if you should run out and buy it, but you might want to look it up.*I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review