First in the Stephen trilogy of historical romances. These are set during ‘The Anarchy’ - the earlier English Civil War during the reign of King Stephen, not the War of the Roses or the later period commonly known as the English Civil War. They are also pretty true to period, so make uncomfortable reading with the general brutality and treatment of women and the lower classes, especially the non-free serfs. If you are expecting a book that panders to twentieth century sensibilities especially relating to romance, these are books you should not read.

See the third book for a review of all 3.

I had heard of this authors other series [b:Roselynde|27931|Roselynde (The Roselynde Chronicles, #1)|Roberta Gellis|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1298419066s/27931.jpg|2271104] from other readers praising the series.

Not feeling quite ready to take that on I decided to start off with a standalone book of hers.

Some other reviewers mentioned it not being PC,but that since the author was historically correct I decided to go with it.

The heroine is awfully young,15 years old to be precise and the hero was nearer to 30. But I thought I could overlook that since from what I know about the medieval that sort of age gap wasnt very unusual.
One of my favorite historical romances,[b:The Wild Hunt|673189|The Wild Hunt|Elizabeth Chadwick|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1273756050s/673189.jpg|1183754] has about the same age difference between the characters in that.

The couple got off to a great start,no tantrums Just two people being pushed together in an arranged marriage and getting to know each other. Yay I thought,sensible people.

Then after they are married he asks to have a private moment with her so they can talk. And well...he more or less raped her.Then tells her to stop crying so they can go back to the feast.

I was like 00. Thats horrible!

This is just not something that I think. The guy even recognizes the look on her face as the same as the womens he would seize on his land have RAPEhis way with.

The reason he raped her had to do with trying to get it on with two women (not at the same time) while he was away from the heroine,and not being able to because parts of his anatomy wouldnt co-operate. *hint* *hint*

The reader will recognize this as the guy having feelings for the heroine,but if he has such strong feelings why does he use her to check if his "tool" work in such a brutal way? I am speechless...

The hero guy also cheats on the heroine by going after some woman right in front of her eyes

This makes her upset and angry so when he returns from his she is less than happy and tells him so. And he gets angry "How dare she question me!!!!!!" and punches her and beats her with his belt.

This guy has gone from hero to bastard as far as I go.

Not to mention the heroine going through the book worrying that she would be abandoned,wich means she goes through most of it being so subservient and afraid

And there is so much history bits.Well of course you say,youre reading a historical romance But I felt like it was info dumping too much,characters would be talking about mundane and then suddenly drift in to history lesson mode.

As to the supporting characters,the heroines father is pretty horrible (beats his wife and daughter) but in cardboard cutout kind of way.

Then there is the heroines mother who is clearly shown to love her daughter but she just sort disappears from the story after the heroine has married. The heroine doesnt think about her much if at all.

This seemed very strange to me.

Pretty much all of the supporting characters didnt make much impression on me.

I forced myself to slog through the rest of this book. Hoping that maybe the love interest would redeem himself or the heroine would stop being afraid.

But it never happens...she just settles. Happy ending? Not so much.

( )

Very good. As usual for a Gellis, it's as much about politics (of the time of Stephen) as it is a romance about Cain and Leah. There's a lot of misunderstandings, and suppression of comments, but it's not, strictly speaking, a misunderstanding trope. More "I am not worthy" plus mistrust. Leah is totally on Cain's side, as no one ever has been before; he can't believe it, so is constantly looking for plots and schemes in what she says (not without reason, her connections are entirely untrustworthy). Leah also had never had anyone, except her mother, trust or care for her, and her experience of men has been limited but bad - an abusive father, mostly. She can't believe Cain cares about her for herself at all. And all this plays out against plots and politics, assassination plans and years-long schemes to steal land and foment rebellion. Very good, and had me crying at several points. More Gellis, please (yes, the more stories in this bundle). Oh, minor note - there are quite a few scannos and mis-formatted bits - I need to check if that's how it came or if I messed stuff up in calibre (I forget if I changed formats). For instance, all the en-dashes disappeared - a lot of "II..." when there should have been "I - I...", and dosed for closed, and the like. Never quite threw me out of the story, but distracting at best. ( )

A romance set in the middle of the 12th century in England. The Earl of Pembroke is marrying off his daughter to a knight twice her age for political reasons, intending to kill his son-in-law at some later date. ( )