Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I always read reviews before I decide on my next book but I still pick books at times that I do not enjoy. One of the reviews of this book that made me decide to take the plunge said it reminded her of one of Julie Garwood's old books. Well, that got my attention. I loved Garwood's books. I have read so many historical books and it is hard to find any new good ones. Even authors like Garwood and Kleypas whom I loved seem to just write trite, boring books these days. So, I bought this book fully expecting it not to live up to the reviews. Wrong, wrong! This is a fabulous book! I cannot express just how much I loved everything about the book. The cover is wrong though. The heroine is a small, red-headed, freckled woman who is thought of as ugly. She is strong, smart, rich, and titled though. Our large, dark hero does not care much what people think about anything but he does marry her when she asks and everyone, including him, thinks it is for her money and title. We get to see his POV though so you realize from the beginning that he likes and respects her and does not actually find her ugly. It does remind me of a Garwood book because it is funny to watch his inner thoughts as he tries to figure out what is "wrong" with him when as the reader you understand that he is falling in love with the heroine. For some reason I just love that type of writing! There is never any conflict between the hero and heroine just them falling in love. He is never horrible to her and they never fight. The conflict is all external from those who are jealous of the power and position he gained by finding his wife. Really, this is a feel great book, historical romance perfection. I always find it a bit funny when a reviewer complains that the language is not right for the time period. I can assure you that it is not correct or else we would not be able to read it and understand it. That said, the dialogue did not feel jarringly modern either. I hate when the heroine has a super snarky way of talking because that just does not feel right. The characters also did not have obviously modern ideas or sensibilities to bother me either. It was very much a male led society as I am sure it was at the time. The author is not entirely clear on when the novel takes place except to say medieval. I assume early medieval, say 5th-9th century, at least sometime before William the Conquerer united England. I think this must have been one of the Saxon kingdoms because I have never heard of King Wymer or Queen Arsenal. But, that said, I really do not care since it did not affect the plot whatsoever. The author could have made up this kingdom for all I care since I wanted to read a fabulous historical romance and not an accurate biography. Finally, I will mention the editing. I guess I am not overly bothered by editing usually. I am completely bothered by a poor or simplistic writing style or frequent grammatical errors. Coldbreath had a fabulous writing style and not many true grammatical errors. The book mostly had extra words thrown in and other editing problems. Short of paying for what I imagine might be expensive editing services, it would be hard to proof read a book. I can sympathize. I write a fair number of reviews and try to read one several times before I press submit. Sometimes I go back to read a review I wrote and still find problems with it and I am only writing a paragraph or two! All in all, if you enjoy historical romance but feel like there are not any good ones lately, give this a try. You might be as pleasantly surprised as I was. By the way, if the author reads this, can we have a story about Oswald next, please??