Bee Among The Clover
Hooray! A historical that's pre-2oth century! This fact alone attracted me to the book. I even rather liked the cartoonish (almost anime-esque) cover - something appealing about actual art work instead of the image manipulation one sees on most covers these days.Sorry. There is a story here, as well.
At its heart, this is a romance that illustrates in no uncertain terms how damaging it can be to turn hurt inward and keep silent. It causes the principles of this story no end of grief and nearly kills Roman. (Which would have been a shame, I truly like Roman.)
The historical aspect is well done - the food, the architecture, the materials used - all fit the period. The time line is a teensy bit off. Once the Angle/Saxon/Norse types began settling on the eastern shore of Britain with established kings and all, the Romans had already beat feet and abandoned the place. But that's not such a big leap and you can sense that the pull-out isn't far off in the story.
A couple of small issues...I had some trouble warming up to Aron. I still haven't. In his first scene, he does a truly noble thing, taking the thane's wrath on himself to save his family, so i thought we were supposed to see him as noble and honorable. He is anything but. An oathbreaker and a stubborn brat, he's one of those young men who never, ever admit that anything is their fault. I was hoping for some serious character growth by the end, and while he did grow up a little in regard to Roman, that's the extent of it.
I will say the boy was true to character throughout. Completely consistent, so as a character, even if I didn't LIKE him, it works.
Also not happy about how Wulgar is treated by the boys. In historical context, Wulgar is well within his rights as thane for every action he takes and, let's be honest, is really far more lenient than he should be. I do see there's a sequel...hoping that Wulgar gets his HEA, too, poor dear...
All in all, it's well done, though, both from a plot and genre standpoint. And as you can see from above, my emotions were fully engaged, full steam ahead. Angry at points? Yes. But it was quite a ride.
