Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Historical Romance
Recommended for: Fans of the genre looking for physically disabled heroines and imperfect heroes
Countess Zosia of Poland needs to marry soon. Though the King of England, who happens to be her guardian, is determined to marry her with an insignificant aristrocrat and keep her away from the political scene, she has different plans. She wants to marry someone who's active in the House of Lords, someone who is willing to fight for her cause to help Poland against the Russian oppresion.
Enter Lord Moreland, her neighboor and also a Marquis who's a tactic member in the House of Lords. Lord Moreland is respectable, intelligent and not bad to look at; Hence, the perfect candidate for Zosia's plans. When Zosia captures his attention one night, it's obvious they would fit well together. Their dialogues are witty, their scenes are funny and they seem to understand one another. But both Zosia and Tristan have skeletons in their closets. Tristan is a cutter; he actually finds relief and pleasure in cutting himself with a blade. He also has submissive tendencies in sex and is quite fond of whips. These characteristics make him feel ashamed and unworthy of a decent woman. Zosia on the other hand, a great beauty and most soughted after bride once, has lost her leg in an accident and she hardly believes any man will find her attractive as she is now.
What starts as a plan to help her country, soon becomes an affair of the heart. Though Moreland is attracted to her from the start, it's Zosia who comes to realize that Moreland could be so much more than a husband; he could be the love of her life.
What I liked:
1. The fact that Zosia never lied to Moreland about the reasons she wanted to marry him and her plans.
2. Moreland. The man was dedicated, selfless, devoted, passionate, sweet and tortured by his feelings of shame and unworthiness.
3. The angst and intensity that cracked my heart at some points, mixed well with humorous scenes like Zosia's suitors making a line in the square.
4. The writing, though it had something different from usual historical romances, had a freshness and quality I enjoyed.
5. The fact that Zosia was a practical woman and acted as such. She did not fall or pretend to fall, in love with Moreland at first sight. She became attracted to him more and more, the better she got to know him, which I find quite refreshing and realistic.
What I didn't like:
1. It took me quite a long time to get into Zosia's head and heart. Since most of the story was told from Moreland's POV, it was after 1/3 of the book that I could finally say I knew what kind of woman Zosia was.
2. Moreland's submissive tendencies and whips turning to ashes. A subject raised in the first chapters and promptly forgotten later. It's a bad attitude to raise expectations you're not intending to answer.
3. The anticlimatic ending, due to too much politics taking the front seat. I realy, really disliked that, especially after some of the most angsty and emotional scenes I've recently read. Taking the focus out of the leading couple in the final chapters, was the worst mistake of this book in my opinion.
All in all, I enjoyed this book a lot and would be willing to read another by the same author, providing no politics were involved this time. Though there were parts where I grew slightly bored, the parts that were told well, were extremely good and made up for any displeasure I had in between. Had the ending been different, this could even be a 4.5 book for me.
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