I had a review all mentally penned, then I, after finishing the book, read the author's notes at the end. You know that feeling you get when you keep reading anachronisms and location issues? The one where you immediately classify the book as a "wallpaper" historical, and the author as "lazy"? How about when you discover that the author deliberately dumbed down things?
Yeah. She didn't think we were smart enough to figure out location so she used countries that didn't exist yet, called garments by their english translations (and probably also words that didn't exist yet, or clothing that didn't exist in anglo-saxon). So I'm mad. Mad because I dislike being treated like an imbecile.
And I didn't like the h, the H, or the h's half sister. The h's stepfather made me think of an old man whose mind is slipping into his second childhood, the h was an arrogant, self-righteous know-it-all who didn't like playing second fiddle to anyone, the H was her equivalent though with the added bonus of being mistrustful (both were willfully stupid at times too), and the half sister was shallow, self-absorbed, and spoiled. Apparently the father had never worn the braes in his household, and when their mother died, he let his 8 year old stepdaughter take over the management of the estate. Right. And raising of the younger sister as well. So the younger sister has never been made to do anything, and the only times papa ever notices her lack of cooperation is whenever guests arrive, like the H, who, btw, wondered what sort of message papa was sending him when papa suggested younger daughter needed a husband and that older girl was betrothed (Oh I dunno - don't dally with my daughters perhaps?).
The highlight might have been when the h managed a meeting with her real father who was v. disturbed to discover she was the H's concubine (mom was a princess, dad was a king, yeah; can see how that would be a problem).
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