1348. The Black Death is sweeping medieval London, social order is collapsing, and the virtuous Lady Elizabeth seizes a whip to defend her honor. But when death seems inevitable, Bess throws caution to the plague-ridden vapors …
… to save the man she can never have – William de Montagu, the handsome, persuasive and soon-to-be-married Earl of Salisbury.
I LOVED IT! This book was nothing short of FANTASTIC and VERY well done!I loved that Venetia took actual historical characters and created this fiction about them. Knowing the historical facts (as described in the forward of the book) was like getting a "behind the scenes" glimpse before the show, and it made me very interested to see how Venetia would have the characters going from point A (the beginning) to point B (the end).As this is set in historical times, the entire narration is written in an old-world style and uses, refreshingly, a lot of words that, shall we say, expanded my vocabulary (thank goodness for the dictionary in my Kindle app!). I felt this made the book so much more authentic, or as authentic as I can imagine people speaking in the 1300s.While tragedy and dark circumstances appeared for a good part of the book, that darkness was combated by the "silvery" glow of William, the valiant knight who finds his true love and refuses to accept life without her, despite her resistance.Bess was very complex in her thinking, but I am SO happy with the ending and felt that her actions made the story a real page-turner!This is an erotic historical romance (with some HOT love scenes), but it portrays both eroticism and romanticism in what I felt was a perfect balance. Venetia is VERY talented, and I would, without hesitation, read anything she writes!***I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
“You are inclined to dance, my lady?”
The words were a spike of shock to her core. She had known he was approaching, guessed he would address her, but it was all she could to school her reaction. She forced her gaze to shift from the dancers to the man beside her at a leisurely pace.
“You jest, my lord de Montagu,” she said coldly. “That is no dance. It is…” She hesitated.
“An orgy?” he supplied.
Her hand flew to her mouth.
“No. Of course—you are right, my lady,” de Montagu amended. “One could not possibly call it an orgy. Not yet.”
“Will you not do something about it then?” Bess demanded, finding her voice again.
Straight black brows rose. “Do something? What are you suggesting, Lady Bess, that I join the festivities?”
Venetia was spirited from misty England to the wild west of Australia as a child and is still unsure which world she belongs in. Perhaps that is why she escaped into the past...The words were a spike of shock to her core. She had known he was approaching, guessed he would address her, but it was all she could to school her reaction. She forced her gaze to shift from the dancers to the man beside her at a leisurely pace.
“You jest, my lord de Montagu,” she said coldly. “That is no dance. It is…” She hesitated.
“An orgy?” he supplied.
Her hand flew to her mouth.
“No. Of course—you are right, my lady,” de Montagu amended. “One could not possibly call it an orgy. Not yet.”
“Will you not do something about it then?” Bess demanded, finding her voice again.
Straight black brows rose. “Do something? What are you suggesting, Lady Bess, that I join the festivities?”
When she grew up, Venetia spent 10 years studying literature and history before the need to write her own overwhelmed her – at which point she abandoned her PhD and dived headlong into historical fiction. Now she writes dark and sensuous romances set amongst the fjords of Viking Age Scandinavia and back-alleys of medieval London.
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ReplyDeletefun review
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting--dancing at an orgy?
ReplyDeleteNot much of a fan for this kind of story but your review made me want to read it, and that excerpt sounds so good!!
ReplyDelete