This historical romance is set in the year 1223, when men were men and women were property.
Angelet Harcourt is a young woman of means, who will inherit vast estates when she comes of age. Her uncle wants Angelet’s father to give her in marriage to a French count. Her father, an open-minded man, wants her to have a say in the matter. When her father refuses to budge — there are political alliances and money at stake — her uncle has him murdered. Angelet flees to family friends who will keep her safe, even as they plot together to bring down the dastardly villain.
What follows could be a romantic tale of derring-do, plucky heroine included, except for one issue: the text is riddled with improper punctuation and grammar. The author delivers one sentence that is 76 words long with no commas, dashes or semi-colons. For every sentence that makes sense, the reader is forced to muddle through many more that don’t: ”Tapestries hung from the wall as did portraits the floors were covered in fresh reeds when one walked in and then they came to the door of the first room the reeds stopped.” And, “Smiling he made his list as well and this year’s hunt was truly going to be memorial.”
The novel’s plot has the makings of a fine swashbuckling adventure – with brave men and women at the ready to bring the miscreant to justice. Readers who are fans of this genre would ordinarily find reading this sort of book provides a few hours of guilty pleasure. But until the author improves the mechanical aspects of her writing, readers are best advised to indulge elsewhere.
Also available in hardcover and ebook.
