You know what I haven’t done in a while? Written a blog post! Apologies to all two of my faithful readers who have been eagerly awaiting my next review of a very niche genre (that’s a joke, you may laugh). Onward!
You know I’ve been sucked into the historical romance genre, and I’m quite enjoying reading them – some of them. I will say that A Tenuous Betrothal was not high on my list of favorites, so I’m only going to give it three out of five stars. Usually, my one-and-two stars are reserved for poor grammar as well as poor plot, and the writing in this novel was up to scratch.
Rhianna Davies has just been relegated to a shack in the woods after her uncle takes over her father’s mining business, a huge slight to her. Just when it seems like she’s out of hope for herself and for the wellbeing of “her” workers, her uncle discovers a codicil to the will, borne on the arm of a prince. Rhianna’s father had arranged for her to marry one of the seven sons of the King of Oldenburg upon his death. However, the son that arrives – Prince Marc – is not ready to be married, although he finds Rhianna to be his ideal match. The attraction is definitely reciprocated, and as the pair travel from Wales, to London, to Oldenburg, the question remains: will Prince Marc be able to resist Rhianna?
It wasn’t so much the plot of A Tenuous Betrothal that got me; I quite liked the premise of a surprise codicil that guaranteed Rihanna a handsome prince! Not that it’s believable, but I thought a prince in a will was a neat concept. I also liked the way that they traveled around; they went from Wales, to England, to Oldenburg, and that sold me more on the plot as Rihanna did actually leave her home to go to her new country.
What got me in terms of the negatives about A Tenuous Betrothal was the characters, their thought processes, and some of their decision-making. The combination of these things made the writing seem a little immature and brought down the story for me a bit.
In the beginning of the novel, it sounds like Rihanna is very involved in the welfare of the workers in her father’s mine. She’s very worried about her uncle’s lack of concern about the workers’ quality of life and her inability to do anything about it. However, when thinking of ways to improve the community such as sending the kids to school, she seems unaware that the miners question the point of school when all their kids are going to do is work in the mine in the future. For someone who grew up and is supposedly very heavily involved with her people, she isn’t very aware of their way of life.
I found Marc to be a likable character, but one who wasn’t well-rounded. Similar to Rihanna, I found Marc to have some character holes. My biggest issue with him is that throughout the book, he’s falling for Rihanna, but keeps repeating that he has to stay unattached because of his job in security for Oldenburg. I get that he doesn’t want to put anyone in danger or for someone to worry about him; but from what I gathered, I didn’t get a great sense of urgency or danger about his job. He’s a “spy,” which doesn’t make sense given that he’s the King of Oldenburg’s son and would be recognized instantly. Or, people would know about his job in security and wouldn’t say anything around him. I can’t see him being very effective.
Prince Marc does go on one “mission” in the book to escort diplomats and ends up getting captured. However, we’re not really sure why anyone wanted to capture him and it just seemed like they picked him out of the blue. Supposedly they were going to kill him but, again, we don’t know why. It was very strange.
The final thing I have to say about holes is that at the end of the book, Rihanna finds a clue, calls the guards, and rescues a horse. Naturally, this is all very brave and Marc decides that he can marry her after all. Rihanna tells him that she doesn’t want him to quit his security job as a spy and instead, wants to spy with him. His response is an enthusiastic yes!
Now, I have no problem with lady spies – a lot of the main characters in my historical mystery reads are women – but I do have issues with the fact that Rihanna is a major security and safety risk with no training or understanding of espionage. I thought that after all Marc’s protestations about not wanting anyone to worry about him and not putting anyone at risk, allowing an unfledged person to become a spy was decidedly uncharacteristic of him. It almost defeated the whole plot of the book!
Anyways, I don’t mean to sound whiny; all of these plot and character holes did not do this book any favors for me. If you read it and end up shaking your head by the end, don’t say I didn’t warn you! However, I did like the premise of the book and the writing was good, so we’re landing at three out of five stars.