NUMBER: 11TITLE: Beloved
AUTHOR: Bertrice Small
STARTED: February 17, 2005
FINISHED: February 22, 2005
PAGES: 464
GENRE: Romance
FIRST SENTENCE: "Happy birthday, Zenobia!"
SUMMARY: [From barnesandnoble.com] The daughter of a powerful desert chieftain, beautiful raven-haired Zenobia, a descendent of Cleopatra, witnesses at an early age the shocking brutality of renegade Roman soldiers and vows to hate all of the blue-eyed strangers forever. Despite that pledge, she falls hopelessly and passionately in love with Marcus Alexander Britanus, a Roman. And it will take all her cunning and skill in war to keep the precious erotic rapture she can find only in his arms....
REASON FOR READING: Ancient History + Romance = Happy Meghan
THOUGHTS: This book was beautifully written. The text was rich with vivid detail and description. I could actually see the city in my head. Sadly, however, it took me almost 250 pages to fall in love with the story. To be honest, I hated the first 250 pages. I thought it was the worst romance novel I had ever read. The beginning is overly cliched and fluffy. The use of pet names drove me nuts and the lead female character did not strike me as that strong. Zenobia came across as vindictive instead of assertive, harpy instead of independent and proud, and power-hungry instead of responsible. Marcus Alexander Britanus came across as weak and overly vulnerable.
Enter Emperor Aurelian.
His character was amazing. I know that he was suppose to be the bad guy, but I was just drawn to him. He seemed to have more depth and personality than any of the other characters in the book. I would rather spend time with him than any of the lead characters. He is what made the book a worthwhile read. It's odd that he was not mentioned in any synopsis I read. Personally, I think he made a better match to Zenobia than Marcus did. The chemistry and interaction between the two is what gave this book life.
And holy cow is this book a wall banger. I think they average break between the "bedroom" scenes is something like 10 pages. I felt as if this book was more about "carnal relations" than plot. But it worked in the end.
MISCELLANEOUS: While I was reading this, I visited the National Gallery of Art for a class. There was this one painting that just drew me. I ended up looking at it for a good 20 minutes. It showed a woman leading Roman legions. When it was time for me to go, I looked at the placard. The painting was titled "Zenobia Leads Her Legions." The book never said it was based on history, but now I have to find out how (or if) the book and the painting are connected to each or history.
KEEP/SHARE/CRINGE(?): Keep (Only because I want to read the Aurelian scenes again)
RATING: 6/10 [Good]
CR: Lord of Ice by Gaelen Foley
RN: Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
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