Book 64: His Duty, Her Destiny

NUMBER: 64
TITLE: His Duty, Her Destiny
AUTHOR: Juliet Landon
STARTED: August 9, 2006
FINISHED: August 12, 2006
PAGES: 297
GENRE: Romance

FIRST SENTENCE: Flinging her thick brown plait over her shoulder, Nicola picked up her rapier and turned to face her oppoent with a disarming smile.

SUMMARY: [From an Amazon.com review] The book follows the relationship between Lady Nicola Coldyngham and Sir Fergus Melrose in 1473 London. Nicola has four brothers and spent her childhood runnig wild with them and trying to keep up. Fergus was a childhood friend and ring leader of the brothers. As a child, Nicola worshipped Fergus but he rarely looked her way which hurt her terribly. Their fathers agreed that they should marry when they came of age but this agreement was never made legal and both fathers have since died. Fergus has come back to claim Nicola as his bride.

REASON FOR READING: I saw it on a blog I read.

THOUGHTS: I would be very disappointed in this book, had I actually had a preconceived notion of what I wanted to read. There was absolutely no chemistry between the two "romantic" leads. The plotted fizzled from the start, and there were way to many subplots for a book with such limited length. Also, the writing was horrendous. All in all, this was one of those romance novels that makes the genre so stereotyped as unworthy of publishing. It's one redeeming factor: it gave the heroine swordplay skills.

MISCELLANEOUS: Maybe I was a bit jaded about this book, because I read it a few days before going to a wedding. I think I may have wanted something a bit more romantic.

KEEP/SHARE/CRINGE(?): Back to PBS.com with it.
RATING: 3/10 [Poor, lost interest]

CR: The Lady Killer by Samantha Saxon
RN: The Lady Lies by Samantha Saxon