Alinor Book

I was taken with the historical accuracy and characters in Gellis's Magdalene la Batarde mystery series, so I thought I'd try one of her straight romances. Big mistake. Her attention to period detail is as meticulous as ever, but she takes pretty big liberties with some historical personages, especially King John. It's a big leap from "imposed oppressive taxation; slept with his barons' wives" to "conspired to murder his vassals; tortured and killed whores in his spare time."

More to the point, I truly hated Alinor. I don't care how fiery and tempestuous you are, babe, pull a knife on a guy during a perfectly rational argument and we're done. I also disliked how the author frequently uses minor viewpoint characters to comment on Alinor's actions so they can observe how clever (i.e., manipulative) she is without her having to say it herself (and believe me, she would; she's not shy). Ian is a little better, but his reluctance to speak about his feelings leads to a tedious "I love him/her but I can't say so because [insert bogus reason here]" situation on both sides, leading to contrived and unconvincing misunderstandings.

And not even any hot sex to make up for it.