Scan barcode
A review by ruthsic
Rose Bride by Elizabeth Moss
2.0
The earlier two books in the series, revolving around characters in the Tudor court, was sort of okay. They had a good story, fiery female leads and a healthy dose of hot sex scenes. This one, well, it went more Fifty Shades than the other two, with the story centering around Mistress Croft, Wolf's old flame, and a rumored courtesan. She, however, doesn't even have the experience that her reputation claims she has - but she doesn't refute the rumors, because she doesn't anyway hope to get married. Her meeting with Virgil, one of the court physicians sets off a connection between the two of them, culminating in lots of - you guessed it right - sexy scenes. He is sort of a dom and she is submissive (code for doormat in fiction) and while he knows about her past, he isn't really mindful of it as long as he gets to do his experiments. He is working on a medieval Viagra for the King Henry, and made himself the lab rat to test his potion on.
Now, this being a period drama, of course there is a healthy dose of misogyny involved, but Virgil just grossed me out as a lead. He thinks she is another Lord's mistress, and doesn't show any objection to it, until the time comes that he has to marry her. Her deal with that Lord is a secret, and so she never tells a soul that she isn't even sleeping with that Lord. But people all around her think the worst, and she doesn't even hesitate to forgive them. Even Virgil is more of an asshole than a lover, and honestly even Wolf seems better than him at this point. That's a shame, because Wolf actually was a possessive jealous husband. The problem with all the male leads throughout this series was their sexism, but this one just took the cake. Half the time, I wanted her to walk out of his life and never look back, not beg for his forgiveness. Pretty disappointing this book turned out to be.
Now, this being a period drama, of course there is a healthy dose of misogyny involved, but Virgil just grossed me out as a lead. He thinks she is another Lord's mistress, and doesn't show any objection to it, until the time comes that he has to marry her. Her deal with that Lord is a secret, and so she never tells a soul that she isn't even sleeping with that Lord. But people all around her think the worst, and she doesn't even hesitate to forgive them. Even Virgil is more of an asshole than a lover, and honestly even Wolf seems better than him at this point. That's a shame, because Wolf actually was a possessive jealous husband. The problem with all the male leads throughout this series was their sexism, but this one just took the cake. Half the time, I wanted her to walk out of his life and never look back, not beg for his forgiveness. Pretty disappointing this book turned out to be.