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A review by booksuperpower
The King's Daughter by Barbara Kyle
2.0
This book was published in 1995, and weighs in at 480 pages. At some point the title was " A Dangerous Devotion". The new title- The King's Daughter" is very misleading, and I think the reviews for this book are mixed as a result.
Isabel Thornleigh's parents have secrets in their past they keep from their daughter. She's lead a charmed life, until Mary is crowned queen and makes the announcement that she plans to marry the Price of Spain. An uprising develops in which Isabel's fiance, Martin is taking part. She wants to help him and convinces Sir Thomas against his better judgment to allow her to be a go between. However, before she can do her duty, her mother is killed and her father is imprisioned.
Through the novel I was struck at how trusting and naive Isabel was. She was always trusting the wrong people. She would do ANYTHING to free her father. She teams up with a Spaniard mercenary to help her locate her father, but in fact he was hired to kill her father and is using her as cover . He finds himself attracted to Isabel and there a few slilted moments when the attraction is addressed, but it's ridiculous. Carlos even thinks about attempted rape to get her "out of his skin" and makes a move for her, but nothing comes of it. Isabel eventually learns of his betrayal and then finds herself in an even more precarious position. Carlos does have good points from time to time, but the couple never had any chemistry at all. In fact, they never even kissed. Even her father once all was said and done couldn't understand her attraction to him. There were way too many battle scenes in this book for my personal taste. I thought this was a romance novel, but there was very little romance. It was interesting at times, but I found it boring a lot of the time. I really struggled with this one.
Isabel Thornleigh's parents have secrets in their past they keep from their daughter. She's lead a charmed life, until Mary is crowned queen and makes the announcement that she plans to marry the Price of Spain. An uprising develops in which Isabel's fiance, Martin is taking part. She wants to help him and convinces Sir Thomas against his better judgment to allow her to be a go between. However, before she can do her duty, her mother is killed and her father is imprisioned.
Through the novel I was struck at how trusting and naive Isabel was. She was always trusting the wrong people. She would do ANYTHING to free her father. She teams up with a Spaniard mercenary to help her locate her father, but in fact he was hired to kill her father and is using her as cover . He finds himself attracted to Isabel and there a few slilted moments when the attraction is addressed, but it's ridiculous. Carlos even thinks about attempted rape to get her "out of his skin" and makes a move for her, but nothing comes of it. Isabel eventually learns of his betrayal and then finds herself in an even more precarious position. Carlos does have good points from time to time, but the couple never had any chemistry at all. In fact, they never even kissed. Even her father once all was said and done couldn't understand her attraction to him. There were way too many battle scenes in this book for my personal taste. I thought this was a romance novel, but there was very little romance. It was interesting at times, but I found it boring a lot of the time. I really struggled with this one.