phyllish
Written on Aug 22, 2018
A marriage of convenience that is anything but...
My rating is 4.5 stars
King Benjamin had a reputation of being cold and impersonal. If you have read any of the earlier books by Carol Moncado, you have probably wondered what his deal was, like I did. I didn’t much like him at the beginning of this story. He seemed arrogant and uncaring. Yeah. Pompous.
As he began to interact with Katrín and they started their farce of a marriage, I almost despised him and wondered how in the world he could be the hero of the story. He was so focused on his “job” and doing the things he always had as part of it, he didn’t even seem to notice what Katrín was doing and how she was working herself to the bone.
Katrín’s plight tore at my heart. I was truly distressed for her. Here she was married to the king and yet was little more than a slave in his castle and he didn’t seem to know or care. She mentioned more than once on a date with him that she had to be up early to wash dishes and that she only had two half days off per month (you read that right. Only one half day off, two times a month!) and he didn’t even suggest dealing with her indenture to the crown in any way, shape or form.
Slowly, my opinion of Benjamin began to change. He wasn’t really cruel or even arrogant. He was, however, oblivious and didn’t really understand what it was like to not be part of the royal family. To be in need. As he became more aware of life, his more humane side came to light and I began to like him more. Then as I learned more about his life and his fears, I began to like him even more.
Author Carol Moncado likes writing marriage of convenience stories, and she is good at it. She has a way of making you feel the emotions of her characters in a deep way that almost hurts.
This review was originally posted on Among the Reads