Shaykitteh's World of Books

Adela Tilden is the heir to a profitless barony, with a deep wish to marry for money and escape a life in the country. With nothing to do except dream - and, perhaps, seduce - Adela yearns for a way out. When her grandmother becomes ill and Adela is sent to a relative, she gets her chance to escape, rising to become the most important powerful woman in the kingdom.

I have very mixed emotions regarding this book. For the first 20% of the book, I absolutely hated it and hated the main character, but I kept reading it because I noticed that a lot of people really didn't like Adela but still ended up liking (or at least not disliking) the book overall. Adela is a spoiled brat who manipulates everyone, male or female, to get what she wants, not taking "No" for an answer. The book starts out with Adela seducing a painter, continuing to flirt with him even knowing that he was uncomfortable, using her power and position to order him to flirt with her, and then stripping naked in his room to force his hand. Even though he knew that it was wrong and said so over and over, she didn't care. And that really made me dislike the character.

Luckily, after Adela leaves the barony and starts making her way through the nobility, the story gets more interesting and shows the Adela actually has a cunning intelligence. Though she has a few naive spots - not recognizing that a duke is giving her presents expecting something in return - for the most part she proves her wit and even wisdom when dealing with the political pitfalls found at court. While moving on to flirt and fuck her way into the arms of the King, she redeems herself by being more than just a pretty lover, giving the King useful advice that actually helps him with his courtiers.

Toward the end of the book, I found myself not wanting to put it down, looking to see what happened next to Adela. In some ways, I few this book as a train wreck: I didn't want to read it but couldn't put it down, and while there were causalities throughout the course of the book, they didn't really feel like characters I had an interest in. But somehow, I still wanted to keep looking. The maneuverings throughout the power structure are interesting and sometimes even exciting, but the main character still isn't really likeable. I recommend this book... cautiously.

Thank you to 5 Prince Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

-------------------

If you enjoyed my review, please help me share it by marking it as being helpful on Amazon. I have included the link to the Amazon review in the Source section at the bottom of this review.