The Maiden

"I only really read like 1/4th of the book properly before I started to skim and then DNF'd half way through. But I still wanted to review the book because of my disappointment. I guess it was a case of the description giving me one idea of the book but what I actually read was COMPLETELY different. One star for Rowan's character BEFORE he met Jura. <br/><br/>What I expected: Forbidden love that leads to several trysts over the course of the book and unbridled YEARNING with lots of angst until the end. <br/><br/>But of course it wasn't what I got. Instead it's two people who are so swept away in lust they literally didn't even SPEAK to one another until it's too late. And it leads to lots and LOTS of arguments because they are clearly not what the other expected. Especially Rowan who I loved but still disappointed me SO MUCH. I loved the way his character was built up until he meets Jura. A controlled and disciplined man that is so determined and I was excited to see him get thrown off his axis because of love or lust or something. But in reality he's a product of his upbringing and has misogynistic expectations of his wife which he projects onto Jura without even understanding or realizing what kind of person she is. I understand wanting a soft, obedient wife and there's nothing wrong with being that kind of person. But you can't expect women in general to be like that wtf. He literally projected the perfect wife onto someone who he doesn't know and it ruined his character for me. Instead I started to be more interested in finding out what he would do to unite the tribes of Lanconia except their terrible compatibility as a couple put me off and I didn't finish reading. I actually wished he'd married Cilean or some actual soft spoken woman (me"