Joanna Bourne writes true works of literature that are masked as mere romance novels. Sometimes this alienates me as a reader because I'm expecting certain tropes and behaviors that never occur. And yet I admire and sometimes love her novels for the same reasons!
The Forbidden Rose features an atypical couple--two people who are not the most handsome or the fairest, but rather two survivors who get by on their wits and daring. Marguerite's voice is of a removed nature. She has survived a war, the Terror, and her own personal hell. She isn't the perky heroine one sees in most historical romance novels. You know the ones who seem to be plucky and perfect while somehow a little helpless so the big strapping hero can save them from whatever hellish situation the author has created for them. Well, Marguerite is not that heroine. She is more realistic and yet all the more noble and profound because she just stoically gets done whatever needs to be done. She doesn't need rescuing and she isn't a fool. She figures out just who Doyle is right away and she'll do the rescuing thank you very much. I liked that about her. But, as I said previously, her voice is what I can only describe as removed, like one who has been through so much that she exists in a perpetual state of numbness. Perhaps there is even a little ennui mixed in with the numbness.
So, even though the language is beautiful, the story doesn't start out with a lot of passion. Doyle and Marguerite fall quickly into each other's arms and not a lot of pages are devoted to either of them doing much soul searching or agonizing about this like in most romance novels. It's refreshing and disconcerting. I didn't get into their romance until halfway through the book. I even almost stopped reading but decided I found the spy part of the story kind of interesting and kept going. I'm glad I did because the romance becomes truly romantic and beautiful by the end. I think The Spymaster's Lady is still my favorite story in the series but this one is truly original and interesting all by itself.
The Forbidden Rose features an atypical couple--two people who are not the most handsome or the fairest, but rather two survivors who get by on their wits and daring. Marguerite's voice is of a removed nature. She has survived a war, the Terror, and her own personal hell. She isn't the perky heroine one sees in most historical romance novels. You know the ones who seem to be plucky and perfect while somehow a little helpless so the big strapping hero can save them from whatever hellish situation the author has created for them. Well, Marguerite is not that heroine. She is more realistic and yet all the more noble and profound because she just stoically gets done whatever needs to be done. She doesn't need rescuing and she isn't a fool. She figures out just who Doyle is right away and she'll do the rescuing thank you very much. I liked that about her. But, as I said previously, her voice is what I can only describe as removed, like one who has been through so much that she exists in a perpetual state of numbness. Perhaps there is even a little ennui mixed in with the numbness.
So, even though the language is beautiful, the story doesn't start out with a lot of passion. Doyle and Marguerite fall quickly into each other's arms and not a lot of pages are devoted to either of them doing much soul searching or agonizing about this like in most romance novels. It's refreshing and disconcerting. I didn't get into their romance until halfway through the book. I even almost stopped reading but decided I found the spy part of the story kind of interesting and kept going. I'm glad I did because the romance becomes truly romantic and beautiful by the end. I think The Spymaster's Lady is still my favorite story in the series but this one is truly original and interesting all by itself.
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