TEST
What She Wants zooms off the starting line at top speed, with a classic (a less kind reviewer might say clichéd) impetus driving the plot. Our hero, Hugh Dulonget, the newly minted earl of Hillcrest, is forced to marry a young woman in order to obtain his inheritance. The young woman, Willa, is so stunningly gorgeous that she leaves Hugh speechless, but that doesn’t stop Hugh from feeling sorry for himself. Under the impression that she’s merely a peasant, and worse yet, his uncle’s illegitimate daughter, the new earl snubs Willa, calling her a bastard to her face. Unfortunately for him, he learns he has to marry her in order to secure his fortune. He also learns she’s no bastard, but a lady of noble birth.
If Willa were one of those feisty, mouthy heroines, this would probably be enough to keep the plot rolling along. However, Willa happens to be sweet and painfully naive, and a little thing like being referred to as a bastard doesn’t faze her. She believes she loves Hugh because she’s been told it’s her duty to love him, and she isn’t going to swerve from that duty just because he was a bit of a jerk at their first meeting. As a consequence, another plot complication has to be tossed in – her guardian, a “witch” and healer who reads tea leaves, foresees Hugh will die within a month if Willa doesn’t make him crawl to her. So Willa resists Hugh, but only because she has to in order to save him. Willa, in other words, is so revoltingly sweet and kind that I felt an overwhelming desire to whack her. Even so, her naiveté leads to some amusing moments. I nearly fell over laughing when the innocent Willa, riding in front of an aroused Hugh on his charger, complains about the “great hard thing” poking her from behind, evidently under the impression that all saddles come equipped thusly.
Given his early treatment of the heroine, Hugh doesn’t win our sympathy in the beginning of the book, and it took me a while to warm up to him. When Willa is poisoned, he spends a good deal of time the morning after reflecting sourly on the fact that she threw up on him. Poor man, having to deal with a sick wife on his wedding night. Never mind that Willa almost died – he had to clean up after her. Even so, Hugh does grow on the reader. After he and Willa are wed, their priest gives Hugh a scroll – sort of a sex manual written in Latin – and he tries very, very hard to follow the instructions so that his wife will be satisfied. His efforts to please Willa in bed are extremely amusing, and his chagrin when he is apparently unable to do so is quite winning. Hugh is a bit of a blunderer, but not a bad guy at heart.
Unfortunately, few of the other characters felt three-dimensional to me. There are quite a few characters peopling the story, but they don’t seem to have a lot of motivation driving them; they’re just there. And the history in this novel isn’t particularly well realized, either; it’s basically “wallpaper.” The author throws in a few “ayes” and “nays” every now and again, just to remind us this is an English Medieval. Of course, we might be in 18th-century Scotland just as well, but fortunately the prologue is clearly marked with the location and date. The dialogue comes across as much too modern, and there aren’t detailed depictions of costume, buildings, or everyday life. But since the book clearly isn’t meant as a serious historical novel, this doesn’t seem to matter too much. On a side note, someone does need to let the copy editors at Leisure know that “alright” (used repeatedly throughout the novel) is not an acceptable alternate spelling of “all right.” It’s two words, people.
One of my major quibbles with the plot occurs toward the end of the book, when Willa, in the best tradition of TSTL heroines everywhere, runs off by herself just when she’s discovered someone is trying to kill her. This is particularly jarring because up until that moment, Willa is not really stupid, simply naive. But she redeems herself, and wins back the reader’s respect, by deciding to train in swordsmanship. Training tirelessly, she becomes a force to reckon with. This leads to the burst of action toward the end of the book, an exciting, breathless ride that doesn’t let up until the last chapter.
Overall, What She Wants is an amusing romp. It could have been better with a little more character development, but as a light beach read it works well and has quite a few moments that are truly funny. It’s not for those readers who like their romances carefully detailed, realistic, and accurate, but if you like humor, wallpaper history, and a healthy helping of action, What She Wants delivers.
Grade: B-
Book Type: Medieval Romance
Sensuality: Hot
Review Date: 27/10/02
Publication Date: 2002
Related Reviews
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.