Splendor

Rating:
Summary: Has its moments, but save me from DENSE naivete!
Review: On the whole, the story is okay. However, I found the Queen STUPIDLY and dangerously NAIVE, BLIND, or CLUELESS--whichever you prefer! She does absolutely NOTHING, and in fact, DOESN'T EVEN KNOW when people are challenging her authority, or that there are spies everywhere, and that there's a bloody conspiracy going on beneath her very nose! In spite of ALL the MANY, MANY clues pointing to treason by the Cardinal, she needs to have the other "2" staring her right in the face and she still can't come up with "4"! WHY? BECAUSE THAT "4" HAS TO SPEAK UP!!!

Rating:
Summary: Has its moments, but save me from DENSE naivete!
Review: On the whole, the story is okay. However, I found the Queen STUPIDLY and dangerously NAIVE, BLIND, or CLUELESS--whichever you prefer! She does absolutely NOTHING, and in fact, DOESN'T EVEN KNOW when people are challenging her authority, or that there are spies everywhere, and that there's a bloody conspiracy going on beneath her very nose! In spite of ALL the MANY, MANY clues pointing to treason by the Cardinal, she needs to have the other "2" staring her right in the face and she still can't come up with "4"! WHY? BECAUSE THAT "4" HAS TO SPEAK UP!!!

Rating:
Summary: A fun departure, but not her best
Review: She is a (young) queen. He is a dashing soldier. The country is Breslovia, a small neutral country somewhere in Europe between Prussia and France (2 nations soon to war with each other).
The queen is in danger, and Breslovia is in danger of being invaded (through the selfish machinations of the evil Cardinal and his equally evil brother - her husband) and it seems that (because she is so inept!) our dashing soldier is the only one that can rescue her and the country. Things I enjoyed about the book: this is a complete departure of theme for Christine Dorsey, who tends to write early American (colonial) romances. Splendor reads more like a fairy tale, complete with a magical ability to see the future and enchanting waterfalls. Stylistically, this book is far "raunchier" than any I have read by her so far, though not quite as raunchy as a Beatrice Small novel, I was surprised by the LUST and depravity that Dorsey included in this book. Things I really didn't like about the book: the heroine - grow a backbone and find a brain! The hero - charming at first but quickly grows annoying in his pathetic subservience to the inept queen. All in all, it's a worthy read for anyone who loves Dorsey and is looking for something different, but it's nowhere near as compelling as Captain's Captive (her best).