I have not completed the book, because I am reading another one for a book club. But, what I have read, I am enjoying. I really like all Beatrice Small's book. I love the historical part of her writing. She does bring her charactors into some pretty interesting places. Ms. Small seems to know about the history of all her interesting places. I don't know if she knows about as much as she writes about, but she has me convinced that she does some homework on the sites. I am 65 and feel very comfortable reading her books. She brings a lot of life to a book. And, I love history.

the only book available to read....I guess I would slog through this romantic sludge of idiocy. People who like this kind of garbarge aren't worth comment. Park this book in the outhouse for emergency use of toilet paper. Obviously, women who read this are trying to live through these female characters---and reveal themselves to be the schizoid nutcases that they really are. Get real, get a life, get a job!

This is not the worst Small novel (no...that would be The Innocent) nor is it the most boring (That would be The Duchess, another largely forgettable read) but it is bad and and it is boring...End it already. Flanna is an uninteresting heroine. Usually Small's charcters are larger than life, the most intelligent, most beautiful, most adventurous, they can ride, hunt, read and speak 7 languages, they are fabulously wealthy and independent, wilful, seductive...etc. Flanna is a flop. And Patrick Leslie is a fop. Nothing heroic about this mama's boy. There's no romantic plot--just tons of history. Its not even woven into the story but instead reads like a text book. I love historicals and this period of history, but after reading the prologue even I was rolling my eyes. Drier than toast. Small thinks pepperingt her story (every 30 pages or so) with sex between Flanna and Patrick makes up for the lack of plot or raomance...it does not. Worse yet, it is not even sexy or erotic. The scenes are mechanical and dull. It seemed for a while like she was going to copy a subplot form Love Wild and Fair but changed her mind. In fact the whole book reads likes a panopoly of vignettes from prior books whitout ever following through. Get some new material already! Moreover the book is contemporaneously tied to another novel, Intrigued (which is not intriguing at all). And the end of JBT leaves the reader hanging. Why? You guessed it, The story continues in Vixens (another lackluster attempt from Small). If you want to read some of Small's best, read The kadin and its sequel Love Wild and fair (which also tie into JBT); Betrayed is anoter great Scottish romance; Skye O'malley and All the Sweet Tomorrows are the best of the Skye series; Adora and beloved are two of her best early novels; and last but by no means least, if you crave something erotic, Helion is the hottest novel by Small so far. (And best of all, no harems!)

I have only read this book once, because i just can not bring myself to pick it up again and suffer. i got so tired of the female lead going on about how she didn't want to be known as the " do naught duchess". It got really irritating. And Patrick was nothing like any of Ms. Small's former male leads. i kept hoping for a brick to hit him and knock him silly. This will be the only book of Ms. Small's i'll never purchase new. there was no adventure, no spark, nothing but my own determination to finish this book.

I was surprised by all the negative reviews this book has received. This is the first book by Beatrice Small that I read, and while I enjoyed it very much, I won't be reading the rest of the series. By what I have read in the reviews the other books are more about erotica than lifelong love and happy endings. Maybe my taste is a little shallow, but is what I prefer nonetheless.

I enjoy sensuality in my romance novels as much as the next person, but I also like happy endings, and I don't like it when characters I have come to care about die untimely. I also don't like it much when the heroines have several husbands and lovers. I want' to read about two individuals that meet, fall in love, work through their differences and find their happy ending.

I get attached to my heroes, and I can not imagine reading a romance novel where the hero dies and the heroine goes on to have other lovers or even worse, while married to the hero has other lovers. It seems to me that in this series only the women are important, the men can be replaced, and many of them die prematurely.

Also, I don't like to travel through various generations, because I don't like to see the characters of previous books get old and die. I know this is the reality of life (people do get old and die), but I don't like that much reality in my books. For example, in this book, if I had read Jasmine and James story before, only to see him die at the beginning of this book, it would have broken my heart.

Still, this book is very well written. I have read dozens of romance novels and I can appreciate quality when I see it. The story was fast paced and entertainning, the historical facts accurate and well mixed into the story, the love scenes are very sensual and the characters very likeable, specially Patrick, because Flanna is really foolish, naive and exasperating at times, with all her talk of patriotism and loyalty to the king.

I guess it's fortunate that I stumbled upon one of the few Beatrice Small books that I would be able to enjoy. I'm sure the others are very good too, as many readers say, but they are just not my cup of tea.