I totally enjoyed this book. Though I wanted to ring Eric's neck when he found out about Faith's attack. ( )

I'm not sure whether to give this 2½ or 3 stars. The writing itself is okay, and I liked the characters well enough, but the plot.... ARGH. The heroine had survived an attempted rape/murder with her virginity intact, but with a big ol' scar to show for it. Of course, nobody believes she's still a virgin, and everybody thinks she's shameless for not having the decency to die, especially the evil stepmother. To get rid of her, they marry her off to "the devil" (WHY is it that so many historical heroes are nicknamed "the devil"? Particularly when anyone can easily see they're just pussycats? Gah.). And then we get the conflict. At first it's pretty amusing, though it's not played for laughs, that every time they start to consummate their marriage, they get interrupted. Then he sees her scar, asks about it, & when she tells him, he asks if she's still a virgin. She refuses to answer. FOR HALF OF THE BOOK. WTF? I do not understand this. He's supposed to "trust her." Um, she has to answer him first so he has something to trust or not. And... when they finally do get around to having sex, he doesn't want her on top (his leg's been injured) because it's too painful for a virgin. She asks how/when he knew, and he says he's always known. **banging my head on the wall** ARGH. For this we spent half the book listening to them go back & forth? And then in the last 20 pages, they decide to figure out who attacked her, and that was also extremely anticlimatic. Okay, I decided. 2½ stars it is. ( )