Love Wild And Fair

Cover

Title Love Wild And Fair

Author Bertrice Small

ISBN 0-380-40030-8

Publisher Avon Books

Category Romance

Shira's Rating

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What It's About

This book is the sequel to The Kadin. I would urge you to read The Kadin before tackling this one, because the plot of Love Wild And Fair depends heavily on the characters and events of the earlier book.

At the beginning of the book, Janet Leslie's rather bratty teen-aged great-granddaughter Catriona Hay displays the not-so-noble trait of deciding to run from her problems. Every time something displeases her, off she goes. Despite all of this, her fiancé Patrick Leslie manages to wind up married to her. Although I'm not quite sure why he still wanted her after her frequent temper tantrums...

In any event, after their marriage Cat persuades her gallant husband to take her to the Scottish court in Edinburgh. James Stewart VI was king, and Queen Elizabeth was reigning in England. Patrick Leslie had severe misgivings about spending time at court and attracting the attention of spoiled James Stewart, but of course his beautiful wife got her way. Cat quickly discovered that her husband was right to mistrust a Stewart.

Due to assorted misadventures, which I won't reveal because I don't want to spoil the story, Cat finds herself trapped in a Turkish harem, which is naturally why I decided to include a review of this book on this web site.

Its Good Points

This is an action-packed book. The plot is much more complex than the usual run-of-the-mill romance novel plots.

Bertrice Small clearly did extensive research when preparing this book. Although I certainly would not encourage anyone to think of a romance novel as being a legitimate source of historical or cultural information, I nonetheless was impressed at the overall use of historical detail in this book. I'm not an expert on either James Stewart's Scotland, but the detail appearing in the book was consistent with what little I did know.

On The Negative Side....

Bertrice Small sometimes puts her heroines through excessive amounts of hell. Occasionally, reading one of her books makes me want to shout, "Enough already! Please, let this character have some happiness and peace of mind for a change!" There were times when this book triggered that reaction in me. The most severe was chapter 58--the book could have been complete without it, and it took the "drag the heroine through the mud" notion too far.

This book was lacking the rich tapestry of historical information about Turkey that appeared in The Kadin. If you treasured the extensive information about life in Ottoman Turkey from The Kadin, you'll be disappointed by Love Wild And Fair.

I'm happiest when the romance novel that I'm reading features characters whom I can admire and encourage. The characters in Love Wild And Fair fell short for me. Cat was a self-centered, spoiled brat even into adulthood, although she did become more likable as the book moved on. I know I was supposed to feel sorry for her when King Jamie started acting like a jerk, but she had annoyed me so much in the early part of the book that it didn't particularly bother me when she found herself going through an unpleasant time. She was an annoying character, not someone I could feel empathy for.

In Conclusion

If you're the kind of person who enjoys historical romance novels with a hefty dose of passionate sex scenes, then you'll probably like this book very much. However, if you've never appreciated romance novels, and if you are squeamish about books with lots of explicit sex, this is not the right book for you.

I probably wouldn't recommend going for this book unless you're truly enthusiastic about Bertrice Small's earlier books in the Leslie family and O'Malley family series. If you're captivated by both series, you'll probably like Love Wild And Fair. Otherwise, you'll probably be happier spending your reading time on other books.

Bertrice Small, the author of Love Wild And Fair, has been very prolific. She has written many books, with a large number of them set at least partly in the Orient. If you want to read the full collection of her assorted books set in the East, here is the order I would recommend:

The Kadin. This was Bertrice Small's first book. Although this book not linked at all to Skye O'Malley, some of the later books in the Skye O'Malley series bring in characters that appeared first in The Kadin. Therefore, it's good to read The Kadin before you get too deeply into Skye's world. Most of this book takes place in Turkey.
Skye O'Malley. Small introduces a new heroine, Skye O'Malley, who is not related to the characters of The Kadin. You could read this without first reading The Kadin, but since some of the books in the Skye O'Malley family of romance novels do refer back to characters and events from The Kadin, you may as well read that one first.
All The Sweet Tomorrows. This is the sequel to Skye O'Malley. Although I was a bit disappointed with this book, I would still recommend that if you liked Skye O'Malley enough to read more in the series, then you should read this before the others. Otherwise, you'll find some of the references to past events and characters in the later books confusing. Part of it takes place in Algeria and Morocco.
A Love For All Time. This one comes third in the Skye O'Malley family of books. Part of it takes place in Turkey, and it makes some references to characters who were originally introduced in The Kadin.
Love Wild And Fair. This is the book reviewed on this page. You should certainly read The Kadin before reading it, but you don't need to read the books in the Skye family before tackling Love Wild And Fair. If you decide you liked Love Wild And Fair enough to know what happened to the characters in Turkey after the events of this book, then the next book to read would be Lost Love Found, which is part of the Skye O'Malley series.
This Heart Of Mine. I don't plan to review this one for my site, because the heroine's adventures take her to India, which falls outside my geographical scope. But if you've enjoyed the other books about Skye's family so far, you'll want to read this one, which is number four in the series.
Lost Love Found. Bertrice Small takes you back to Turkey in this one, the fifth book in her story about Skye O'Malley and her family. Don't tackle this one unless you've read everything above. I made that mistake, and felt entirely confused at all the flashbacks explaining what had gone before.
Wild Jasmine. This is the closing book in the story of Skye O'Malley's world, and it's the natural sequel to This Heart Of Mine. I don't plan to review this one for my site, because the heroine's time in the Orient takes place in India, which falls outside my geographical scope. But if you're hooked on the adventures of Skye O'Malley's extended family, you'll want to read this one, which is the sixth book in the series.