Betrothed to a barbarian lord she has never seen, Regeane is surrounded by enemies. But outside the gates of Rome, baying at the moon, there is a mysterious dark wolf whose scent awakens the animal in Regeane. Now, as deadly plots tighten like a noose around her neck, Regeane must fight to live with dignity as the proud creature she civilized and savage, partaking of both, yet infinitely more than either...
Comment: One more title I got years ago when I was dedicated to get as many PNR and UF paperbacks I could, in the hopes I'd become fan of all those series... this one had the added bonus of having been written by the sister of Anne Rice, even though I must ask my younger self, why would it matter anyway...
In this book we meet a cast of characters living in Rome, after the fall of the empire. Charlemagne is amassing his army and Regeane is a potential political pawn for what is left of her family. Her uncle manages to find a way to secure her marriage to a man living in the Alps, an important and strategic location for and when Charlemagne decides to expand his territory. The problem is that Regeane has a secret, which was a sort of inheritance from her late father: Regeane can shape shift into a wolf at night. While she was alive, her mother had desperately tried to find a way to help and cure her but now that she is gone, Regeane's uncle is eagerly greedy for the marriage contract to be done, but Regeane discovers that there is still a lot she must do before she is ready to accept the idea of marriage...
I usually prefer to read historical books set in times closer to our own, such as the 19th century on. I've kind of told myself that whatever happens, no matter how unfair to my contemporary vision, is still easier to process and accept - especially if in a romance - when I think that life in general was still better than what happened to the the laws and social demands of past eras. This to say that I don't really look for stories set in such ancient periods as those that happened before medieval times, but this one found its way to me.
In fact, if this book had not been more a PNR/UF than an historical, I might not have even looked at it, but somehow it ended up in the pile. Now that I have finished, I must say I was surprised by how fluid and easy the story ended up being, although the content not always to my preference. Probably, what made it easier to be likable is the focus on Regeane's ability to shift into a wolf and how that is the reason she is afraid of marrying a stranger, after all how could he react?
Of course, the author doesn't hide away from some of the costumes of the time and I had the feeling she tried to be correct in using situations and features of how life used to be for people in Rome at the time. This aspect, I'd say, didn't end up being as heavy as I imagined it would, because the main focus is in the characters and in what they do. At the same time, I couldn't help but notice that there was some repetition and some dragging here and there and for such a simple plot, it surely took Regeane a lot of time to accept her wolf side and to understand that it didn't have to be a issue.
Perhaps it would be more correct to say the plot is more about Regeane finding her own way, her own strength, and on the way her interactions with some characters is a way to help her achieve that. Even the "bad guys" such as her uncle and another character who seems to want to attack the city, thus deposing the pope feel like too secondary. I know, I sound contradictory in saying this, but I don't wish I had more scenes with secondary characters interacting... I think the way tog o could have been to not drag this path to "self awareness" by Regeane to take so long...
I will chance a mild spoiler by saying that Regeane only meets her future fiancé/husband in the last chapters, even though we did have his POV here and there throughout the book, in short passages. This is to say that the potential for romance is really simply that, no matter how obvious the perfection and suitability of their bond is from a certain point on. I was also a little annoyed at some plot choices, namely regarding punishments and violence....perhaps historically accurate, but terribly unnecessary in my point of view. The antagonism could have been demonstrated differently, in my opinion.
Regeane is a very traditional heroine, if one considers her path. She goes from being afraid and controlled by an evil uncle to learn about herself and understanding her power. In terms of personality, she is a person who wants to help others and prefers to avoid confrontation, but I can't say there is any specific detail about her that stands out. The secondary characters who become part of her circle as her character develops are intriguing and offer an interesting contraposition to her, so that her... spirit evolves more brilliantly.
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