The #KissAndLetMeTeleChat girls kicked off the year by continuing our romance 101 series, and last month we had the chance to read Virginia Henley’s The Dragon and The Jewel. Though the cover is absolutely stunning in my eyes, I had a lot of mixed thoughts and bummer feelings about this one.
Check out my previous readĀ 
In Which Margo Halifax Earns Her Shocking Reputation by Alexandra VastiĀ
Genres: Historical Fiction (“Romance”)Publisher:Ā Dell
Publication Date:Ā November 1, 1991
Source: Library
Format: e-book
With her sapphire eyes and silken dark hair, Princess Eleanor was a bewitching beauty made for a man’s pleasure.Ā Ā Once a child bride, but widowed at a tender age, she swore never to marry again and took a vow of eternal chastity…until Simon de Montfort marched into England and set his smoldering dark gaze upon her, King Henry’s youngest sister, the royal family’s most precious jewel.Ā Ā Bold, arrogant, and invincible, the towering Norman knight inspired awe in the bravest of men…and a reckless desire in Eleanor’s untried heart.
āSo this was love thenāwanting to give only pleasure to the beloved; constantly searching your mind for love tokens that would bring a smile to her lips or a sparkle to her eyes.ā
Not gonna lie, I donāt think I was that much of a fan of this one. Written in the early 90s, Henley takes us back to 13th Century England where we follow the āloveā story of Princess Eleanor and Simon de Montfortābut the book begins with her first marriage to William Marshal, the Earl of Pembroke and friend to the Crown when she was only nine years old.Ā
Yup.Ā
The first half of the book was indeed a weird one, but luckily for us, this portion is short lived and the Earl isnāt a pervert like I had thought he was going to be when he agreed to the whole marriage (this is literally not a spoiler its on the first page and in the synopsis); but when the day finally comes for him to take his wife in the literal sense, he dies and the blames it put on the Princess. She vows that she will live the rest of her days has a widow and never have a loverābut of course that all changes when Simon sets his eyes on her one year later.Ā
And this my friends is where my review goes off the rails, because I donāt know how to word how this book made me feel. More often than not, I found the characters to not be well rounded enough to hold my attention and I wanted to smash my head into my wall because of either something they were doing or something they said. I found a lot of the interactions and conversations that were happening in the book to be completely problematic (though I understand that this was written during the 90s and HR (romance in general really) was a different vibe than what we know now, so Iām gonna turn the other way with this bit, but I wanted to mention it) and I think at the end of the day Henleyās writing style and I just donāt mesh well.Ā
This is very much a period piece and I would like to venture to even call it just plain historical fiction and not historical romance even though there are romance elements to the plot. It just didnāt give off romance vibes, but I could so see this fitting better as aĀ womanās literature/historical fiction classic.Ā
All in allāI donāt think Henley was for me, which was a true bummer because I was a huge fan of her cover for this book!
Henley is definitely NOT going to be for everyone. She is really challenging to read. That style of romance with all that angst, is just not going to be for everyone. Its the epitome of old school romance.