The author gives an excellent depiction of the time period and it is easy to care for the main character and her plight. There are a few uneven spots in the writing, for example when Gwyn leaves for her grandfather's land without any mention of the emotional impact to herself or the man she loves.

When one becomes a ward of a unscrupulous king one is at the mercy of his wishes. William II was one such king and Gwyn realised very early on that she would need all her wits about her to survive. It did not help that her guardian in this case was disoriented and did not care about her welfare. Her only concern was to survive herself and somehow protect her young son.

The court was corrupt and the advisors to the King worse. Gwyn found out that love had no place in the court and those who professed it only meant to please themselves or further their own place in the court. It was a bitter pill to swallow. She loved unwisely and had to rein herself in and not risk her life. As it is she lost her entire dowry to the greedy king who actually wagers her to the highest bidder. Seeking escape, escape she does but then ends up with a man who is worse than all of them. Married to him and with no means of escape she thinks this is her fate but fate has a strange way of upsetting everyone's plans and it ends well.

Love triumphs, good over evil and it was a pleasant ending to an unpleasant tale of avarice, men's over riding power over women and at a time where women were merely chattels of either their fathers or their husbands.

Goodreads and Amazon reviews up on 14/2/2017. Review on my blog mid June 2017

I have mixed feelings about this book. First, it took me a really long time to get invested in the story. It started out really fast paced but after a couple chapters it slowed down so much that I wasn't sure I was going to be able to go on but then it suddenly got good again. The writing style also threw me off as well. There were times when the story was very well written and other times it seemed like a teenager was writing it. It was almost as if two different people were writing. The chemistry between Gwyn and Rhys was nonexistent for me. There actually seemed to be more chemistry between Gwyn and Caerleon. I think more than anything this story just annoyed me because it seemed that if some of the stupid decisions made by main characters had been avoided, a lot of heartache and misery could have been avoided as well. All in all I thought it was needlessly drawn out. The story ends with a happily ever after but I didn't feel good after reading it. I received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Not enough is written about medieval Wales--as wild a place as Scotland and as frightening to invaders (be they Roman or Norman). This book was a pleasure to read both as a romance and as a history of the times which the author truly understands.