Duty to King
Tomas Dyrease, the newly made Earl of
Irvaine and the village of Wisenvale, owes his good fortune to his king and the
recent civil war. When his benefactor demands Tomas marry the cousin of a noble,
he obeys. However, no one warned him that she wasn’t a typical
noblewoman.
Duty to Others
Brielle Solarius struggles to keep her
village from starvation under the new Lord Wisten, her cousin. The men rode off
to war and never returned. The remaining women and children face a dire winter
if they do not find a solution soon. When she learns her cousin sold her into
marriage to save his life, she isn’t surprised. However, she is taken aback by
Lord Irvaine’s unpolished ways. Was this man a noble or a foot
soldier?
Duty to Each Other
Bound by the words of their vows, they
face a rough future. They must forge a marriage while battling betrayal,
accusations of treason, and villains from the past. Survival depends on their
precarious trust in each other. Failure could mean death.
My Review
Set in a medieval fantasy world, Duty: A Novel of Rhynan, by Rachel Rossano, tells the tale of Lady
Brielle Solarius. With the crowning of a new king, Brielle is essentially sold
into an arranged marriage to the new Lord Tomas by her evil cousin Orwin. But
because of her duty to her people, the poor widows also forced into marriage to
strangers, Brielle determines to willingly marry this man Tomas. Besides,
because of her cousin’s work, her village will starve through the winter if she
doesn’t have Tomas’s help. Yet, as they leave to acquire food for the winter,
Brielle’s little village is attacked!
I really
liked this book! When I found it, I thought it would just be a sweet little
romance, but conspiracies, battles, and sieges abound as well! There is never a
dull moment in the novel, what with the romance and the action. And truly, just
as I thought all was well and couldn’t imagine how the author would make the
rest of the novel interesting, the worst happens and drives Brielle and Tomas
into another adventure!
To me, Duty seemed to be written well. There
were a few tiny spots that confused me, but they were few and not extremely
pertinent to the tale. Aside from that, I have no complaints.
Things you should
know: There was definitely violence in this novel, as much of the plot
revolved around soldiers and battles. In one instance, a pregnant woman is
threatened with death (with a sword to her throat. However, the descriptions of
the battles were not graphic. The author wrote that the characters cursed, yet
didn’t include what the curse word was. Women are indeed forced into marriage,
but the overall attitude toward it, at least by the leading characters, is that
it is unfair and wrong. The leading characters kiss and hold each other, but
sex is only implied, not described.
I have received a free copy of this book in exchange for an
honest review.