This book was kind of like that.

Zenobia, god bless her, is a wonderful main character. She's smart, beautiful, witty. In fact, she's everything except lucky. First, her mother is raped and murdered. Then her husband is murdered. Her lover (Marcus) weds another woman, and Caesar her hated enemy, captures her and makes her his mistress.

But wait! It gets worse.

Her oldest son is a wimp. Her youngest son's a fool. Her friends are beheaded. Her city and everyone in it is destroyed. And while she goes a little crazy, she is still forced to bed the enemy because her daughter will be murdered if she doesn't. I think it was around the time Zenobia was forced to have sex in front of spectators I threw 'Beloved' out the window and haven't picked it up since. Oops.

My recommendation? IF you dig drama and angst... you'll love this book. If you don't? Read something else. And if you are bi-polar, OCD, or are presently taking medication for depression? AVOID AVOID AVOID. *wink*

"Beloved" takes place during the Roman invasions of Palmyra (in the Syrian region of the world). I don't know enough about history to know if this is accurate, but the story was good enough to keep me interested throughout. There are some tactical details which, surprisingly, tie in beautifully with the story of Zenobia's loves. Unlike many books of the romance genre, Zenobia's character is admirable not only for her beauty but for her intelligence. Sex notwithstanding, I would let an older teenager read this book.

"Beloved" surprised me because it was so well-written that it does not fall into a "fluff" category. This was a wonderful gift that was a good investment because I will read it again. I will seek out other books by Beatrice Small because I enjoyed this book so much.

This book is about a young woman who has learned to live outside the glowing rays of family love. One of her grandfathers wifes hates her with a passion and does whatever she can to hurt or humiliate Cailin. When a Saxon named Wulf Ironfist comes to thier castle Cailin is given to him for the evening even though she is a virgin. Things happen that night and they decide to get married. What happens after that is an interesting story of her surival among slavers and other such people.

If you get emotional reading survival stories, this would be a little bit of a tear jerker.

But other than that (which happened fairly early on), I enjoyed the rest of the book, even if it did move sort of too quickly...

P.S. - My favorite Small book is "A Love for All Time." It starts in the middle of the O'Malley Saga, but since it is easy to read first.

Fiona Hay is a woman between a rock and a hard place throughout her life, doing her duty by her sisters, and to uphold her own honor. She makes mistakes, learns from them and is rewarded by being loved by the two most magnificent men one can possibly imagine. Interestingly enough, I enjoyed the character of Colin MacDonald even more than Black Angus Gordon...what a dynamic, rich character he is !

If you want to be swept up in medieval Scotland, and experience first hand of the 'taming' of the wild northern clans, then "Betrayed" will captivate you completely !

Why this wonderful heroine had to be dropped into a muddle of a book is a mystery. Suddenly Valentina is made to doubt her paternity and faster than you can swear "God's foot!" she's off to "the East" to discover the truth (even though candidates two and three are presumed dead). Worse, she's burdened with two clods for suitors--Tom Ashburne and Padraic Burke who is Valentina's own cousin (smacks of incest, no?). Once in "the East" Valentina falls into all kinds of melodramatic, sadistic sexual traps which I did not find erotic so much as disturbing and a little disgusting. Methnks Small needs to lay off the harem intrigue--it really does get dull. Finally, this book includes threads from Love Wild and Fair and the Kadin, in addition to previous O'Malley novels. This makes for more of a curtain call than a book.

In closing, I did find Valentina's special relationship with Elizabeth I to be tender and touching. The two characters seem to bring out the excellence in each other. Why not dump the questionable romance and craft a novel between England's great ruler and her favorite servant?

Ok, I hope everyone reading this has seen the movie "Stripes." "Stripes" begins wild and hilarious, but then an assanine plot is introduced and the movie goes to pot.

Such is the case with "Wild Jasmine." This book starts out great. Yasaman is a young girl who is pursued by her half brother, Salim. She is still young and innocent, he is a lusty monster. Their incestuous moment together is one of the most sensual passion plays I've ever read. Yasaman goes on to marry another man and their relationship is fiery, passionate, and beautiful. Yasaman reveals herself to be very strong-willed and complex.

After her husband dies, the book turns bad. She has a succession of husbands/lovers that also die. The book focuses on sex and lust at the expense of character development. Yasaman grows up far too suddenly and loses her fiery qualities.

I could not give this book a one because I enjoyed the beginning far too much. This book and its heroine had such promise and potential. The later developments soured my feelings toward them both. However, the first part was extraordinarily delicious and shouldn't be missed. I recommend that Beatrice Small/historical romance fans read the first part of this book and then return it. Make up your own ending, its much more fun. Yasaman was a great character, but Ms. Small couldn't take her anywhere. The Skye O'Malley saga has finally run out of steam and Ms. Small can only write about sex -- even that is old and tired. Romance novels require more than just sex to keep my interest. I believed that "Wild Jasmine" was going to be a well-rounded book, but I was greatly disappointed.

Wild Jasmine made me laugh and cry as well as dream. I ! wish they could make movies of her books. Keep them coming and I look forward to the sequel of Jasmine deMarisco's adventure with Jemmie Leslie, Earl of Glenkirk..the Glenkirk Chronicles.

Kalaniku

With each new book, I find myself to be in less of a hurry to buy the book. I do hope that if Bertrice Small does continue with the series Skye's Legacy, she puts a bit more zest into the stories.

Fortune displays personality traits more reminiscent of Skye. Jasmine acted more like the Jasmine of Wild Jasmine. However, I found the character of James Leslie lacking the depth of the James Leslie in Wild Jasmine. I enjoyed meeting Kieran Devers.

In addition, the plot line was not as "cookie-cutter" as her previous recent novels. I was pleased with the refreshing change of pace for Small. I eagerly await Small's next book in the series. I am looking forward to see how Autumn Rose grows up.