Review: Renegade - Sarah Parr

* Previously posted over at Royal Reviews*

Genre: Historical romance
Copyright: June 2009
Pages: 320

Synopsis: Far from England, alone for too long, Captain Jonathon Barry is captivated the instant he sees Jaline - she is too magnificent not to notice. There is a grace to her movements, an elegance to her bearing, that sets her apart even before she lifts her exotic black eyes or speaks. Her voice is intoxicating, soft as velvet with a sweet, lilting quality, as she recounts an evil bargain made against her will. She is to be his mistress, and he may do with her as he pleases. Jonathon is deeply torn, for Jaline is indeed his by right. She is only a slave, the prize he has won in a Constantinople gambling den. Trembling, bared to him, body and soul - oh no - he can see how cruelly she has been treated. It is clear that Jaline is in danger still and he may well be her only hope. Yet even a renegade like Jonathon would risk anything to save so beautiful a woman...and to love her, if she will let him.

My Review: This book, well there is nothing wrong with the author's writing, her imagination and her willingness to explore other lands. But I had a problem with this book, and that was the story itself.

Jonathon, the hero, buys Jaline, sure he does it to save her, but he sure wants her too. Am I supposed to root of for a man who buys himself a mistress? But he grew on me, because he loved her and it showed through out the book. This was a love story, at least from his point of view. From his part I truly saw it.

But then there was Jaline. The way she came in to the relationship telling him that ok if I must I will be your mistress, and her being a virgin and all. And she kept on saying that even though he made it clear he would not force her, and he was willing to let her go. Still she wanted to stay, and that is the point I do not get. Stay as a slave when she didn't even love him then? All the decisions she made in this book were strange, and one part was her unwillingness to tell him about his accident that we learnt about early on. That she had raced horses, I never understood why she couldn't just tell him.

So there you go, that is why I had problems with this book. When it came down to it all I guess it was Jaline.

I am not telling you it was a bad book. No, I am sure many will be swept away with this book and the lovestory that slowly grows between these people. One who wants to love the other person, the other that is scared to be loved. It can be rather bittersweet.

Then there is the danger in the book, Jonathon buys exotic objects and now there seems to be someone after him, or is it after Jaline? The reader does not know for sure. There is some action, and a mystery concerning what really is going on.

I also liked that she started the book in Constantinople in the beginning, I like a romance novel that at lest to some parts takes place in another country, even if they later go to England. It gave more flavour to the book.

Some romance fans will love this concept, even if I didn't.

Blodeuedd's Cover Corner: Meh

Reason for reading: Own copy

Final thoughts: Can't really remember anymore I guess I was annoyed by some of Jaline's choices