Review book courtesy of Penguin Group

For the first time in my reviewing career, I’ve run into something that almost never happens to me. I couldn’t finish a book. I tried my hardest to finish it; when I couldn’t finish it I put it down for a few months to see if time would make it better for me. Well, it didn’t.

Belavalari has absolutely no desire to be a wife. Cooking and cleaning hold no appeal for her. So when fate throws Merin in her path, a wounded soldier who she figures doesn’t have long to live, she drugs him and tricks him into marrying her. Not knowing what he’s done, he leaves her. She has what she’s always wanted: her freedom. But when Merin returns to take her to be one of the Emperor’s prospective brides, the truth comes out. The only way for the two of them to separate is to spend twenty-two days tied together at the waist. After that, they’ll be through with each other — if they manage not to kill each other…  I kind of hate to say it, but that might actually have made the story less painful for me.

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