I found this first volume of the bland saga

The Earl of Warwick marries his daughter Mary by proxy at a Scottish chef Brodick McJames. His wife, the Countess Philipa, does not hear it that way and benefits from the absence of her husband to replace the illegitimate Mary of the count, Anne. The poor woman has little choice, since Philipa threatens his family. Anne finds himself in the hands of Brodick. However, the young clan leader is not so barbaric that could make him believe ...

The first pages have captivated me, and I expected a lot from this novel. The time when events take place (early 17th century) and the context of the exchange announced an exciting story. Unfortunately, this has not happened, and I ended up tired. Indeed, the historical side (yet very interesting) is not integrated enough nor sufficiently exploited the story. I think there was room to do much better with this exchange history, and conflict between the English and the Scots.
In addition, some plot elements are rather far-fetched and somewhat discredit the novel (Anne said not even goodbye to his mother and one that does not ask questions, Anne is a little too enterprising to a young virgin woman ... for example). The end of the novel is too rushed and too easy (or even too practical).

The romance between the characters is mostly limited to their carnal exchanges. Anne and Brodick do not really have the time to share something else, and we come to wonder how they ever fall in love, for passion does not explain everything. There are a few too many hot scenes that seem to have been there to pass the time, to increase the number of pages or whatnot. These sensual scenes are not really "useful" to the story (little we can judge sex scenes "useful" lol). I find that on the contrary, they "distort" some relationship between Anne and Brodick.

Individually, the main characters yet reveal interesting. Brodick is certainly a virile Scot, sufficient and confident, but he has a touching side. His passionate nature and his enthusiasm make him an attentive husband and very attached to his wife happy. As for Anne, I liked to see torn between his growing attachment to Brodick and betrayal in which it participated (no, I'm not sadistic!). This is a young woman of character believable in his actions (except that it is so enterprising ...).

Finally, I found this first volume of the bland saga. Yet the beginning of the novel was very promising. The plot is not my passion, the historical context is underused, and the relationship between the characters is not developed enough for my taste. I must admit I do not know yet if I let myself be tempted by the second volume of the saga.