An Unexpected Redemption by Emily Hamsher Review

 

 Romalo Legacy #1

268 Pages, May 8th 2018, Print and Ebook

Prince Lucian of Brasov has been running from his family, from God, and even from himself. When he decides to take revenge upon his elder brother by stealing away his betrothed, Lucian is taken aback by the woman in his custody. Her pure heart and unabashed kindness thwarts his every cruel intention. Lucian finds himself hoping that she might hold the answers to heal his past, even though he knows she can never be his.

Every girl dreams of marrying her prince, so when Lady Adelina receives the unexpected announcement of her betrothal to the Prince of the realm, she takes it as a clear sign of the Lords will. When she is kidnapped by a band of ruffians and taken far from her home she quickly learns that the road to love is never as it seems. Though her captor portrays himself as a ruthless man, Adelina cant help but feel compassion for him and the pain she finds lurking beneath the dark shadows of his character.

 

 My Rating: ⭐⭐

 

 This wasn't a bad book, it really wasn't. It has something of a fairy-taleish feel and was certainly a good story and redemption of a man who seems beyond hope, but is really just a wounded soul in need of grace.

However, is one of those novels that I really cannot understand the point of. What I mean by that is, what is the point of writing a novel set in Medieval Europe if you can't even get the most basic details right? I'm not saying that to be mean, its a genuine question.

There's no sense of period whatsoever, and apart from a few terms and phrases in Romanian there's little real sense of place either. The historical inaccuracies and cultural errors are frequent, and egregious. I counted references to a skunk and a chipmunk in Medieval Eastern Europe. Skunks are an American species.
Also, character refers to drinking hot chocolate. In the 1400s. Do I even need to tell you why that is wrong? A masquerade ball held in a ballroom several centuries before balls were even a thing, and characters eating in the American style with only a fork. Centuries before table forks were even used in most of Europe. 

  This wasn't a bad book, it really wasn't. It has something of a fairy-taleish feel and was certainly a good story and redemption of a man who seems beyond hope, but is really just a wounded soul in need of grace.

However, is one of those novels that I really cannot understand the point of. What I mean by that is, what is the point of writing a novel set in Medieval Europe if you can't even get the most basic details right? I'm not saying that to be mean, its a genuine question.

There's no sense of period whatsoever, and apart from a few terms and phrases in Romanian there's little real sense of place either. The historical inaccuracies and cultural errors are frequent, and egregious. I counted references to a skunk and a chipmunk in Medieval Eastern Europe. Skunks are an American species.
Also, character refers to drinking hot chocolate. In the 1400s. Do I even need to tell you why that is wrong? A masquerade ball held in a ballroom several centuries before balls were even a thing, and characters eating in the American style with only a fork. Centuries before table forks were even used in most of Europe.

Also, and this is a major gripe of mine: I wish authors would learn what "strong spirits " actually mean. Perhaps readers can fill me in. Does the term refer to all alcoholic beverages in the USA? Because here in old England, 'spirits' mean alcoholic drinks that have been distilled to make them stronger.

Ale is not a spirit. It never has been, and in most of Medieval Europe it wasn't 'strong'. In fact, it had one of the lowest alcohol contents of any drink . Even today, most beers and ciders contain about 4-6% alcohol. Add to this the fact that in Medieval times ale and wine was generally watered down, so the whole idea of a person being so inebriated they can hardly walk after one cup of wine. No. Just no.

Towards the end there are some genuinely good scenes and romantic moments, but for the most part I found a lot of this story a bit of a slog. I have no problem with Christian content, especially since this is Christian fiction, but the way it was delivered here. Sigh. Its just so heavy-handed and obvious. The heroine goes around preaching to everyone, quoting the Bible, everything can be resolved with prayer, and even rebuking wolves in the name of Jesus. I mean to disrespect, but seriously?

Also, I the treatment of Christianity is totally wrong for the supposed historical setting of this story. Its meant to be set in Medieval Eastern Europe, specifically the region of Romania/Hungary.
The notion that people living in a region that had been officially Christian for centuries, in which there would usually have been several churches in every major town had never even heard of Jesus and don't for the most part even know about God is beyond frustrating. And totally unrealistic.

Now, I understand if this was meant to be set in communist times, but its not. Its meant to be the 1400s. What is it which all the characters having to be atheists or total heathens? What's wrong with some (shock, horror) Catholics? Some people who actually vaguely know about Christian beliefs and teachings? Some priests, monasteries, etc.

This leads to my next point that the religion here is clearly modern American Evangelical Christianity. Its not Medieval Christianity, its nothing like it. Characters pray about every single life decision, from who to marry, to what occupation to take up, talk about 'leading people to the Lord'.

Now of course I'm not suggesting there is anything fundamentally wrong with any of those things, or putting the Gospel in a novel, but as I said before, why bother to set it in Medieval Europe, which the characters are basically American Evangelicals ?
Believe it or not, if I pick up a novel set in Medieval Romania, I actually want to read about how Medieval Romanians "did" Christianity. That would be interesting.

Anyway, whilst this wasn't my cup of tea at all, I'm sure many people will enjoy this novel. Thanks to the Publisher for approving my request for this title via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own.