It's a good story. ( )

I purchased [b:The Seasons Series|16126646|The Seasons Series|Denise Domning|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352753881s/16126646.jpg|21950460], but I'll rate these guys one at a time, because, damn, they are 5 entire, actual books.

Winter's Heat was a nice romance, definitely not erotica or overly smutty, but the classic historical bodice ripper.

What was great about this book? The female lead wasn't "broken." She hadn't been beaten and abused, a victim of rape or some sort of other character that needed "saving" by the male lead. Which would have gotten this book 4 stars for me, except...

Baby drama. The female lead does, in fact, get pregnant quickly and we spend entirely too much time worrying about her and her baby which she does lose at a dramatic moment, of course. It's just annoying and something I don't enjoy in a romance book.

The author did a great job of balancing romance and plot with historical details. This clearly takes place in the dark ages, life isn't overly pretty for a minor noble, and I do have a liking for historical settings.

The female lead is all kinds of fiery and stubborn. She has her life set before her when she's stuck into a marriage she doesn't want because her father wants to get back at her mother (whose firstborn is a bastard). He marries her off to a lord better off than he, and of course the lord in question is all about her huge tracts of land (no really ;) ). The male lead ends up liking her because she's awesome. However, they are both temperamental, and he's broken and they don't trust each other. Lots of misunderstandings ensue, and just when you wonder when they'll bother to actually talk to each other and stop with the high drama, they do, and can engage in other plot shenanigans.

So far, the pittance I spent on the entire series was less than this book is totally worth, so I win. Let's just hope that the rest of the series follows as well.

ETA: I forgot to add. I read this on kindle. The chapter headings are not a larger font, but appear to be actual image files. I was using the kindle app on my phone to read it, and to reduce eye strain, I use a black background with white text. Since the graphic isn't transparent, but assumes a white background, it was very glaring. It's not a big issue, just a minor annoyance for anyone that reads like I do. ( )

I purchased [b:The Seasons Series|16126646|The Seasons Series|Denise Domning|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1352753881s/16126646.jpg|21950460], but I'll rate these guys one at a time, because, damn, they are 5 entire, actual books.

Winter's Heat was a nice romance, definitely not erotica or overly smutty, but the classic historical bodice ripper.

What was great about this book? The female lead wasn't "broken." She hadn't been beaten and abused, a victim of rape or some sort of other character that needed "saving" by the male lead. Which would have gotten this book 4 stars for me, except...

Baby drama. The female lead does, in fact, get pregnant quickly and we spend entirely too much time worrying about her and her baby which she does lose at a dramatic moment, of course. It's just annoying and something I don't enjoy in a romance book.

The author did a great job of balancing romance and plot with historical details. This clearly takes place in the dark ages, life isn't overly pretty for a minor noble, and I do have a liking for historical settings.

The female lead is all kinds of fiery and stubborn. She has her life set before her when she's stuck into a marriage she doesn't want because her father wants to get back at her mother (whose firstborn is a bastard). He marries her off to a lord better off than he, and of course the lord in question is all about her huge tracts of land (no really ;) ). The male lead ends up liking her because she's awesome. However, they are both temperamental, and he's broken and they don't trust each other. Lots of misunderstandings ensue, and just when you wonder when they'll bother to actually talk to each other and stop with the high drama, they do, and can engage in other plot shenanigans.

So far, the pittance I spent on the entire series was less than this book is totally worth, so I win. Let's just hope that the rest of the series follows as well.

ETA: I forgot to add. I read this on kindle. The chapter headings are not a larger font, but appear to be actual image files. I was using the kindle app on my phone to read it, and to reduce eye strain, I use a black background with white text. Since the graphic isn't transparent, but assumes a white background, it was very glaring. It's not a big issue, just a minor annoyance for anyone that reads like I do. ( )

The book held my interest but I got pretty annoyed with the constant fighting between the two main characters. One was abusive the other started a fight over just about anything. These were not particularly likable characters altho some of the sub-characters showed promise. ( )