Once again, a fantastic read for this avowed Bertrice Small fan. She is not everyone's "cuppa" but for me, she is the antidote to my many book slumps. Her writing is so over the top but oh so gooey good. Love it.The story is set in 11th century England and you know I love me some medieval romances, they are my favorite. As usual, we get a meticulous historical background about the rival factions that want to take over the throne of England, from Harold Godwinson to Edward Atheling and to the bastard William the Conqueror who eventually won the throne. There is also two side stories that take place in Byzantium and in Scotland so we get to know those rulers and their courts as well. I love how Small mixes historical facts with completely speculative details about these monarchs' personal lives. This is definitely not stuff for serious-minded historical fiction readers. I just eat it up though because it is so wildly entertaining. The romance centers on a typical Bertrice Small heroine, the impossibly beautiful Lady Mairin. Some readers will roll their eyes at the constant mention of Mairin's beauty, intelligence, etc. But I find Smalls' heroines absolutely not the boring Mary Sues of so many bodice-rippers. As with all Small books, the heroine's conflict is NEVER how to snag a man and achieve marriage and children, in fact these are usually choices that are imposed on them. What we witness is how the heroine achieves her own sense of achievement, self-worth, and basically living life on her own terms in an era where such a thing is next to impossible for a woman. I also love the resilience in Small's heroines and the fact that they usually don't crumble for their "one and only" lover, but are involved in multiple relationships. As such, it makes Small's books unpredictable because though we supect the heroine will get an HEA at the end, we never know who she will end up sharing her life with, if anyone. This is the case here with Lady Mairin. It was a very satisfying romance. Added to that was the very likeable supporting character of Dagda, basically her protector and father figure from birth, who not only follows her around on all her adventures but can give a sobering criticism to her and reins her in before she becomes insufferable.A special bonus for Small's fans is that there is a cameo from the patriarch of the Scottish Glenkirk clan, so people who have followed her O'Malley series and the Kadin and its sequels will appreciate that she self-references here with a wink and a smirk.I love, love, love Bertrice Small and I am so sad that she passed away too soon and we will never have further books from her. That is why I am saving these precious little nuggets to savor slowly, each time I feel like I am in a terrible book slump.
Enchantress Mine was THE first romance book I've ever read (I started when I was 12). When I first read this, the writing style and the characters were so dramatic and over-the-top that I was left VERY frustrated and confused, so over the years I kept coming back to it and really see how bad (or good) it was. As sad as I feel to say this--this novel did not withstand the test of time (or its time when it was first published). Any seasoned reader (even those who love romance novels) would quickly hear alarm bells when they first read Mairin's POV, because no child ever thinks or talks like Mairin does. To me, Mairin is like...Twilight's Reneesme. She's too perfect to exist and her mentality is extremely inappropriate for her age (she literally THINKS and speaks in purple prose, gushes about her looks as if she was an adult, and is actually pretty creepy). She also suffers from being antagonized by an ~evil~ stepmother who views her as a threat (and she promptly sells her off to slavery, but luckily Mairin is kept pure thanks to her bodyguard and is also luckily bought by a nice guy who becomes her foster parent). It's like an old B-movie where the plot treats the main heroine with kid gloves while trying to sell how 'sad' she is and 'poor her' because life is so hard to her. It's also VERY difficult to like any of her suitors. Basil the Byzantine prince acted way older than her and I was getting some Humbert Humbert vibes off of him (he also finds her 'innocence' so amusing--and frankly that got old every time he says that), plus he only served to further tragedy when he gets killed by a jealous gay lover. There isn't a lot of romance between him or Mairin, because the novel was written about Hero A and Heroine B *having* a romance, not the two of them *being* romanced by each other. The same goes for Josselin (the guy with barely any personality, and became even jealous of his own infant son later because the 'piglet' needed to be breastfed by his mom (and sadly, Mairin didn't tell him to get over himself)) and Eric Longsword (the rapey douchebag who knew Mairin since she was VERY young and innocent, yet still called dibs on her like she was a piece of meat). I remember being 12 and HATING Eric Longsword for doing that to her instead of treating her like a person (even if he was a viking (which STILL makes no difference)).I did really like the descriptions of Mairin's travels and her environment (and I really liked her foster family). But that was it. The heroine was unbelievable, her plotline was unbelievable, and her love life was either filled with douchebags or not-so-great sex.
What do You think about Enchantress Mine (1989)?
reread dropped from 5 to 4⭐ understanding that marin was a 13-16 yr old for most of the book she still got annoying and eric longsword felt like a rushed last minute villian hell blanche at least made sense
—Kashii
Like in all Bertrice Small novels, the history in "Enchantress Mine" is richly detailed, the villains are just whacked-out, and there's a lot of WTF situations that make you shake your head, blink and wonder, "What just happened?"But, I don't know...I guess I just don't enjoy Bertrice Small's books as much as I do other bodice rippers.The heroine Mairin...I both hated and pitied her. So many horrific things happened to her, but I didn't care, because she was SOOOO perfect, SOOOO beautiful, SOOOO resilient! Every man desired her and had to have her (stop me if you've heard this before)! She was just the typical most-beautiful-woman-on-earth heroine that Bertrice Small adores and I had no patience or love for her.Still, poor Mairin! Her love life sucks. Of her three love interests, one lacks a manhood, another's "manhood" is questionable (at least by the social mores of the time), and the other--the worst of all--is just plain boring! Nevertheless, Ms. Small can do better! I prefer "Skye O'Malley," "Love, Wild and Fair" or "Wild Jasmine" instead.2 1/2 stars/ D+
—Wendy, Lady Evelyn Quince
