Rate this book

Never Kiss A Stranger (2011)

by Heather Grothaus(Favorite Author)

3.74 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1420112422 (ISBN13: 9781420112429)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Zebra

series

Foxe Sisters Trilogy

review 1: More like 1.5 stars, but I thought the overall rating way overestimated and the other comments too lenient with this book.I cannot say it is poorly written, but neither is it nicely so. Some sentences ringed out of time to me. I never liked ANY of the characters and could not care for them. Alys is a childish brat, who finally realizes how she's been and hopefully will redeem herself in the future (after the ending of the book);however she's rather stupid and it's quite painful to hear her whinge. The so-called hero does not have much for himself; the only words that come to my mind thinking about him are plainer than plain, boring and lonely loner. The overall story does not hold much, and to my opinion is rather poor. I never understood where the blooming love between th... moree H/h came from. The feelings of the characters are never described, which does not allow for a lot of emotions bonding. What irritated me the most however were the regular inconsistencies / stupidities done by the characters. First Alys whinged she could not go home on her own as she truly did not know the way - the author justified that. However two days later, when they were further away from her home castle, she still knew the village where to go to get food. Secondly, in this village she begged for food and told a tale that having food would help her get back to her Mom and be forgiven; however a few minutes later she asked the woman the way to London and thought herself so witty for having misled her into thinking she would be on the road to London. Last one, when Alys was rescued from the villains just before Piers was to see the King to get his rightful title and property, she reluctantly agreed to leave but did NOT tell the information she learnt that would make the difference for Piers, despite her claiming she loved him and would do anything for his wellbeing and happiness. And the hero was not wiser than the stupid chit; he also did something really stupid, which obviously turned bad.
review 2: This was incredibly well written. At first I thought like Piers that Alys was a spoiled selfish girl. She wasn't, she was smart and as Piers see that so do we.Likewise Sybilla seemed like a total bitch and yet, despite her many flaws Grothaus shows us that she is strict and harsh and mean, but she means well and deep down she is a good person. Sybilla holds Fallstowe keep, denying the king's summons and generally pissing him off, alone as an unwed woman. She takes lovers which was shocking and yet I was struck by how awesome that was. Especially the moment of weakness she has in private after sending away her latest lover (yes she definitely slept with him, its not rumor) and how she longs to have a man of her own.Cecilly is known as "Saint Cecilly" and at one point says she's not like her mother or sisters, she doesn't pretend to see colours or cast spells to be special. Which makes me feel for her.It was well done, at first we see only what society of the book sees, a ruthless beauty, pure hearted innocent and the wild one; but then we see beneath the surface. One of the best example of showing not telling.Piers was such a strong hero, trying to keep Alys safe and send her home in spite of her wilfulness and insistence that they are married. He's trying to claim his birthright over his step brother and his evil step mother (such a cliche to use but she was, an evil conniving cow).I believed Alys and Piers together and I loved it.For people who pick this up and find Alys annoying - hold on because for me almost immediately after I noticed that she was a selfish girl she matured. less

Download links for: Never Kiss a Stranger

Advertising