BETROTHAL by Jenna Jaxon, the first of three novellas set in medieval England, illustrates the arduous process of getting to know a future spouse under the extreme pressure of an arranged marriage. I enjoyed the last novel I read by Jenna Jaxon, and so was looking forward to this one. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by the pace and plotline. I give BETROTHAL 2 stars.
Lady Alyse and Sir Geoffrey are betrothed via an agreement among their fathers and the king. After a couple of months they will leave England, possibly forever, and accompany Princess Joanna to Spain for her marriage. Prior to her betrothal, Alyse had eyes for Lord Braeton, one of Geoffrey's best friends.
Alyse and Geoffrey have two weeks to get acquainted before the wedding. In getting to know Geoffrey, Alyse also interacts with Braeton, and her wit and intelligence peak his interest. Lord Braeton's past has made him cynical, and he undermines Geoffrey's efforts to build trust with Alyse. As if their challenges were not already enough, Geoffrey is called home unexpectedly. Will Geoffrey be able to build enough of a relationship with Alyse before he leaves to carry them through the wedding?
I was initially intrigued by the plot summary, and pleased by the believable dialogue, but BETROTHAL fell far short of my overall expectations. While I appreciate novels that actually illustrate the development of a romance, the romantic development in BETROTHAL seemed tedious and often felt like the novel wasn't going anywhere. Until the very end of BETROTHAL, I didn't know that there were going to be two more novellas, and so I felt cheated out of an actual plotline. Even without reading the next two novellas, I can say that I would have preferred all three novellas condensed into one full-length novel. That way, the background, getting-to-know-you part of the relationship could be more concise.
While the pace and plotline were my two big issues with the novella, there were also enough typos, grammatical errors and awkward sentence structures to distract the reader from the story. Overall, I did not enjoy the book and based on this novella, I would have preferred to read one full-length novel.
**Review originally written for The Romance Reviews.com at http://www.theromancereviews.com/viewbooks.php?bookid=10086.
