Elina Emerald, $5.99, ISBN 978-0648970538
Historical Romance, 2020
The Wolf in Elina Emerald’s Pledged to the Wolf is Dalziel Sidheag Robertson.
As the Red King’s assassin, he wielded his daggers with precision. A silent, deadly force. None of his targets saw or heard him coming until it was too late.
His identity had remained a closely guarded secret, as his legend grew in notoriety.
Being marked by the Wolf was akin to being marked by the devil himself. Such was the fear he evoked.
Ooh, how edgy. Sidney the Wolf is also half-English, half-Scot, although he hates all English people because his mother didn’t hug him enough when he was a kid. Also, thanks to his mother, he now believes that all women are fit only to be pumped and dumped.
Naturally, he’s engaged to an English wallflower, Clarissa Harcourt, who needs the marriage because her family is poor, which for some reason makes her believe that she is then in a position to demand that the marriage lasts for only the traditional a year and a day.
Oh, and she also has a secret…
Meanwhile, someone is killing Sidney’s informants, leaving behind a mocking note signed by “She-wolf”. Hmm, can Clarissa actually be that kick-ass person that Sidney is hunting down?
This one boasts the same awful technical issues that marred the author’s previous two entries in this Reformed Rogues series. She would set up all these long-winded scenes that boast dizzying abrupt head-hopping from one character to another in a space of a few paragraphs, sometimes even one paragraph, and then the scene in question just peters out without adding anything to the overall plot.
It’s just not head-hopping, scenes will cut from one location to another too, within the space of a few paragraphs.
Because of this, the story is entirely told, not shown. I have no idea what the characters are thinking most of the time, as the author just tells me this is what that imbecile is doing, and this is what the other idiot is doing.
Throughout it all, oh, I wish Clarissa is that kick-ass villain, but no, she spends all her time acting like some tough lady only to collapse and weep when it’s time to walk the talk. The so-called hero spends all but the last chapter suspecting this weeping willow of being his enemy, which in turn makes him appear even dumber than she is.
Needless to say, a story that has the hero mistrusting the heroine for so long does not exactly translate to a believable happily ever after, especially when the heroine is weeping like a tragic rag doll just before final chapter.
Furthermore, because the constant head-hopping and scene-jumping leaves me with no time or inclination to piece together what passes for the plot here, the “spy” developments come off as lovely little things pulled out of someone’s derriere as the story continues. I suppose I can reread this thing a few times to get a better idea of the story, but why on earth would I willingly subject myself to this when the story is such a pain in the everything to slough through?
Anyway, I’m done with this series, and it has been an excruciating experience even after I deliberately space the stories in the series far, far apart.
If I do happen to read another of the author’s works, I hope she’d fine-honed her skills to come up with something that has actual build-up, romantic developments, characterization, nuances, historical authenticity if not accuracy, credible world building… well, let’s just say she’d become an actual author instead of a play-pretend one.
