The Lord Poet by Megan Franks
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
How do I review The Lord Poet? That’s a thought that’s given me pause as I sit down to do this. Most of the things I want to talk about would be spoilers, so obviously I can’t do that. But perhaps that’s a good place to start — the first half of the book is largely a ‘getting to know the cast’ as we learn about the characters, and in the second half there are a lot of ‘secrets’ about the characters that start to get revealed to show us how much we still have to learn about them.
The primary story involves a focus on Catrina and her new friendships with Sam, and Edmund. All three are well-read writers and are able to share some of those interests with each other. The men find it surprising to run into a woman with the literary background she has.
Their friendships begin to grow more complicated and emotional, as the men are good friends and feelings begin to develop between herself and each of them. There are also other people involved who have their own ideas about who should be with whom, and that adds some intrigue into the mix.
If I had to pick one thing I didn’t care for in the story, I would say it’s how the last quarter of the book handles the characters. Some of the character decisions were a pretty big surprise for me, and not necessarily in a good way. I do, however, think that many people would like the way it wraps up, so that’s probably just a personal preference.
(Insider tip, that not ‘too’ spoiler’ish: if you’ve been reading a lot of reverse harem… it might seem like this is in that realm, but get it out of your head for this book or you might be in for the same shock.)
Overall, the quality of a historical romance isn’t in question at all and I think you can see that from the other reviews as well. The writing is good and interesting and draws you into the scenery. The characters are interesting and developed, and the story has some good twists and turns. Worth reading!
