[Hardcover]

I haven't picked up a Henley book in over a year and I was saving this title for a rainy day. My goodness, has our beloved author lost her touch, or was this just an "ooops"?

This story had some promise in the beginning, but swiftly lost its luster and became boring and tedious. Henely always includes much history in her novels, which is interesting, but not so much this time around.

Overused phrases like "ethereal beauty", "my magic man", "liquid tremors" and even her catchphrase of "I have quite made up my mind!" that I assume was meant to be charming...just wasn't and turned silly and redundant.

Our heroine, Jory, didn't seem brave or headstrong as the author tried to make the reader believe. She was so easily adaptable to any situation thrust at her and ridiculously green in her supposed selfless acts. Even her anger lacked spine. I know Ms. Henley was trying to create a character different from her usual *hellcat*, but her attempt just fell short of the mark and there was no charm left.

Our hero, Guy de Beauchamp, wasn't strong enough. They made constant reference to the age difference, and he seemed sort of doddering, lovesick and infinitely malleable. He waited by the sidelines for five years to get what he so desired? Not what I'm used to from Henley at all! Her male characters typically would have gone out and dragged their ladylove back no matter the consequences. This Infamous warrior was trying to be respectful of her wishes? That of a 17 year old girl? Please! I was waiting patiently for him to take control of the situation and stop Jory from making such mistakes with her life. By the time the two get together, she was well used by others and to be honest, treats Guy with the same level of devotion as she showed her other mates. I didn't believe in this romance for one minute!

Oh well, every author is allowed a dud. I guess this one was it for Virginia Henley.

*****WARNING! PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!*****

I have read every word Virginia Henley has ever written, so I was quite eager to read the continuation of one of my favorite Henley works, "A Year And A Day". Now I want my money back, because this novel is a true disappointment.

The theme of this book seems to be RECYCLE IT! Whole paragraphs were lifted word for word from AYAAD and other Henley works. Descriptions ("silver-gilt hair", "ethereal beauty") have been plucked from any number of Henley works. Part III of the book is in essence a condensation of AYAAD that could have been avoided in entirety. (If she had to cover this same ground, a better technique would have been to expand upon it rather than skim over the plot with selected phrases and sentences pirated directly from AYAAD.) Names are reused. Guy de Beauchamp, Brianna de Beauchamp, and the nickname "The Mad Hound" were all stolen from Henley's book "Desired". (Which, by the way, is a SUPERIOR read compared to this novel!) The mysterious Mr. Burke has been refurbished again. Mr. Burke appears in nearly every Henley novel, in every nationality. He has been Scottish, Irish, French (spelled "Burque" to give that proper French flair!), English, and, I think, Welsh as well. Just who is the REAL Mr. Burke to Ms. Henley? Even the torrid sex scenes are nothing we haven't read before in Henley books. Finally, plot devices are reused with frustrating regularity. Hoped-for marriage spoiled by the heroine's family making other arrangements? Try "Dream Lover". Husband suspected of having a hand in previous wife's death? Try "The Raven and the Rose". A woman passing from one marriage to the next until her last husband finally brings her true fulfillment? Try "A Woman of Passion". Heroine gets pregnant and must marry to preserve her status? Try "The Dragon and the Jewel". (All of which are much better written than this effort!)

Jory de Warenne was first introduced in AYAAD and was a very captivating, saucy, fully realized character. The Jory de Warenne that is the heroine of this tale is a poorly written vacillator whom I cannot reconcile with the woman in AYAAD. To begin with, we are told of her youthful infatuation with Guy de Beauchamp, the Earl of Warrick. (I can't decide if this is the same Guy de Beauchamp from "Desired". Ms. Henley moves historical events at will to suit her plot, so it is possible!) Guy asks for her hand in marriage and takes no for an answer, which is in startling contrast to the usual Henley protagonist. Jory then knuckles under and marries the man her uncle and brother have chosen for her. This is in direct contrast to the Jory we are expecting, who is repeatedly descibed as "willful" and hard to control. This is explained away in a typical Henley plot device--misinterpreted communication. That device usually works, but not here.

Her marriage to Humphrey de Bohun proves to be disastrous and childless due to his impotence. (Shades of Bess Hardwick's marriage to Robert Barlow, anyone?) Jory is heartbroken by his death, but nowhere near the degree alluded to in AYAAD. Jory is then whisked through 70 pages of rehash as her steamy affair with Robert the Bruce is given terribly short shrift. Seriously, we got much more character exposition the first time around. We learn that her pregnancy is the reason she was so disturbed in the prologue of the book, which seems odd since Jory was happy to be pregnant at the end of AYAAD. Guy then sweeps back into her life, just in time to prevent scandal, but when Guy discovers who fathered her child, his jealousy makes him crave a bloody revenge. Jealousy provokes a lust for vengeance? Didn't we read about that in "Tempted"? I thought so.

A demented servant who is in love with Guy tries to abort Jory's child with the herb pennyroyal. Hmmm, someone making the decision to end someone else's pregnancy. Yeah, we read that in "A Year And A Day". And "The Falcon and the Flower." And "Bold Conquest." Wow, we need some new ideas here!

The Jory of AYAAD is impossible to reconcile with the Jory in "Infamous". The Jory of AYAAD would have told her family to go to the devil and wed de Beauchamp. The Jory of AYAAD would not have been anywhere near as submissive with Princess Joanna. The Jory of AYAAD would have insisted on some kind of legacy from her husband Humphrey. The Jory of AYAAD would have been in a flaming temper with de Beauchamp upon her abduction. (Hey, a kidnapped bride. There's a concept we discovered in "A Year And A Day". And "The Falcon and the Flower". And "The Border Hostage". And "Wild Hearts". Please, Ms. Henley, give us something N.E.W.) In short, this Jory de Warenne could not have become the Jory in AYAAD with the early experiences she had in "Infamous", and this is the most glaring error in plot in the whole book.

In the end, all the misunderstandings are cleared up and Jory and Guy live happily ever after, as usual. I am not, however, living happily ever after. I am left feeling like I just spent eight dollars on books I already own. In keeping with the novel's theme of RECYCLE IT!, I am going to recycle this book by selling it at my next yard sale for $.25, which is about what it is worth. To paraphrase Ms. Henley in "Tempted", "It was the disappointment of a lifetime!"

"Infamous" is a romance set during the reign of Edward I of England (Edward Plantagenet) and it's a gallop through history as King Edward tries to hold on to lands in France, to conquer Wales and to try to subdue Scotland. There is a mixture of history and fiction - all the main characters are historical people although their stories and ages are somewhat altered to fit in with this book. We meet King Edward, various earls and nobles such as Warwick and Gloucester and even Robert de Bruce as our characters journey round the castles of England and the borders with Wales and Scotland.

The pacing of this story is very fast - people travel across large tracts of England very quickly, scenes are rarely more than a couple of pages long - and this has a consequent effect on characterisation. Jory has three men in her life, the Earl of Warwick, Humphrey de Bohun and Robert de Bruce, but we learn very little about Humphrey despite the fact Marjory spends a great deal of time in his company. In fact, all we really learn about him are his disappointments in bed and his fear and yet the impression given is of a very nice young man; I felt he'd had rather a tough position in this story and that Virginia Henley should have made more of Humphrey the Man, not just Humphrey the Disappointment. We learn more about Warwick, of course, as he is more central to the story, but I still didn't feel that I really understood him. And Robert de Bruce was mainly described by his lovemaking skills; in this book, skill in bed seemed to be the most important thing about the male characters.

Our heroine was a rather strange woman too. She was constantly referred to as 'wilful' and she seemed to do her own thing without much consideration of others. Marriages in the 13th century were contracted for dynastic reasons rather than love but she doesn't play her dutiful daughter part - this makes for a love story but makes her seem shallow and selfish to me. And I got very fed up with her hair being described as "silver-gilt" numerous times - the repetition became annoying.

The central love story of the plot relies, once again in a historical romance, on the "Big Misunderstanding". And it was an annoying misunderstanding as it was facilitated by a letter that Marjory writes to Warwick where she just writes one sentence which is open to misinterpretation. Of course, if the sentence hadn't been misinterpreted we wouldn't have the middle portion of the book but still it seemed rather unlikely and a slender thread upon which to hang the estrangement of hero and heroine for over half of the book. In some ways the love story took a back seat to the machinations and political manoeuvring of the characters which seem to make up the bulk of the book - historically a useful look at the events around the end of the reign of Edward I but not interesting enough to hold attention when the characterisation is so bare.

For those interested in this period in history and familiar with the castles and regions referred to this is an enjoyable and pacy read. For those hoping for more characterisation and likeable characters it might be better to look elsewhere.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book, [...]

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