Carpe Librum

This was a quick, little romance about Blanche Langley and Giles Beaufort, two imaginary characters on opposite sides of the war between Lancaster and York. Blanche is horrified that she is expected to sully her pure Yorkist white by marrying a Lancastrian when Henry VII takes the crown. Giles, on the other hand, is quite pleased with the rich, beautiful heiress assigned to him.

I'm not much of a reader of romance, but this one was a nice evening read. I, however, am not a good judge of how well-written of a romance it was. Blanche is, of course, a beautiful headstrong Yorkist, while Giles is our dark, handsome, dastardly Lancastrian.

Historically, it was light, though the period was presented realistically. Giles turns out to be the love-child of a surprise, and unlikely, couple. Other than that little bit of far-fetched storyline, I found that the historical characters were well-written.

This is a novella and ends rather abruptly. I would have enjoyed having it fleshed out into a more full length novel. The ending is a little too syrupy sweet for me, but that's why I usually steer clear of the romance genre.