Joanna by Roberta Gellis

In A World Of Deceit And Danger, Love Was The Deadliest Risk Of All Beautiful, iron-willed heiress to power, Joanna secretly burns with an explosive inner passion as wild and– radiant as her flaming red hair. But her deepest emotions are tragically frozen by the cold fear of a man’s tender love.

Ensnared in the violent lusts and dangerous intrigues of King John’s decadent court, she defies every outward peril-only to come face-to face with the terror in her own heart. Caught between willful pride and consuming desire, she struggles to avoid surrendering herself to the irresistible fires raging within her.

After reading the first two books of The Roselynde Chronicles, I knew I had to continue the series even if I knew that Alinor and Ian de Vipont were not the main characters of the story.

Joanna is the eldest daughter of Alinor and her first husband, Simon. She is the heiress of Roselynde and was raised accordingly to her rank. Joanna is young but of marriageable age and her parents want her betrothed to Geoffrey Fitzwilliam, the young son of William of Salisbury. Geoffrey had a hard life at court as a child, being the constant target of Queen Isabella’s hate for his father. King John is on the throne and Geoffrey and Joanna will have to deal with revenge and jealousy from their both sovereigns.

The young man and Joanna know each other since childhood, since he was raised in Roselynde as Ian’s squire. Despite the situation, they don’t know each other well and it’s obviously since the beginning of the story that their relationship would not be a smooth one.

I have to say that it is a joy to return to Roselyne and to read Roberta Gellis. Her historical research and attention to detail are a real pleasure to read. My main problem with this book were the misunderstandings between Joanna and Geoffrey. Yes, they are young and inexperienced but it seemed they couldn’t have a single conversation without jumping to conclusions, having immediately a fight and leave each other bitterly. I was tired of this attitude halfway through the book making it almost painful to read. Quite disappointing when I read Roselynde and Alinor in one sitting and was eager for more.

While I was still interested to know a little more about Alinor and Ian’s life (Ian de Vipont is such a wonderful man!), I cannot say that I really cared about this young couple. Nonetheless, it is still an interesting read mostly because of the rich historical background also present in the two previous books of the series.

I’m definitely reading the other books of The Roselynde Chronicles even if I read some so-so reviews about them.

Grade: 3/5