4 "You Go Girl" Stars
Enchanting the King was different from what I expected going in and yet was a great read.
So the novel revolves around this princess Alienor who is on this kind of crusade with her husband Prince Philippe. This is where the novel got a little tricky for me, I completely disliked Philippe and was confused by the fact that he was her husband, and that Alienor even had a husband when the blurb clearly mentions some Thomas dude who definitely isn't her husband. And in the fact that Philippe seems to be leashed by this evil witchy mistress person, well, I was throughly confused and yet intrigued.
Alienor has this interesting mix of adventurous spirit and yet naiveté that often gets her into trouble. She's pretty young and I see this a lot in her character as she idealizes the stories told by her father about war, not realizing the true tragedy it actually is. She has all of these expectations of great adventures and heroic ballads, and yet is faced with death around every corner by a variety of people.
Where the romance gets tricky is the entrance of King Thomas. I'm just going to go ahead and ruin this part of the book; Philippe is not that great of a husband and this is shown further though the eyes of King Thomas when he is rescued by Alienor. I love this characterization of Philippe because he seems so powerful and in charge when the perspective is from Alienor, and then introduce Thomas and suddenly the once scary prince is just a brat who has no idea what he is doing.
I think the thing that kept this book from being a five star read was the quickness in which emotions were switched. I don't think the author gave enough credit to some of the major emotions playing in this book; anger, shame, grief. I think if the moments where these emotions were being expressed were drawn out a little longer, this book would have been more engaging and enrapturing.
Overall though, this book was a really fun read! I did like the characters and I liked how the author used the multiple perspectives to put characters in different lights. I think a lot of people are going to be able to relate to Alienor and cheer her on as she tries to survive her quest.
For a century, the nations of Jerdun and Lyond have been at each other’s throats. Princess Aliénor is a proud woman of Jerdun, and King Thomas of Lyond should have been her hated enemy. Yet from her first meeting with the foreign king, she cannot deny the tender connection between them. After a brutal ambush leaves them stranded in a strange land together, the two decide to face the many perils of the journey back home united. But as suspicious allies only—love is out of the question.
When danger strikes at them on the road, Aliénor immediately regrets hiding her feelings. A sorceress with plans to make herself Queen of Lyond captures their group and lays a hideous curse on Thomas, damning the brave king to an eternal, bitter sleep. If the spell is not broken, if Thomas is not woken in time, the king will fall into madness. Frightened and alone, Aliénor must fight free from her wicked captor, for herself and her sleeping king. Only then does she have a chance of breaking the curse.
Yet even if she does save Thomas, how can love conquer the bitter feud between their nations? How can she betray her homeland, even to be with the man she loves?
