Except if you happen to be our Heroine Nicholaa, a courageous, crafty, spontaneous young woman who is the Prize that the title refers to. It’s England and it’s 1066, which means that the Normans are coming, and the Saxons are doomed. Why did I read the book: I read Saving Grace a couple of weeks ago and now I am working through her backlist. However, this was soon to be disrupted by the call of blood, kin and country.

She chose Royce and they soon reveled in their newfound love. Unless you are a fan of Anne Flosnik, stay well away.Summary: .uk says In William the Conqueror’s London court, Saxon captive, Nicholaa, was forced to choose a husband from the assembled Norman nobles. I tried, really tried, to get to the end of the book, but that scene really put me off the story as a whole and it is going back into my file of 'books to complete when I'm really, really desperate and there is nothing else to listen to'. In the book it is an amusing scene, but Flosnik managed to destroy any fond memories I had of the interaction between the two characters and imagine the heroine as a drooling idiot.

There is a scene where one of the main characters is drunk and Flosnik's attempt at slurring the words had me sitting up in first astonishment and then disgust. I don't have issue with that when it comes to reading what a character says, but when it is describing day to day actions such as getting dressed or even scenery, it gets very annoying. She reads emotionally, that is with a lot of emotion and drama colouring her voice. Unfortunately, even giving this my very best efforts to sit and listen, I have to agree that Anne Flosnik isn't an idea narrator. After all, some of my favourite narrators have received scathing reviews which I could not agree with. Narration was important, obviously, but my thoughts were that unless I gave it a go I'd never know for sure. I'd read The Prize years ago and had enjoyed the story, so I had no issues with the storyline.

As a fan of Julie Garwood, however, I thought I'd give The Prize a go despite the recommendations to avoid the narrator. I should have known better and paid attention to other peoples' reviews.

Julie garwood the prize series