Ana Pajkovska Pajkovska থেকে নিউ ইয়র্ক
Once I got past the extremely trying first 40% of this book, I wound up enjoying it immensely. Definitely enough to read the next one. Alaida of Alnwick has had her grandfather and uncle imprisoned, has had to put up with numerous unwanted suitors, and now is being given in marriage by a king she doesn't like to a man she doesn't trust. Ivo has lived for over two hundred years under a curse that forces him to spend daylight in the form of an eagle. It is only during the night that he can be a man. But he can't tell his new wife this, partly because he fears her reaction and partly because he wants what small slice of time he can have to live as a normal man with a wife and family. That is, until his companion Sir Ari has a vision that Ivo's child will be cursed as well. As if it wasn't bad enough to lie to Alaida about his mysterious absences during the day, now Ivo must try to control his urges for fear of getting Alaida with child. But he soon finds out he's too late... The first almost half of this book is spent concentrating really on the separation between Ivo and Alaida - he can't be with her during the day, but he can't tell her why, and that makes Alaida stuck in a marriage she doesn't want with a man keeping secrets from her and she's alone and bitter most of the day. It isn't until she leaves to check the properties Ivo has bequeathed her, and they return and have to come together to stand up to a neighbor that you begin to see any worthwile interactionb between Ivo and Alaida. They spend more time together, getting to know one another, and even though Alaida is hurt and confused as to why Ivo now doesn't want to bed her, she can't help but fall for him. I like how Lisa Hendrix doesn't do what a lot of authors do when the book includes long separations - oh, we hardly know each other, but the sex was great, so it must be love. Kudos for that. Brand (a bear) and Ari (a raven) make interesting secondary characters and I Can't wait to read their books (especially Brand). B-