Customer Reviews

White Rose

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

...I've plowed through all three books in this series in the past two weeks, and this one was by far the most disappointing. Since I was under the impression this was a trilogy, I kept waiting for the loose ends to be tied up, but the book ended so abruptly and oddly that I, like another reviewer, checked the book to make sure it wasn't missing pages.

Although the historical details are interesting, and the character of Robyn is more and more appealing, the narration throughout the series is flat, and many of the characters are one-dimensional, particularly Edward. The author likes to tell us things that we wouldn't know otherwise, and he repeats key plot points throughout the books, as if he thinks the reader can't keep up.

Other minor irritations are the alarmingly frequent misspellings, typos, and incorrectly structured sentences. I'm talking frequent to the point of distraction from the story.

I'll probably read book four if there ever is one, because I'm so far in now, I need to see how the story is resolved, particularly in light of historical facts. But I certainly hope book four is better than this one.

This book ends so abruptly that I examined the end papers to make sure that I wasn't missing a one-page chapter. The author doesn't even tie up the loose ends in this volume, let alone the series which I had understood to be projected as a trilogy. I was seriously torn between one star and two.

I suppose that reading this book must be different for people who are familiar with the historical period and people who are not. Edward is presented as a bit more innocent and romantic than I imagine him as actually being, but I'm willing to accept it, he is pretty young. His personality actually gets a bit of retroactive revision in this volume. I kept reading the series because of the suspense of wondering whether the author was going to keep to the established history or finish with an alternative history. Well, it wasn't resolved in this book, and I am not certain that I care enough to read any more. The advice that Robyn receives to name her daughter Grace is a tip-off.

The books have been kind of fun, although not particularly good historical novels. I enjoy the juxtaposition of the two eras and Robyn's reactions. Making her a Miss Montana expert equestrian was a brilliant decision that makes her adventures more believable. The Middle Ages are a bit romantized, even if she doesn't find the era a bit smelly, I'd be longing for running water and flush toilets. Particularly incredible is Robyn's use of laptop computer to keep her diary. Even assuming that it didn't upset the locals, what fabulous batteries she must have! I also find it hard to believe that anyone who is as familiar with Shakespeare as Robyn is (she quotes Henry V's speech just before Agincourt from memory) knows so little about this era. She has apparently completely missed the Henry VI and Richard III plays. The witchcraft/religion angle is a bit problematic as well, although I'm willing to accept it for the sake of the story. It is the source of some wonderful scenes, but I'm having a little trouble with Robyn's sincere, simultaneous adoption of witchcraft and medieval Catholicism. I see the parallels, but it still seems a trifle awkward, especially since both are new to Robyn. If she had been a modern Goddess worshipper, or a really, really ecumenical Christian, it would seem a little more likely.

The writing is extremely varied: sometimes Garcia y Robertson manages extremely vivid characterizations and descriptions, and other times it is pretty lame. Each novel seems to get a little more torrid, which I don't find an improvement: there is a very formulaic quality to a lot of it.

Some people argue that romance is a product of western courtly love conventions, but I believe that it is part of the human condition. The problem is that there are different types of romance and I don't think that Garcia y Robertson has cobbled together the right bits, especially from Edward's point of view. Robyn is neither an Arthurian lily maid nor a scornful courtly love idol that she should inspire Edward to immediately determine on marriage to someone who would be so completely unacceptable by contemporary standards. (Actually, strictly speaking, the courtly love idol was married to someone else, but I think that requirement was often ignored.) I presume that the author hopes that people who know Edward's history will know that he did, as king, make a marriage that created a scandal, but even that was to a woman of a known gentry background with royal connections, and one who refused to sleep with him.

There is of course, basic chemistry (which I believe is universal), and the solution in that era would have been concubinage, such as the relationship that Edward's great(s)-uncle John of Gaunt enjoyed with Katherine Swynford while he was married to his second wife. Edward never even suggests it, and especially considering Robyn's objections to being Queen and her freewheeling 21st centuries attitudes, it seems like a natural solution. It would be a little more plausible if Edward proposed the arrangement and Robyn was too jealous to accept it.

All in all, I think this is wearing a little thin.

I read through the first two books quite rapidly because I thought they were very romantic and interesting. I never knew much about the Wars of the Roses, and after reading the books i read more about them with great interest. Of course after reading about the true history I desperately hope that Robyn will change history for the better. Especially after i read who Edward really married.
I really enjoyed this third book until the end, I can now see why the other reviewers were disappointed. I was swept along in a compelling romance only for it to be knocked down at the end. I left dissapointed and upset for Robyn. I'm sure there's going to be a continuation of the series from what I've read on other web sites, and i do hope the author will "make it up" to us, continuing on the romantic adventurous theme of the first two books and the first half of the third.
I did enjoy the series and i recommend them to anyone who enjoys historical romance. I enjoyed the focus on women and the witcraft Robyn gets into, that part just gets better especially with the witches flight to Avignon.

This third book in R. Garcia Y Robertson's series, is both up and down, literarily and personally. One has to commend the author for being a MAN writing a WOMAN'S story, so the story is kind of fun in that regard. But the book was slower than the first two, and as a student of history, I know it can't end well for the main heroine. Since Edward marries her nemesis (unless the author SERIOUSLY rewrites history) I don't know how he will conclude this series, though I am still curious. I would suggest this if you are looking for an easy summer read, with more thrills than your average beach read - though history buffs beware! It's disappointing. Read Gabaldon for the drama or Penman for the history... this just falls in between and behind.

White Rose is the third in R. Garcia y Robertson's Gabaldonesque series about Robyn Stafford, former Miss Rodeo Montana and minor Hollywood executive, who is sent by witches back to the Wars of the Roses, where she falls in love with Edward March, the elder brother of Richard III and father of "the Princes in the Tower". At this time, however, Edward is only 17 (later 18), unmarried, without children. Over the first two books, Robyn bounces back and forth in time, becomes Lady Robyn of Pontefract, also becomes very popular, has lots and lots of sex with Edward, and makes enemies among the Lancastrians and especially among the Wydvilles. I don't know enough about that era in history to know if she has actually changed any yet. It's clear that she must change history or only unhappiness awaits.

In this book she manages to get back to 1461, more or less by accident bringing along her nymphomaniac employee, Heidi. Heidi proves useful in a number of ways, mostly protecting Robyn's virtue by seducing away men who wish to rape Robyn. The two wander across Wales, sometimes captured by bad guys, then sometimes escaping. Robyn eventually meets Edward, only to get capture again, and again escape, just ahead of the headman's axe. There are a couple of battles, another threat of execution, a return to besieged London, and a little bit more sex. Oh, and Robyn is pregnant.

I had thought this was supposed to be a trilogy, but it's not -- this book seems no closer to a conclusion than before. It's all getting rather tedious. The writing in particular is lax and self-indulgent. I feel a certain pressure to get to the end because I want to see if Robyn changes history for the good, but boy it's taking a long time getting there.

I have gotten through the first two books in this series and this was such a let down. It took me forever to read it. I enjoy historical fiction and I enjoy romance and this flunked both categories. Is girl-on-girl action a new trend in romance novels that I've missed? Just a bad book from start to finish.

I absolutely adored the first two books, reveling in the adventure of Edward of March and Lady Robyn. This, however, almost seemed like it was written by a different person altogether. It is overly crass, with sex scenes that seem more gratuitous than sensual--why on Earth was it necessary to have her assistant Heidi frequently "make out" with Robyn? Cheap, sophmoric attempts at adventure were merely interludes between long passages of irrelevant history (which has never been the case before) and perfunctory sex scenes. The ending was deeply unsatisfying and I am woefully disappointed in this book. It is certainly not a "heartwarming time-travel romance" and its a travesty to compare it to anything Diana Gabaldon writes. Don't waste your time reading this, even though it is hard not to want to with the way "Lady Robyn" ended.

This book was a great beach read, reality run away book as I call it! A warning though - I wouldn't let your children that you wouldn't let go see a rated R movie (quite a few detailed intimate scenes) read this book. Acutally - I wouldn't let them read any of this trilogy. But that being said - as an adult I LOVED the book - and the whole trilogy! Great great escape!

"White Rose", the third book of the Garcia y Robertson's time travel/romance trilogy about the Wars of the Roses, is nearly as much fun as the previous two books, but a bit predictable. By now the identity of the mysterious knight riding to Lady Robyn's rescue isn't much of a surprise, and I could have done with a bit more continual story line, without having Lady Robyn yanked back and forth through time, or menaced by "unexpected" enemies, quite so much.

This is an odd series: I would imagine the principal fan base would be those who are interested in the War of the Roses. This makes it difficult to understand why the outcome of the story is presented as an unknown. Anyone geeky enough about history to know who Edward, Earl of March was surely knows who he became - and whom he married. Still the time travel element provides a good deal of fun and the romance is well done and intriguing. While I am enjoying this book somewhat less than the previous two, I am caught up enough in the story to want to finish it, and can certainly see myself re-reading it to pick up on nuances I missed, particularly in the first book.

All in all, for those who just can't get enough of the Yorkist side of things, this series should be an amusing read.

I'm a great fan of this trilogy, which at its best is sparky, inventive, and enormous escapist fun. But as other reviewers have pointed out, the third instalment comes no closer to a conclusion than before.

The first book of the series, Knight Errant, begins in 1459, when Edward of March is sent to the 21st century by witchcraft. The first scene in the Middle Ages proper takes place in April 1460. The third book of the series takes us up to late February 1461. Three novels to cover ten months! By the end of this one, Edward of March is *still* not King of England. All the elements for future conflict are set up: Elizabeth Wydville, Edward's real wife historically, is a major character, and even his future mistress Jane Shore appears. But Edward didn't marry Elizabeth until 1464. At this rate, it'll take another forty novels or thereabouts to get us to their wedding!

It's really disappointing to get through all three novels and still have no hint of a resolution. I don't know if Robertson is planning a fourth, but really, how long can they go on? Robyn's spats with Gilbert FitzHolland are getting very tedious, as the reader knows by now that a) whichever part of England she's in, FitzHolland will miraculously be there too, and b) that she'll always escape from him.

Robyn's modern Californian friend Heidi is a character in this one, which is unfortunate, as she does very little except hit on Robyn and perform intimate acts on Owen Tudor. On the plus side, the appearance of Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset livens the narrative up considerably.

It's difficult, if not impossible, to accept Robyn's ignorance about the Wars of the Roses, given her familiarity with Shakespeare, whose plays she can quote endlessly from memory, including some of the history plays. Even if she knows very little about Richard III, surely anyone would know that he's often said to have murdered his nephews? Why would she not realise the identity of Edward's young brother?

In many ways, I'm so enamoured of this whole series, for its freshness, originality and downright enjoyability - but I really can't recommend them any more. There's only so many Yorkist-Lancastrian battles described in minute detail, so many love scenes between Edward and Robyn, so many scenes where FitzHolland threatens to kill her, so much witchcraft, a reader can take.

Much of the writing seems self-indulgent, and the numerous typos are pretty distracting. Edward's romantic persona seems increasingly at odds with the ruthless soldier and politician he is. And his love for Robyn, a woman much his senior and a witch from the future to boot, starts to seem increasingly implausible - as does all the characters' placid acceptance that Robyn comes from 'Holy Wood, far beyond Brazil' and has wondrous gadgets from 500-odd years in the future.

If a fourth book ever appears, I will read it, to see how the story ends - because the fourth one really *has* to be the last. Please, Mr Robertson - finish the story, tie up all the loose ends, and put me out of my misery!