As if my maids weren’t already slaving away to fix my weathered hands. How would I explain something like that to the prince? As if it wasn’t bad enough that nearly every girl left was a Two. TWO WEEKS IN, AND THIS was my fourth headache. Clarkson cut her of before she could explain why, so there was that awkward loose-end. Oh, and I'm also confused as to why Amberly had to work like a seven when she was a four. We should have seen a different side of the evil Clarkson, instead we just saw a Clarkson who is only better at hiding the evil he lets control him. 2.5 stars to this story because I really like Amberly, but the so-called relationship really doesn't work. This could also have easily have been the case with Clarkson, but instead we see him full of malice and willing to do anything to control another person, before he and Amberly are even engaged. Amberly might be naive, but she isn't stupid, and she seems to have a decent amount of self-confidence, so why in the world would she settle for this conceited, controlling jerk who clearly wants to control her? From what I understand about abusive relationships, often the abuser seems wonderful and kind for quite some time, until he (or she) is put under a lot of stress (which could easily have been done with Clarkson,) or until something causes him to question the love of his partner, a child perhaps, as this would cause her to pay a great deal of attention to the child, making him feel like she is ignoring him, and somehow reason that out to equal her not loving him anymore. I honestly don't know how the author thought portraying the relationship in this way would work. She is more than willing to give him her whole heart if he is willing to love her, but he first had all of these little tests he run on her to make sure she'd do whatever he wanted her to do, he behaved atrociously when he learned she might be barren, and expressed contempt and disgust for children literally right after she mentioned that she wanted to have more than one child.

The problem with this book is that we all know how Clarkson turns out once he becomes a father, and the author didn't do enough to make us understand what sweet, smart Amberly sees in him. I found it fairly easy to identify with her. She's sweet, innocent, naive, and unlike most main characters, she suffers from poor health.

Okay, so I liked Amberly before, and I still like her.

The queen and the favorite kiera cass