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Book Review By L. Watson
The Falcon and the Flower by Virginia Henley

Jasmine is a relative of King Richard I of England. She is a great beauty but immature. Despite her royal connections, she is illegitimate and never raised to be a proper lady. She does not think she wants to be any man's wife but wants to be a lady in waiting for the Queen. She is interested in white magic and when looking in a crystal ball, sees the face of a dark warrior who will rule her heart. Falcon de Burgh is a handsome powerful knight, who looks like the warrior Jasmine has foreseen. Jasmine is afraid of him. Falcon wants Jasmine as soon as he sees her and marries her against her wishes.

Jasmine and Falcon disagree and fight with each other from the moment they are married. She is a virgin and afraid of sex, but he forces himself on her.   He feels passionate about her and wants to have a lot of sex with her. He gets angry when she tries to keep him out of her bed. When they get to his castle, Falcon's former mistress is living there. Falcon does not send her away because Jasmine does not know how to run a castle household. Jasmine is suspicious that Falcon is still having an affair with his mistress and it causes her to sulk and generally behave badly around Falcon. She fails to recognize her jealousy. Falcon is often angry because he wants Jasmine but she does not seem to be responding to him. Eventually, despite the fighting and because of the frequent bouts of passionate sex, it is clear that he is in love with her and she slowly learns to love him.


Plot & Themes
Time/era of story
Difficult/unusual lover? Yes
How difficult?
Marriage/Married Yes
Marriage subplot:
If one lover chases another... - he chases after her

Main Male Character
Profession/status:
Age/status: - 20's-30's
Unusual characteristics?

Main Female Character
Age/status: - a teen
Effect of sexing
Unusual characteristics:

Setting
Europe Yes
European country: - England/UK
Misc setting - castle

Writing Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
What % of story is romance related? - 60%
How explicit is the sex? - descript of kissing - touching of anatomy - licking - actual description of sex - Boob talk - Vagia talk - Weiner talk
Focus of story - equally on him and her
How much dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
How much sexing? - 5-9 sex acts
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