Author: A.C Gaughen
Rating: 1.5/5
Warning! This review will have spoilers! Read at your own risk!
This review is the first one from my Beauty is only skin deep challenge so I thought I would write about why I chose it. The cover is pretty simple but it's very captivating. I love the color of Scarlet's eyes, I love what she's wearing it's gives you a feel for the setting of the book. I also like how the dagger is angled in the picture. The thing I wish this cover had was Scarlet's scar, you can faintly see it on the shadow of her left cheek but if they flipped her around (or the placement of her scar) I think it would've set this cover apart from others and she wouldn't have just been this pretty girl on a cover but one with a history and a scar to show for it.
Story
Plot Scarlet is a girl and a thief disguising herself as a boy among Rob and his band of brothers. She has a scar on her left cheek that is a part of her past. Scarlet, Rob and the other members of the band steal items and divide them out among the people in their town that need help. Instead of being an action and adventure filled novel with a little bit of love on the side the entire story is mostly filled with arguing among Scarlet, Rob, and John about who Scarlet wants to be with. When Scarlet's secret is revealed that she is Lady Marian and was to be wed to Gisbourne you'd think things would've gotten more exciting but they didn't. Scarlet sacrifices herself to marriage with Gisbourne just to save Rob. After she weds a battle ensues and she flees.
Writing Style It was a little hard to get used to the writing style. Dialog shifts often from past and present tense and it gets confusing. She say's were a lot replacing was and a few other things, it does seem a little forced and often times is really hard to read. The other thing is Scarlet is talking this way on purpose since she was really a former lady and can speak properly without hesitation.
Characters
Scarlet Is kind of a foolish girl sometimes, moments after narrowly being felt up and who knows what else she jumps off to another adventure with no regard for herself. She holds the entire weight of the world on her shoulders and feels she should be blamed for everything. She starves herself because there are others who deserve food more even though she's been stealing for them and providing them with things they couldn't have gotten otherwise. Also wouldn't she need her strength? Seems stupid to me to skip out on a meal when it would've provided her with energy for the adventures she goes on. She also allows herself to be beat when she couldn't save someone from jail which wasn't her fault at all but of course she feels like it is. Scarlet is also way too bad ass. She throws daggers like a freaking circus act, she kills people more than once in the same manner of throwing two daggers at the same time and killing them through the back of the neck. Once, okay could've been a stroke of luck and maybe believable, more than once, not so much.
Rob Is such a jerk! He calls Scarlet names all the time and accuses her of being a whore. He starts off as the typical brooding dark love interest when their isn't really anything special about him. He's seen as a savior among the people in Nottingham but really doesn't ever do anything except be a jerk.
John Other than when he's being just a friend he's pretty much a jerk. He's always making advances on Scarlet and doesn't care when she doesn't reciprocate but instead will follow up with another advance. When he gets his moment to kill Gisbourne and free Scarlet from marriage he doesn't because he can not bear to see her with Rob.
Much Much is the only member of the band who seems like he could be good for Scarlet except I can't really remember how old he is so for all I know he could be 14. He was one of the only likable characters in this book.
Romance
Love Triangle It is so painfully obvious from the beginning that a love triangle will bloom between Rob, Scarlet and John, John the third wheel as it's so obvious that Scarlet has feelings for Rob and not for John. She's really pretty daft though when Rob confronts her about John seeing as he saw them lying down together after John comforts Scarlet she says that she didn't think John would even want to kiss her when not a few pages before John was advancing on her telling her how good she looked in her dress and how she filled it out. I don't know maybe Scarlet wasn't listening to him. She also contradicts herself by saying she doesn't like John because he's a member of the band and she's argued with him and seen him gut deer but he's also not Rob... wait a second though isn't Rob a member of the band and someone she's probably argued with and seen gut a deer?
Rob/Scarlet Rob obviously likes Scarlet and vise versa but neither of them are very honest about their feelings. When Rob confronts her about John he gives her no opportunity to input anything or defend herself. He gets angry at her easily and doesn't ever apologize but Scarlet never demands an apology either. He calls her a whore which really drew the line for me. Scarlet never acknowledges her feelings for him until the end just when he's willing to share his feelings about her.
John/Scarlet In the beginning of the book I figure that Scarlet doesn't like John, he advances she denies (for the most part) but when they share their first kiss she pictures Rob and then thanks John because she might as well be polite. No way. She's giving off the wrong message not to mention this isn't the first time since in the beginning of the book she allows him to hold her to sleep. She denied any feelings to him about Rob and doesn't tell him when he is making her uncomfortable. When she tells little John to try harder after saying the kiss didn't mean she was his really confused me because from what I've seen she doesn't like him. She also shares other moments with John actually more moments with him then with Rob, did she like the attention?
Overall
I was hoping for more action and less romance but it was a pretty fast read so I didn't waste too much time. If you're a fan of Robin Hood or Marian I say go for it, it was an easy read and could be a guilty pleasure but the writing isn't fantastic and neither is the love triangle.
Scarlet: "Someone told me that hands can heal. I figure if they can kill, it ain't much a of a stretch that they can heal too."
Priest: "You've sinned, my lady, but if anyone ever did it for the right reasons, it's you and your fellows. It will be for God to judge such a tangled web, not I."
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