xiphias | Wen Spencer's BROTHER'S PRICE

So, this past Thursday, I accomplished nothing in the afternoon, and it's all Lis's fault. Which she acknowledges. See, she handed me a copy of Wen Spencer's book BROTHER'S PRICE, and I did nothing else but read it until it was done.

Looking over the Amazon reviews, I saw some from people who weren't too enthusiastic about it, because they hadn't realized the genre when they started reading it, and it wasn't what they expected or were in the mood for.

They hadn't realized that it was a swashbuckler/palace intrigue/romance novel. And a pretty darned good one. It's got an innocent but very plucky protagonist who falls in love with the royal soldier who stops at the farmhouse, but a royal can't marry a commoner, except that the farm family is decended from soldiers who were knighted for valor, AND they actually have royal blood because said soldiers "kidnapped" and married a royal, generations back...

And that's the actual genre. But people get distracted by the worldbuilding, and by the setting. See, in this world, there are about ten women born for every man, so men are precious and protected, valuable chattel. Groups of sisters marry one man -- and getting a husband requires "buying" or trading for one. Or raiding and kidnapping, but people are civilized now, so nobody would do that anymore, right?

The plucky, sheltered protagonist is male. His dozens of sisters all carry six-guns and rifles, and are all wary and ready to protect him and his brothers. Since it's a romance novel, it's not giving anything away to say that he HAS to end up with that rogueish-but-honorable princess, but a happy ending requires him to fall in love with not only her, but also all of her sisters...

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