1465 England

Wheel of Fortune (Tarnished Crown #1) by C.F. Dunn  

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It’s a time when British King’s are uncertain, gathering together loyal troops. King Edward IV of York is besieged on all sides. The War of the Roses is nigh. The story is a veritable who’s who.

Lady Isabel Fenton is the daughter of Geoffrey Fenton. She’s  promised to Thomas Lacey. The Lacey family is a whirlpool of misdirection and underhandedness. Fenton owes his allegiance to the Langton Earl who in turn serves Edward, and the Lacey’s??

An independent young woman Isobel has been tutored in French and Latin. She can read and write.

She’s sent by her father to the Earl to be in his guardianship until Thomas Lacey returns from France.

There’s a secret surrounding Isobel’s mother. The Earl sees her and it seems remembers someone. Basically he rapes her and takes her for his mistress. 

Isabel through no fault of hers earns the Earl’s wife and Countess Felice’s enmity.

Isobel has feelings for the Earl’s brother Robert Langdon. He’s been widowed and mourns his wife.

The story brings home how women for the most part were and in some cases still are owned and bartered for power.

These women only had their wits to survive. A comely face doesn’t mean anything unless a strong family is behind them. This is the top echelons  of society at that time. Below that all else is moot.

I was gripped by Isobel’s betrayal by the man her father had called Lord. Every moment of the story is packed with emotion.

A Literally PR ARC via NetGalley.                                              

Many thanks to the author and publisher.