Review: Diana by the Moon by Tracy Cooper-Posey

Description:
Diana -- a fiery kitten of a Roman woman, who hides a terrible past, and struggles to lead her people on a desperate quest for survival against famine and Saxon raids, unable to trust anyone.

Alaric -- proud Celtic warrior and trusted lieutenant to the upstart British leader, Arthur, who must overcome his hatred of Romans if he is to fulfill Arthur's ambitions in the north.

A haunting tale of two lives touched by the coming of King Arthur, and two hearts & souls struggling to come together against odds as great as those against Britain itself. Only together will they survive, or else be sundered...forever.

Review:
I received this book as a review copy from the author and I have to admit I was not sure if I would like it at all. My skepticism is rooted in my prejudices concerning historicals. I'm super critical with those and often only expect the typical clichés. Yeah, I know that this totally wrong and there are good ones out there but that's what I think before I start reading one. I just can't seem to find a positive attitude concerning this genre and yes it makes is even harder for this genre to earn my praise. But enough about me and back to the book at hand.

The story is about Diana, a Roman girl living in Britian around King Arthur's time. Her life was hard to say it nice. Nightmarish horrible would describe it more accurately. The story starts with a big bang, a really bad one. I felt so bad for Diana and her sister Minna and I wasn't sure if I could stand reading more of this story. I know that this time was rather harsh but I'm always not very comfortable reading about war and even worse rape. I'm a wimp and I know it but these are things I just can't stomach. I don't want to say to much just it's not described directly so it was more bearable for me. I really felt for the girls and I wanted a HEA for them.

Alaric is a warrior at heart. He also had a rough past and has his own prejudices to battle. He is send to Diana's property on Arthur's command and he's not very happy about that. He wants to fight for the cause of freeing Britain and unite them. He's headstrong and knows how to give orders but he has to learn to be a little more sensitive around Diana.

The lovestory between this two developed rather slow. I noticed that I really got impatient with this. I wanted them to just accept that they want each other but they both are way too stubborn for that. The whole relationship is rather tame through the whole book and this disappointed me a bit but it could be that I'm just getting greedy smut-wise. I loved the way Tracy handled the whole rape thing. It felt real and I would have hated it if she would have handled it differently.

The plot was okay but I have to say nothing exceptional. It was entertaining the whole time but I think a little twist here and there would have made it so much more. One thing I found rather surprising was that all the characters talked normal. No strange old accent, they just said everything the way people talk today. It's not that I miss that but I was something I expected of a historical or is that me and my prejudices again? I was aso a bit disappointed with the end. I wanted it to be more of a HEA as it was.

All in all I enjoyed Diana by the Moon. It exceeded my expectations and was heart-wrenching from the start till the end. A thoughtful book  that really handled this topic adequately.


To learn more about Tracy and her books please visit her website here.


Read other reviews @goodreads. Buy the book @Ellora's Cave


Tracy will be here tomorrow with a guestpost and a giveaway. So be sure to come over!