"Princess Rinda of Balinore knows of only one way to get her cold father’s attention – to be an obnoxious, spoiled princess. When she finds out that the king plan to marrying her off to a far-flung nobleman, she puts on her best bratty show in front of the entire court. But Rinda’s plan backfires, and she soon finds herself married to the most ineligible man ever. Her new husband is monastery raised, poor as dirt, and a traveling minstrel.
A very, very bad traveling minstrel.
But Alek isn’t what he seems like on the surface, and neither is Rinda. She won’t take this marriage lying down, and schemes to find herself a new husband – a king. But as she and Alek travel together, they learn that not only are appearances deceiving, but goals can change in the blink of an eye, and love can get in the way of the strongest plans…
The Scarecrow King is a romantic retelling of the King Thrushbeard fairy tale."
King Thrushbeard is one of those tales that you probably never heard of. That is okay. I'm the one who is reading the book and I heard of it and read it. Still, if you consider to read this book, I recommend you read the fairy tale first. The original version. It is a bit amusing and short in the first one, but it will make you see the differences between King Thrushbeard and The Scarecrow King. And yes, of course, there are differences and similarities. I'm pleased to say that I'm happy with those differences.
The Scarecrow King is humorous. Rinda is really funny, even though she lacks her father's attentions. She has her sister's love, and that is pretty much all she needs. You don't always need a father to survive the world. She is intelligent, but she has a really low self-esteem. I swear, there is no other character like her that is moody and low. Actually, I think there are, but I can't name a few. At least not off the top of my head.
Alek, on the other hand, is Rinda's love interest. If you read the tale, then you would know what he really is. Unfortunately, he has to lie to his brand new wife all the time. And I do mean lie as in lie. Lie right to her face. That is a bit of a setback, but at least, Rinda learns to not be so rude and learns to be confident. That is one part of the book I really like. It is not so demeaning to women, unlike the original tale.
The Scarecrow King may be a short read (not that short), but it is so delightful. I wish there are more books like it. Alek and Rinda are a cute couple. And no, they don't really go into the nasty (sex, duh). Like what the author, Jill Myles, said (or maybe another author, since I usually get acknowledgements confused) it is all "closed doors."
Oh, yeah. I do read acknowledgments. I read from cover to cover. With the exception of copyright page. That part is always boring. Something about the year the book was published and how none of the characters' personality or traits resemble any living person. Yawn. Copyright pages are always boring to my eyes.
And yes, this is a Happily Ever After book.
Rating: Four out of Five
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