Wolf Bride
4 Stars

Promised in marriage to one of King Henry VIII's most renowned soldiers, Lord Wolf, Eloise Tyrrell is determined to never give him her heart despite their intense attraction. Eloise, a lady in waiting to Anne Boleyn, is well aware of what happens to a woman when her husband tires of her, and she has no intention of meeting the same fate as her queen...

Moss's attention to historical detail is impeccable. The realistic portrayals of the intrigue of Henry VIII's court together with the descriptions of settings, clothing, mannerisms, and attitudes make the Tudor era come alive on the page.

The romance between the powerful and enigmatic Lord Wolf and the spirited Eloise is charming although not anything that hasn't been done before. Moss thankfully avoids the silly misunderstandings trope that can be exceedingly annoying in these types of romances. That said, both Eloise and Wolf are overly stubborn and prideful. An open and honest conversation early on could have saved them both a great deal of angst.

Finally, while their relationship is not nearly as erotic as the "Fifty Shades of Tudor sex" promo suggests, Wolf and Eloise have great chemistry and their sex scenes do contribute to the formation of their emotional bond.

All in all, a well-written and historically accurate romance, and I look forward to reading the next book focusing on Eloise's sister, Savannah, and the King's clerk, Hugh Beaufort (Is he one of "the" Beauforts, I wonder?). ( )

I'm glad I hung in there for the Anne Boleyn beheading scene (roughly 70-80% in) because it was done really well and the sense of history had my nerdy self jonesing.

The rest, well, umm, do you like nipples (this is extremely important here), amazingly dumb bratty heroines, and heroes without first names who call themselves rapists but aren't...sort of...kind of...not? This was also billed as erotic but honestly, I've gotten more out of a well baked chocolate chip cookie.

I really was going to write more of a review but seriously, they never mention the heroes first name, so this is all I have in me. The writing itself was good but the story never came together and the lead couple sucked (like that scholarly word?).

I'm off to bake some chocolate chip cookies ( )

Wolf Bride was a fun and exciting read. It took me back to the Tudor Era, which is one of my favorites, while Anne Boleyn still lived. She is very much a background character, but her death plays an important role in showing the character of our heroine, Eloise Tyrell.

When Anne Boleyn is accused of treason, all of her close friends and servants were under scrutiny for the same, and Eloise was no exception. Navigating the court and intrigue has never been more difficult or dangerous. This was by far my favorite aspect of the story.

The romance, while it was written to be the main stage, fell into second place for me. Eloise and Lord Wolf definitely had a bit of a spark between them, but they were both too stubborn and unwilling to listen to each other for me to truly root for. Lord wolf was very overbearing, and while Elizabeth Moss tried valiantly to make it come off as dominant, there were many times it just came off as him being a mean jerk.

This was also far more of an erotic read than most historicals tend to be - intentionally so. I think it could have been toned down with more time given to our characters growing, but for readers of the hotter contemporary that are looking to try a historical - this may be the one that draws you in.

I enjoyed this story for the non-romance aspects, and I did continue reading and enjoying it. Watch for my reviews of the rest of the Lust in the Tudor Court series soon.

​*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book* ( )

This book is being marketed (right on the front cover) as 50 Shades of Tudor Sex. So I had high hopes of crazy court intrigue mixed with crazy hot BDSMish sex and a brooding alpha male that is so damaged that we love him and want to fix him. The meet-cute between our lead couple even starts off promising with Wolf trailing a riding crop over Eloise's lips and decolletage. Unfortunately that's about as 50 Shades as we got. Everything else was pretty vanilla. So I felt like that bit on the cover was a whole lotta false advertising that gave me unrealistic expectations for this book.

The story takes place during the Tudor reign of King Henry VIII, arguably one of the most scandalous rulers in history. Specifically, we find ourselves in the time when Henry was wed to the illustrious Anne Boleyn, and during the ensuing scandal when she was beheaded for high treason after Henry and Cromwell fabricated charges of witchcraft, incest and all around slutty behavior. This time period offers a setting fraught with drama, intrigue and captivating events. However I felt the author did not use it to her advantage. The only scandal and intrigue we get bookends the story seemingly to provide a time frame and a bit of drama. The majority of the story takes place in the boring country, away from all the activities at Court. This was a disappointment to me as I am a fan of the epic dramas and intrigue in stories like the Skye O'Malley series by Bertrice Small.

As for the characters, Eloise was a dishwater miss wholly lacking in self-respect. And because she couldn't respect herself, I certainly wasn't going to respect her either. I know she was supposed to be an innocent maiden, but she was also a walking contradiction. she hates Wolf. She wants him. She hates that he may have other women. She is willing to take whatever cast off crumbs of attention he gives her. Grow a spine girl! I know you are chattel but you don't have to be a milksop. Says me, who probably would've been beheaded for telling ol' King Henry exactly where he could stick his philandering phallus.

As for Wolf, I didnt like him either. He was an uncaring ass who felt the natural state of things was his virginal wife gagging for his codpiece and him filling her full of seed. Literally. He said words to that effect. Men. Sheesh. And this was after telling his virginal wife that she must beg him to deflower her. WTF was that about? His reasoning for his often cruel behavior was not explained, nor did I think most of it was necessary for the story.

So, unfortunately, this story was a downer for me. 2.5 stars / 3 flames.

I was provided an ARC in exchange for an honest review. ( )

To be honest, what started promising, went downhill really fast. Too much unnecessary angst, anachronistic for the historical era, unconvincing main characters and the mention of FSoG on the cover will only harm this book in comparison. They have nothing in common. Unfortunately, not recommended. ( )