Wench Wench by Erynne Rivers review

 

Wench by Erynne Rivers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars
🌶️🌶️ 2 Spice

Where to start? I had never heard of the book before a month ago, and on a whim I grabbed it. Slipping into this book was easy. The writing style was very simple, from a third-person limited POV rather than first-person POV, but I was totally fine with that. We follow Marian throughout. There was a clear and simple introduction into the book and its world and workings. It felt both familiar and totally new due to it being Robin Hood inspired, but with a whole new spin on the original.

Now, I have to say there is a fine line between a story being easy and simplistic, where it is not overly detailed and you do not need to give it all your focus, and it being so simple that the story has little depth and the characters and world feel too washed down. This book was pretty simple, but not to the point that it felt depthless. I found the story fun with a great spin. I loved that there were some key things I think we today could take away from the book, from us hurting the natural world to some other points, but overall the bones of the book and story were really good. I do have to say that the first 50 percent of the book was not as good as the last half, but it totally picked up after the halfway mark.

I will not lie, during the first half there was something about our FMC and her attitude that really rubbed me up the wrong way. Given that she had lived with and seen what those around her are like, and that they are, well..... not good, you would think she would be less quick to judge, given that most of the people in her life at home are not great and clearly big old liars. Also, she is so set on something (don't want to spoil it), and I was screaming, what are you going back to? Are you CRAZY? Have you lost your mind? Also, at times she came across as selfish, and that shocked me given her past. I would think she would be less like that. I have to say, some of her actions really made me MAD with a capital M. I had to close the book, go outside, and take a long breath before coming back.

At some points I felt like begging her to rub her brain cells together and stop acting silly, but thankfully, I think after the halfway point I saw it... I started to see true growth. Slowly, things that I really did not like about her shifted and changed. She began to become someone stronger and more clear-headed, wanting to follow a path of her choosing and not the life she had been caged in. There was something really empowering about it, and I don't think I have had such a 180 on a lead in a long time.

I do think there were a few characters that were underdeveloped and needed more to really make them pop, but there were other characters that I really started to like, including Allen. He was such a sweetheart. Robin was a good MMC. He stayed pretty true to his core character, and honestly, he did not tick me off, which was great.

The story, while fun to follow, also had a shimmer of romance under the story that bloomed over time. Not a fast, in-your-face thing, but I also would not call it a slow burn due to it being lust-forward at times. There was a sprinkle of spice, but it's not mega overly detailed and there are not pages of it. It was maybe 2 to 3 patches, and I think it added to the story.

I will say, if you're after HOT HOT spice, this will not be for you, but overall, a solid read.

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