This is an interesting review, not because I think I'd like the book, but because I recently got into a conversation about romance tropes, and about the one where people who do Bad Things in the name of love rarely end happily. Romeo & Juliet, Titanic, The English Patient, etc. all come up as stories where the subordination of (conventional?) morality to all-powerful love means that the lovers go unrewarded at the end. I pointed out that no series romance ever has the leads actually betray their marriage vows, even if the marriage is an unhappy one--betrayal must be punished.

You've read Dunnett, yes? "Every woman since Eve," Lymond says, "wishes to be loved before honor. Except you." And thus the story ends happily because they place honor first.

Hmm. Thinky thinky.