The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats

About the book:

"Cecily’s father has ruined her life. He’s moving them to occupied Wales, where the
king needs good strong Englishmen to keep down the vicious Welshmen. At least
Cecily will finally be the lady of the house.
Gwenhwyfar knows all about that house. Once she dreamed of being the lady there
herself, until the English destroyed the lives of everyone she knows. Now she must
wait hand and foot on this bratty English girl.
While Cecily struggles to find her place amongst the snobby English landowners,
Gwenhwyfar struggles just to survive. And outside the city walls, tensions are rising
ever higher—until finally they must reach the breaking point."

My Review:

Let me start off by saying how excited I was to get an e- ARC copy of this book from netgalley.  I was looking forward to reading it since I found out about it on goodreads.  I wanted to love this book, I really did!  The title of the book is perfect for the story, the farther I read, the more apparent it became.  Cecily is an English young woman whose father decides to move to Wales and Cecily feels that her world is ending.  Gwenhwyfar is a Welsh young woman who serves in the house where Cecily and her father live.  The story proceeds with each girl’s point of view which helps you understand their perspectives.

I felt that it took the story over half of the book to get moving and going somewhere.  Both girls were very unpleasant and unkind.  They each had moments of kindness where I thought that they were changing, but they never truly did.  Cecily was really just a selfish spoiled girl and Gwenhwyfar just seemed so full of bitterness and hate.  I understood that they were both that way due to the circumstances that they had experienced in their lives, but it didn’t make for enjoyable reading for me.  The book ends without complete closure so you are left to wonder about the characters.  Maybe this means there is another novel in the works.

I appreciated all of the research and knowledge that the author shared on thirteenth century Wales.  I learned a lot about that time period and I was glad that she included the note at the end of the book to explain more.  I just wish I had liked the story more.  I really wanted to!   Overall, it is alright, I guess it just wasn’t for me, but that does not mean that it won’t be for you!  (Side note, this book is recommended for 12 and up, and I would recommend reading it yourself before allowing that age group to read it due to descriptive violence, etc.)

You can pre-order this book  HERE and HERE.

You can pre-order the kindle version HERE.

You can pre-order the nook version HERE.

I received this book for free from netgalley.

Source:  Publisher