This was a fun read and I thought an interesting between the lines and informed discussion/debate of the true nature Virgin Queen which I am surprised to see in this genre (romance). I also thought the author's attempts at evoking pleasant smells (the heroine always smells like honey and roses) was curious. Because the more she made these attempts the more I wondered what all the awful smells must have been like. I kept thinking what exactly does the hero, "Will", smell like if she "Nell" the heroine, smelled so great. She did mention once that the smell of apple made "Nell" think of her lover "Will's" breath. With no dentists? Two references were made to dental hygiene which I also found interesting....a cloth to wash teeth and a bone which priests used to pick/clean their teeth. I think these curious additions about how people groomed (or lack thereof) themselves made this a cut above your typical romance novel. I wish someone would finally write a book that talks about how awful people must have smelled, though. Because I'm always left even more curious because of the absence of that discussion in most books. ( )