Whoaaaaaaaaaaaa. 
 I was going to leave this one unrated but I don't have a shelf for unrated books and on mobile it's cumbersome to create new shelves, so I went ahead and gave it 4 stars - but mehn! I don't know whether to give it 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 stars! Hot damn, what did I just read? 
 This was NOT a romance. No ma'am. At all. And yet, it is a more realistic romance that stayed true to to the historical reality of its era than, oh, probably any historical romance I have ever read, I think. 
 Set in Italy during the renaissance era, the main character Ms Denys created - Domenico, Duke (here, "duke" means "king") of Cabria, is exactly how historical accounts have described monarchs and powers that be of the era. People who wielded absolute power over their subjects, who took what - and who - they would, with no one (except mebbe the Roman Catholic Church) to gainsay them. People who were surrounded by sycophants and had been raised from childhood being indulged in their every whim. 
 Domenico bought Felicia because he could; forced her to become his mistress, because he could; tortured a boy to death when he thought she preferred the boy better because he could. 
 He was a very flawed human being, as capricious and horrible as you'd imagine one who had absolute power and indemnity from consequences would be; petty, childish. And he was also capable of love as well, as much love as someone like him could be. 
 Felicia.....Sigh. Felicia was a doormat. But that was how life was for women then, more so for bastard women, and even more for bastard women who caught the eye of the ruler of the land. She was a doormat, yes, but that was more because she was truly helpless in the situation than because doormat-ness was an intrinsic part of her character. She was gullible to the machinations of various people at court, but that was mostly because she was ignorant and untutored in court life and intrigue. She was interesting, this doormat who wasn't really a doormat. 
 This book was.....accurate, too accurate for comfort mehn. No illusions, no whitewashing characters to make them more palatable for modern sensibilities, none of that. 
 It is because of this historical reality that we can call this...this....this.... "romance" a romance. 
 Just.... I don't even know. This was a very realistic historical 'romance.' If nothing at all, that's what it is.