I don't know where to start either. I have enjoyed many of Catherine Coulter's novels, but there are a few that I just can't figure out why she wrote. This is one of them. The hero is a truly terrible person, a misogynistic serial rapist with absolutely no respect for women. The only remorse he shows for raping his wife is that she stopped desiring sex. Um, DUH. I don't know, maybe his character is typical of the time, but someone like that has no place in a modern romance and I don't know why she thought this was a good idea. This book was not a romance, it was more like some twisted tale of a woman who is being abused but won't leave. "But I love him!" Gag me. I hated Graelam so much I got mad at my husband, and he's nothing like that? My advice, don't read this book. Yes, it's part of a series, but honestly I read this series backwards (FIRE SONG was the last one I read) and it's really not necessary to know this story before moving on to the others.