I had two big problems with some events in the book. One was the the whole true love thing. Of which I believe is not very impossible for two babies to experience. Maybe, it is because I am so (so, so, so) old and realistic that I can't enjoy that element. The whole time I am imaging the stuff happening after the "happily ever after." My thoughts: Violet and Richard have been married for three years, and Richard isn't so happy with his rash decision to marry his love of first sight. He thinks that the maid with the red hair is hot. No one will know or care, or dare to know or care, if he decides to have a little affair with her. Oh, and Violet has been having an affair with a stableman for eighteen months by the time Richard thinks to have one also. Richard is clueless, of course. So Violet becomes an heir machine and they all live happily never after. Great thoughts, yeah?
Okay my second issue is the bad things that are promoted in this book. I am a big hater of when authors of ya books have some weird messages they are touting. I had a big problem with Caine's Morgonville series and how she had her main character think about corpses so she could stop feeling a tad bit of normal lust. "Oooh, look it is a hot guy! No! Bad me! Must think about lifeless bodies! Festering wounds full of maggots! Bloated corpses! Nooo!" Wow. This book was weird about another topic besides s3x. This one was promoting cheating. Yes. I do not lie. The message was that cheating is okay as long as it is done to get something you really want. I was shocked. In the first place I was uncomfortable with the fact that the heroine was cheating and in the end she is actually praised for doing it.
I know that perfect heroines are boring, but really. Next I'll probably stumble across a book saying forced intercourse is okay... as long as one party is willing! Put a smiley face at the end of that statement. For irony. Cheating was not the only weird thing promoted as okay to do. Self mutilation was also there. For one of the stupid tests (they were all stupid) the princesses had to mar their beauty, a test of sacrifice. Since Violet was already tan her skin would not burn from the sun (all the princesses are super delicate btw), so Violet actually sticks her hand in flames! Is this girl crazy? And again she is praised. Self mutilation, or giving yourself a burn, is not the same as sacrificing something frivolous! Can you tell I am very pissed about all this? Well I am! And all this for "true love"!