3.5 stars.

Will Scarlet, one of famous outlaw Robin Hood's band of merry men, isn't all that he seems. In fact, he is actually a she, and she's on a mission to help as many people as possible - taking from the rich and giving to the poor. But Scarlet has a secret and things begin to unravel when the Sheriff of Nottingham employs the evil Guy of Gisbourne to hunt down Robin and kill whomever he pleases while doing so.

So I love Robin Hood, and I knew there was a very large possibility i was going to love this book. And I did, and I'm so glad I finally picked it out my TBR jar and read it. However, I do want to give this book he full four stars, I just can't as there were some niggly bits of the story that did make me drop my rating.

I really liked Scarlet and all the tropes surrounding her - which I'm a sucker for in a female adventure/badass hero storyline, though I possibly could have done without the love triangle which felt a tad forced as it felt like all of a sudden Little John was obsessed with her (and going about it in the entirely wrong way, I might add). The relationship with Robin was obviously going to happen from the first line of the story, and I do feel like there was a lot more genuine chemistry between the two, though I didn't like how Rob talked to Scarlet at times, and it was also obvious he was into her (people don't touch your face that often when they don't like you Scar!).

I had big problems with Rob telling Scarlet she was leading John on, when various times throughout the story she blatantly told him to leave her alone and that she didn't want to kiss him in the way he kept trying to. He also called her a whore at one point for the secret engagement and again, the John not-relationship, when the engagement was arranged and one she had literally run away from and left everything behind so she didn't have to do it, and that wasn't okay. He told he she wasn't 'available' because of the engagement when hell yes she was, because she wasn't consenting to the engagement in the first place. UGH

I think there should be possible TW for eating disorders in this book as well - there is a thing in the first half of the novel where Scarlet doesn't seem to eat properly and has problems eating in front of other people, and is given out to by Rob and John for not eating properly. While it's not explicitly stated that she has an eating disorder (and this whole thing seems to have been forgotten about in the second half of the book) it may be triggering for those who are current or past sufferers of an ED, so just wanted to point it out.

I also would have liked even more information on Scarlet's past. She knows how to fight (kicking and flipping kind of fight), is a knife expert and also is a pro at being a pickpocket. However, there's no explanation in how she

Lady frickin' Marian

came about these skills. They are definitely not ones she was taught growing up, and she appears to have already known them when Robin recruited her. Also I did have a problem with the speech thing as it didn't corroborate with what we knew about Scarlet's past but her reasoning was eventually explained.

Overall though, I did enjoy this book. I'm just a sucker for a good Robin Hood tale, and I love the whole idea of good-hearted outlaws, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor and the evil Sheriff (aka Alan Rickman). I loved the setting, and I do think the author nailed Robin's relationship with his people and his good heart (though I would like to see him being broadened out in the next one. He was slightly flat at times.). I picked up the next book straight away as I didn't want to let go of the story, and that says it all really, doesn't it!