Is an Author's Lack of Research Insulting to Her Readers?

Lucy Monroe has the second book in her Children of the Moon series coming out on Tuesday. Moon Craving is about the Abigail, the deaf sister of the heroine from the first book, Moon Awakening and the hero Talorc, a shift changing werewolf and the laird of the Sinclair clan she ends up marrying. I really did enjoy reading Moon Awakening because it was a combination of humor, paranormal and a feeling of the old Julie Garwood medievals I used to love reading.

As I read Moon Craving, my enjoyment began to deteriorate over the constant use of certain words spoken by the characters that wouldn’t have been invented yet during this time period. Let me give a few examples on why lack of research on the author, as well as the editor, leads to a book that made me want to throw it against the wall as I kept rolling my eyes and was jolted out of the story because it became so annoying and obviously wrong.

Example #1: Talorc talking with Abigail:

“He should have done a better job of protecting you.”
“Okay.” She did not care if she ever saw her parents again.

I really don’t think the word “okay” was used in medieval Scotland. To make sure, I wanted to look up the origins of the word and when it came into use. @jentheginerkid recommended a great site called the Online Etymology Dictionary as a guide. I typed in the word “okay” and this is what was found:

OK:
1839, only survivor of a slang fad in Boston and New York c.1838-9 for abbreviations of common phrases with deliberate, jocular misspellings." Further popularized by use as an election slogan by the O.K. Club, New York boosters of Democratic president Martin Van Buren's 1840 re-election bid, in allusion to his nickname Old Kinderhook, from his birth in the N.Y. village of Kinderhook. The noun is first attested 1841; the verb 1888.

As you can see OK or Okay would not be used by the Scottish population.

Example #2: Abigail says “All right” when Talorc orders her to do something. Again, this phrase jolted me out of the story.

ALRIGHT or ALL RIGHT:
Frequent spelling of all right, attested from 1893.

Example #3: The term “bitch” is spoken too many times to count as in regards to Abigail’s mother, who is described as a bitch.

Talorc turned to face his bride. “Your mother is a bitch.” Again, the amount of times this word was used raised some red flags.

BITCH:
In modern (1990s, originally black English) slang, its use with reference to a man is sexually contemptuous, from the "woman" insult.

From these three examples I’ve listed, it shows bad research from the author, as well as her editor. As a reader who caught onto these, wouldn’t Lucy Monroe also stop and think for a moment that perhaps just by going on the internet and searching for the origins of these words and how they were used, she could have written a more enjoyable and believable book?

But then again, perhaps a reader is not expected to question and take things at face value because Monroe writes such poetic passages as:

“When he had finished climaxing, he leaned forward and began to rub his seed into her skin, marking Abigail in an unmistakable way for all Chrechte warriors to recognize… Abigail lay compliant below him as he caressed every last drop of his come into her skin, until she was so thoroughly marked with his scent his own wolf would have a hard time distinguishing between their bodies.”

And

“Lifting her arms above her head, he nuzzled one of her armpits. An aphrodisiac like no other, the scent of her pheromones made him crazy. He nipped the tender skin right where arm and shoulder joined.”

I don’t know about you, but I hope aspiring authors don’t jump on the bandwagon of creating a heroine who speaks valley girl in the medieval era, and has a hero obsessed with rubbing his man fluids all his future mate’s body, not allowing her to bath after he does it, while having an armpit sniffing fetish.

Sorry Ms. Monroe, I expect better of you where you should respect for your readers, because they may just call you on these mistakes. Purple prose dialogue is one thing, but not researching some very noticeable faux pas is inexcusable.