Review: Forbidden

I am working my way down my list on Evernote of medieval romances (and regular fiction) and this one has been on my list for a while. For a medieval romance, the plot is relatively different.

The hero, Ranald, was discarded by his father to a monastery and became a monk, only to be told that he must leave the order to marry his twin brother’s betrothed after the brother dies. He is also a warrior as he was the monastery's protector. Different right?

The heroine, Catalin, is an English lady who was to marry future Scottish laird, Murdoch, and when he dies, Ranald. Imagine being told you are marrying a former monk who was just dragged from the monastery  and is deformed by scarring. How would you react?

This book grabs you as Ranald adapts to life on the outside, learns more about the woman he married and changes. Catalin has also had troubles adapting because she had a secret and did not know what to make out of the scarred twin.

Raik, Ranald’s cousin, is a great character and added some humor to the story,  which is great because the next book, Seduced, is his story.

I recommend this for being different and complex but yet a true love story.

Review: His Captive Lady

Finally, a medieval romance book where the main hero isn’t a lord, knight, king or other medieval bigwig. He is a Captain in a lord’s army of humble birth.

This book takes place right after the Normans invaded England in 1067. The heroine, Lady Erica of Whitecliffe, a Saxon noble’s daughter who has been kicked out of her home and is hiding out after the invasion with several of her father’s men. The hero, Captain Wulf FitzRobert is a half Saxon, half Norman soldier and is sent to the East Anglia Fens to spy on Saxon rebels.

Wulf is sent to a Saxon rebel’s camp, which turns out to be almost a castle, to infiltrate himself into the rebels. Lady Erica has had enough of living life as an outlaw and seeks to end a family blood feud with Saxon, finds herself in the castle. Wulf stops Lady Erica from being raped by this Saxon and he rescues her. She does not know he is a Norman and when she finds out, the Saxon Lady would not be happy.

I really liked this charming little Harlequin Historical. Carol Townend paints a picture of life at the conquest, not just of the ruling class, but of the average person. The hero struggles with the fact that he thinks he will never advance in that world because of his birth, similar but a little different from what many think today. The heroine struggles with duty versus the heart.

I liked how the romance played out. I would have fallen for the hero myself. I love the name Wulf for a man.

This is part of her Wessex Weddings series and in my giddiness after finishing, I downloaded two more of the books for my Kindle. 

I’m Reading..

With Mom’s funeral last week and the time spent by her side before, I have not had much time to post but I have been reading.

I will get back to posting tomorrow.

I have been a wicked eager beaver when it comes to reading though….