Long story short, Merry is trying to escape from her mother, who is a witch, and is trying to sell her to an evil man. She is rescued by Garron of Kersey, but escapes him before he can learn who she is. She follows him back to his castle and convinces his staff to accept her as one of them and lie for her so she'll have a safe place to hide out. In the meantime, she fixes up the place and gets to know Garron. He knows she's not what she appears, but lets her keep her secrets since she's doing so much good. Then the secrets come out, he drags her off to London and she's abducted by her mother, replaced by an imposter and somehow manages to escape before Garron ends up marrying the imposter.

My first question was, what the hell kind of romance is this? It has a plot which seems to take center stage and then the romance is simply secondary...rather unusual for a historical romance. We don't get much romantic interaction between Garron and Merry - they have zero chemistry, barely any attraction and they act more like friends than anything. I count maybe two kisses and one spectacularly painful sex scene and that's it. Not even an exchange of "I Love Yous" Easily one of the least romantic romance novels I've read in a while. And it's a shame really because these were two of my favorite characters from this author. A heroine who is smart, witty and interesting, not the least bit doormat about her but she's also not stupidly stubborn. The hero is still a medieval hero, but he is able to call a woman smart, enjoy the fact that she's not blindly obedient and he was a whole lot less arrogant than other heroes by this author. I know that this was written 8 years after the last story - and I think in those 8 years (during which the author has most likely been writing suspense novels) she has forgotten how to write a historical romance.

Fair warning: there is a scene in which the heroine technically forces the guy into sex. He's asleep and she basically has her way with him before he realizes what's happening...he says no at least twice, though the implication is not that he doesn't want it but that he's thinking of the repercussions and her reputation. This could be a trigger for some people. ( )

I tried to read it, I really did. Several times. But between Coulter's wooden dialog and descriptions (I used to be able to overlook them, but nowadays they're unbearable) and the utterly stupid setup - she's a boy, so she's safe - so as soon as she gets inside she admits she's a girl and asks for skirts. Why? No reason, she just wants to. Also she's nearly as fast as horses (got to a place an hour's ride away within a couple hours - she shouldn't have made it before morning, even if she wasn't injured). Also...I just can't. Historically it makes little sense, as people these are wooden puppets, I'm not interested enough in any of the mysteries to slog through the mess to find out what happened. I don't even want to read the end. No. ( )

I didn't realize this was part of a series. I enjoyed the book and was engaged throughout the book. I will definitely have to check out what other books were written. ( )

I didn't realize this was part of a series. I enjoyed the book and was engaged throughout the book. I will definitely have to check out what other books were written. ( )

A visit by the Black Demon in search of a horde of silver that was supposedly stolen leaves Wareham Castle decimated: the Earl (Arthur) is killed as are most of his subjects with the exception of a handful of decrepit and starving elders. Into this desolate landscape of hunger and thirst arrives Garron Kersey – Arthur’s brother. He is preceded by a young woman who calls herself Merry. The young woman is taken in by those still at Wareham Castle. But Merry is hiding her true identity as she is the runaway daughter, and heiress, of Valcourt Castle. What ensues is a round robin of lies and deceit that the reader is asked to believe. Indeed there are so many twists and turns that even a 13th century seer would be hard-pressed to keep it all straight.

I normally like medieval stories and had high hopes for this one. The story line, however, was slow moving and asks the reader to suspend their logic. I must admit that for all the richly drawn characters who seemed to spout nonsense, my favorite was Miggins – the old toothless woman who spoke her mind even in the presence of her lord and master.

The story lagged in so many places that I was hard pressed to keep focused. As this is the first of Ms. Coulter’s works that I have read I can only hope that the others are a bit more fast-paced. Not nearly as much swash-buckling or saving of damsels in distress as I would have liked. ( )