Kensington Publishing/Zebra Books
Historical Romance/Scottish-Irish
Mass Market Paperback
Rating: 3.5
In this sequel to the best selling A Restless Knight, We get the story of Damian St. Giles, look-alike cousin to the Black Dragon, Julian.
Damian is drowning his sorrows in mead over losing Tamlyn, the woman he loves, to his cousin Julian (see A Restless Knight) when a trio of boys promise him dreams come true if he drinks their special brew. Next thing he knows, Damian wakes up with a pounding head, shackled to a bed... naked! When a flame haired beauty appears, he realizes she will take his body and maybe even his soul.
Lady Aithinne Ogilvie is desperate to keep her beloved estates out of the hands of Edward Longshanks. The only way to do so is to get herself with child, in the hopes of making everyone believe that child is the true heir of her precious Lyonglen. The handsome man her brothers deliver to her bed is everything she could hope for… until she discovers who he is. Aithinne thinks Damian is in love with Tamlyn, her cousin and that all he sees when he looks at her is a pale version of Tamlyn, crushing Aithinne’s heart.
What will happen when the ruthless Dragon of Challon discovers what she has done and tells the English king?
While this was a very compelling historical romance that drew me in, I felt it wasn’t quite up to par with the previous book in the series. A little too much ground covered in A Restless Knight was reiterated here. It is always good to get enough of a rundown on previous books in a series to “catch up” if missing something or trying to refresh your memory, but there was a little too much here. Also, as much of a fan as I am of revisiting old friends from previous books, I would have liked a little less Tamlyn and Julian and a little more Damian and Aithinne. Granted, Aithinne and Tamlyn are so closely linked, as are Damian and Julian, even down to their nearly identical appearances, so you almost can’t have one without the other. I think the same impact could have been made with less appearance by our lovebirds from the previous novel. I never thought I’d see the day I thought old friends were seen a little too much in a later novel!
I loved the passion between Aithinne and Damian. Heck, who can resist someone like Damian? Of course, the whole setup of their affair guarantees a hot story. What else would you expect from such a virile man as Damian being chained to a woman’s bed for her to have her way with him? Their attraction to each other explodes from the pages and is unable to be resisted. Their love story is beautifully told as we see them struggle with misunderstandings and the ramifications of their actions. Aithinne has always lived in the shadow of her cousin Tamlyn and she’s always felt inferior to her beautiful cousin. Watching her overcome her doubts about herself, we see her grow as a person and rejoice as she comes into her own. Damian has always felt like he didn’t measure up to his cousin Julian so he too needed to finally understand his own worth before he could be happy.
Humor abounds in In Her Bed, lightening up the story to keep it from getting overly intense. I especially got a kick out of Aithinne’s triplet brothers Hugh, Deward, Lewis, whose antics reminded me oh so much of a certain cartoon trio of boys who give their uncle a run for his money. These loveable teenagers and their reluctant and somewhat dimwitted keeper Einar steal the show every single time they put in an appearance.
Of course as is to be expected from a MacGillivray novel, the setting is as much of a character in the story as the players. Deborah is a master of bringing the world to us through her books. She is so skilled at painting the landscape that I can feel like I really am living in medieval Scotland, standing up on the ramparts to oversee my estate, anchoring my beliefs in the mysticism inherent in Scotland.
If you are looking for a funny sexy historical romance with a slight touch of fantasy, then In Her Bed is one you will thoroughly enjoy.
© Kelley A. Hartsell, January 2008. All rights reserved.
~eHQ April 2008 Member of the Month~
actually......
I adored this book and thought it was ever better than A Restless Knight, which I didn't think would be possible. I posted my review on Amazon and gave it five stars. I utterly adored seeing Tamlyn and Julian. They never took over the story, but were wonderful secondary characers. I also loved the story-within-a-story. Not sure I have seen this done before and really applaud the effort it to to control that. But thought it strange to see a Kensington book reviewed. I thought this was Harlequin books?
Leeanne
Kensington is allowed
We can review anything we want in here as part of the challenge. We're not required to limit ourselves to Harlequin.
I know most people loved this book. I didn't not like it, I just didn't think it was as good as the first book. I went to Amazon after I wrote my review and I noticed there are a few other people who had the exact same comments as I did about the book.
The D2K Paranormal Junkies
~eHQ April 2008 Member of the Month~
I guess I hit the button
I guess I hit the button twice by accident since it posted my comment twice. LOL So I just am filling this in with whatever since we can't delete comments.
The D2K Paranormal Junkies
~eHQ April 2008 Member of the Month~