Header PromotionHer One Desire by Kimberly Killion (Medieval romance)
Debut late Medieval romance.
Lady Ives is used to people looking at her with disgust and keeping their distance. Her father is the Lord High Executioner. When Broderick Maxwell becomes a prisoner marked for death, Lizzie Ives knows she must do something. Helping him to escape, she also escapes herself from her dark tortured past and an arranged marriage which will kill her soul. But, in doing so, she has just put herself at risk. Will this Scottish spy protect her. Who is a danger to whom? She works to protect the crown from a treasonous plot, he seeks a means of getting France to side with the Scotland as a means of protecting the borderlands. How can these two enemies at such cross purposes, ever come to love one another....yet love is exactly what they do, a love that awakens each to to their fullest, a love that breaks the darkness in their hearts and souls.
This book is a bit darker than many of the Medieval romances I have been reading but it hit just the right chord for me. I will tell people that there is a mean, horrible villain in this book, one who is simply wicked on multiple levels. Don't pick this one up expecting a light read but rather one that will bring you close to tears but one that leavs you seeing a transforming love, one that reaches into the very darkness and brings a very special HEA to the hero and the heroine---two people who feel destined to make each other right. At the same time, there are moments of delightful, humorous twists here. The language here is full of colloquialisms which give a nice texture to the book. One a medieval level, this book has a certain tone that encapsulates the medieval world. Without resorting to the sometimes vulgar story detail level of the fabliaux, the colorful slang gives a certain realistic feel for the everyday language. Also, what a bold move to choose the Lord High Executioner as a character to give a certain window into the Medieval world not often seen....and wow, in a romance too! Very nice.
An off the wall comment: This book is kind of like Rita Herron in Medieval although not nearly quite as dark....and for all of you who know how much I love RIta Herron, she is one of my favorite writers, esp. her longer books. If this debut romance by Kimberly Killion is any indication of her next, I think she will be on my list of must read medievals. Just a warning though for those who like sweeter reads---the villain here is wicked.
(I am just blogging more off the cuff this weekend...now that my reading slump is over, I want to read, write more off the cuff blogs and review later. I am startinf to think it works better for me to review after I read a book and have more distance from a book. When I finish a book, especially one I love, books seem to sort of expand outwards with a million thoughts and it seems I review better when I let the thoughts gel a bit so I can distill them or something.)
Merri
Hildie's blog: http://blog.hildie.net
Sounds...
intriguing and the comparison to Rita Herron definitely has my attention. I want to give this one a try I think....
The D2K Paranormal Junkies 2008 Challenge
I can't put words to it, but
I can't put words to it, but this one just hit that Rita Herron space. Now, there are differences. Rita Herron tends to make the landscape a character and I did not have that feel here (other than the fact that Kimberly Killion does bring a vision to the Medieval period I have not seen before but which permeates the whole tone of the period). Both write villains that put your teeth on edge. Kimberly Killion's writing does have more of a sense of humor and the colorful language gives a different tone. But both Kimberly Killion have this way of looking into the darker corners and bringing light to their characters through romance, a light that movd the very soul.
Merri
Hildie's blog: http://blog.hildie.net