HISTORICAL
ROMANCE
MEDIEVAL
ROMANCE

Merrimon Book Reviews










The Bayeux Tapestry, chronicling the English/Norman battle in 1066 which led to the Norman Conquest.
The Bayeux Tapestry, chronicling the English/Norman battle in 1066 which led to the Norman Conquest.

BOOK ILLUMINATIONS
From Medieval Book Reviews
HOME        ROMANCE       FICTION        SUSPENSE & THRILLERS        MYSTERY  
AUTHORS      REVIEWER PROFILES
An Honorable Rogue
An Honorable Rogue by Carol Townend
by Carol Townend
   

Innocent, playful, sensuous!
 

Benedict Silvester is a musician, a lute player who sings the songs of love and great battles. He travels this way and that and wherever he goes, there is always a woman to please. Women adore Benedict with his beautiful voice and his eye for the finer entertainment and poetry in life. What no one knows is that under the minstrel’s disguise, Ben is a spy, on a special mission for the Duke of Brittany. Rozenn (Rose) Kerber has known Ben all her life. Friends that know one another deeply, Rose wants something else for herself. Full of ambition, Rose won't stand for an itinerant life and has her hopes set on a stable well-positioned marriage -- to a knight! When Ben offers to accompany her on a journey to England to meet Sir Richard, a knight who has offered her a pledge, she accepts. With Ben, she will be safe. But things are not quite what they appear...

Readers can count on Carol Townend for historical accuracy. Here, she stole my medieval heart with her mention of the Chanson de Roland and other oral medieval literature. Carol Townend’s look at the medieval figure of the knight through the eyes of a minstrel and a deceived lady is a nice play on the medieval classics. Her references are not only researched but they just flow from her pen (or keyboard) smoothly as part of the plot. The beauty of Carol Townend’s description of a first true love second chance romance (Rose is a widow) captures the innocence of love. Playful and sensuous, the undressing scene reawakens the senses to every touch and look. As best childhood friends discovering each other anew in their hearts and body, Ben and Rose know each other deeply in ways only friends and lovers can. Divine!

Carol Townend brings a unique, refreshing voice to medieval historical romance revealing the tender and innocent side of the medieval heart. As Carol Townend turns her eye to the French side of her Wessex Wedding romance series, we see her great skill in orchestrating the finest details. Set in the aftermath of the Norman invasion, the Wessex Wedding series brings this time period alive in the hearts of her characters. In An Honorable Rogue, readers now see the world from Brittany with its politics in flux as rivals compete and alliances change at the blink of an eye. A journey on horseback to England allows the reader to see the medieval landscape as well as the landscape of the heart. Together with the first book of the series The Novice Bride, An Honorable Rogue gives the reader an intriguing look at this turbulent historical period from two sides. Carol Townend’s medieval romances just get better and better!

Carol Townend awakens in this reader my first true all-encompassing reading love ---- medieval! On my bookshelves, the Wessex Weddings books have a special place of honor.

Publisher: Harlequin Historical
Series: Wessex Weddings


Reviewed by Merrimon, Medieval Book Reviews
Merrimon Book Reviews


Custom Search

Copyright Merrimon Crawford  2008  All Rights Reserved