His Fair Lady

Rating:
Summary: My Feel Good book of the year!
Review: After all that has happened the past few months, I so longed for a book to whisk me away to another time and place-- someplace where planes didn't crash into buildings, where I didn't have to fear opening my mail. Recently, I found my escape in Kathleen Kirkwood's "His Fair Lady", my top pick for feel good book of the year. Stirring deep emotions with her well-chosen words, Kirkwood weaves a vibrant tale of love that defeats seemingly insurmountable odds. Her ability to combine sensuality, history and action into a powerful romance will bring me back to this author again and again. This story is not to be missed!

Rating:
Summary: An exciting medieval read
Review: Courtesy of Love Romances

Royce de Warrene was a green squire when he left for the Crusades. He was full of hopes and dreams as he set out, never expecting the horror he would find one night. He and his knight's band came across a sight from their nightmares...a whole village burned, animals slain, the entire population slaughtered. He has never forgotten that sight, not the young girl he rescued and turned over to a peasant couple to raise as their own. He remembers the young orphan's beautiful but haunted green eyes when he gave her his own cross for comfort.

Upon returning to his homeland after a decade away, Sir Royce, now a knight of the realm, realizes he made a grievous error that fateful night in Vaux. The orphan is not a commoner, but is in fact Lady Juliana Mandeville, young noblewoman and the sole heiress to her family's fortune. Royce goes on a quest to right this wrong, at the request of Juliana's dying grandfather.

Juliana does not remember much from that night which changed her life irrevocably. All she can recall is a young man who rescued her, and the cross he gave her, the only link she has to that elusive memory. She does not believe Royce when he comes for her, and is furious with him when he takes her away from the Church steps, just as she is about to be married.

Juliana fights Royce every step of the way, but he will not be deterred from his mission. Mishaps and misadventures abound as she tries time and again to escape. Royce keeps right on going, feeling guilty over his past error. She has never quite given up hope that her squire would one day return to her. As they journey onward, their feelings for each other grow, and Juliana gets the sneaking suspicion she and Royce have met before though she is unsure where or when. Slowly she starts having flashes of another time, but are they longings for happiness again, or her memories of her early years of life returning?

Ms. Kirkwood has written a medieval tale that will touch the heart. Royce and Juliana have a bond neither fully understands and as a result, they fear it. Juliana's suppressed memories are very realistic for someone suffering from post traumatic stress disorder, as is the way they gradually start to return. Royce is ever the honorable and vigilant knight, putting the safety of his lady before his own.

The colorful cast of characters, including King John and his young queen, the men and ladies of court, the travelling minstrel, and the villagers from the town Juliana has called home, all add to the story. It was also nice to see King John portrayed slightly different then history paints him. Juliana starts off as a spoiled young lady, but then who wouldn't after being taken away from all she has ever known and loved...twice!

There is plenty of emotion in the book also. Juliana and Royce's exploits on their journey, and at the castle, provide plenty of laugh out loud moments. One will cry along with them as they experience the horrid night at Vaux, which alters everyone's life permanently. One mark of a truly good book is one that makes the reader experience all emotion first hand, and this one does just that. This is a keeper for anyone who loves a heart-rending tale.

Rating:
Summary: Kathleen Kirkwood is Always a Five-Star Read!
Review: I have been reading Kathleen Kirkwood since her first books, the ever popular Defiant series writing under her own name, Anita Gordon. Her research, characters, and riveting plots are her hallmarks. This books does her stellar body of work, both as Kathleen Kirkwood and Anita Gordon, justice. Her history is impeccable, her plots dramatic, her romance warm and rich. She always leaves me wanting more.

Kathleen's portrayal of Juliana/Ana, a child ripped from her titled parents through violence that very nearly takes her life, so closely mirrors how any child would react to such terror. She buries that terror so deeply that she loses all memory of her priviledged life and embraces her new peasant family, finding comfort and safety there. However this sense of safety is destroyed for a second time when, Royce, the young squire who rescued her, now a knight returning from the Crusades, comes to take her back to that life and those memories. Neither knows who the other is and, quite naturally, she resists, especially since Royce arrives on her wedding day. This story takes you back to the court of King John and tells how Juliana's and Sir Royce de Warrem's lives converge, only to part on separate journeys, then converge again after both are grown to embark on an adventure that neither asks for or wants, but where both find their true destinies through each other. BRAVO, KATHLEEN KIRKWOOD!! I am waiting impatiently for the next one.

Rating:
Summary: Kathleen Kirkwood is Always a Five-Star Read!
Review: I have followed Ms. Kirkwood's writing since A Slip in Time. I loved that book and the premise for it. There was a lot of originality and new twists in that plot which kept me thoroughly entertained. I have found with the last few of her books, that this originality has waned. In His Fair Lady, Royce and Juliana/Ana's story is well written, but I found the plot to be very formulistic. It is very much the fairy tale, happily-ever-after story complete with demoiselle in distress (numerous times), striking hero to the rescue, nefarious villain, the "other" woman, etc.

Juliana/Ana gets herself into so much trouble in the first half of the book, that all that was accomplished was to show the heroine as being a spoiled child. After she reaches England, we do see her development and to a lesser extent Royce's, which is the only thing that kept this book together for me. In a nutshell, I would describe this book as predictable. Everything happens which you think should happen; there is no suspense or even interesting twists or turns to give the reader boost.

One interesting side note, I did find it unusual to see King John portrayed in a positive light (or somewhat positive light). History usually portrays him as a vengeful, grasping villain who usurped his brother's throne (Richard) while he was on Crusade. Overall, if you are looking for a sweet, fairy tale/romance, then pick this book up, it was well written. If you are looking for anything different or with pizzazz, I suggest you forego His Fair Lady.

Rating:
Summary: Warm-hearted romance of devotion
Review: In 1190, Royce de Warrene joined a group of knights as squire to Lord Hugh, who leads them to fight under the banner of the Lionhearted on Crusade. However, in France, the group stops at the ruins of the village Vaux, destroyed by marauding soldiers. The local lord's manor is also devastated, but Royce spots a survivor, an eight-year old girl Ana who he believes is the miller's daughter. He gives Ana to a peasant couple, vowing to become a protector of the little Ana's of the world.

A decade later, Royce returns home to claim the lands promised to him by the Lionhearted. However, King John assigns him the task of finding a missing heiress who Royce realizes is his little Ana. He goes to retrieve her, but she rejects his story and fails to recognize the confident adult as her saving squire. She gives him a hard time, but love blossoms between them anyway, but both need to reach out to one another if anything permanent is to occur.

Using interwoven historical tidbits to authenticate her plot, award winning Kathleen Kirkwood casts quite a medieval romantic tale with HIS FAIR LADY. The story line is loaded with the intrigue and glamour of the early thirteenth century and for a change John seems somewhat human and not just a cowardly bully. The lead couple is destined to be a fan favorite as their relationship endures everything due to their love for another. Ms. Kirkwood has written another warm deep novel that will excite sub-genre fans.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: excellent medieval writing
Review: In the 1990's, I recall a writer - Anita Gordon. She wrote three very amazing Dark Age Viking tales, The Valiant Heart, The Defiant Heart and The Captive Heart, a series for Jove Books. They were simply amazing. Not many Historical writers write of this period and with such vivid details. My having a strong back ground in the history of Britain, it's not often I see Romance writers with this solid of research into their books. Gordon blew me away with the vivid insight and the rich details with which she painted her books. Then nothing. No more Anita Gordons, when I figured she would go on to be one of the top writers in the field. How could she not? Her style of writing is not the knock-the-book-off-in-six months, so I expected another solid Historical that would come away to once more impress me, to thrill me in a year or two. But nothing.

Then came another writer, her style seemed familiar, but time had passed so I did not connect the wonderful writing of Kathleen Kirkwood with the strong forceful tales of Gordon. I read Kirkwood's A Slip Through Time, one of the best Time-Travel Romances I have ever read, as well as her other two - His Fair Lady and Shades of the Past. Well, I have now made the connection that Anita Gordon and Kathleen Kirkwood are on in the same, which only impresses me even more with her talent and the historical strength of her tales. And His Fair Lady is Kirkwood, um Gordon, at her very best. She brings forth the splendour, the richness of the Medieval period that is so lacking in a lot of Historical writing today, with such loving care you are mesmerised by the story. So much heart! I am hoping to see more from this writer - whatever name she chooses to use!

Sir Royce de Warren was just a squire when he faced the horrors of warfare - a village nearly destroyed, burnt, the bodies strewn about. He rescues a beautiful orphan and turns her over to a peasant couple, who vow to love and raise her as their own. Before leaving the child, he gives her his silver cross, in hopes to see her safe through life. Through the years, he has never forgotten the child's haunting green eyes.

Years later, after fighting in the Crusades, Royce returns to England. On the heels of his homecoming, he learns he made a terrible mistake that night so many years ago. The young child he left with the peasant couple, was not of the village but was nobility, and buy not finding out where she truly belonged she has been robbed of her true birthright, as Lady Juliana Mandeville, and sole heiress to the family. He promises her dying grandfather, he will find Juliana and restore her to her true station in life.

Juliana, now called Ana, has grown into a beautiful, spirited young woman. A woman about to be married, when Royce arrives and carries her off, literally from the church steps! When the handsome knight comes to her with the story of her real birth, she does not believe him. This man who stands before her is a hardened warrior. He little resembles the beautiful young man who bravely saved her years ago. But the silver cross is the link between them. In her heart, Juliana has never given up hope the gallant young knight of her dreams, would one day return for her, but she is unprepared for this man, and little recalls the trauma of that horrible night or her life before.

Kirkwood, gives you a strong story that pulls at the heart. It's laced with adventure and humour and such fine period detail, that this is a winner from beginning to end.

Also, was glad to see Kirkwood not go for the stereotypical portrayal of King John, but gave a more balanced view.