Reviews for The Virtuous Knight

The average rating for The Virtuous Knight based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-10-24 00:00:00 Edward Snead I really enjoyed this book. It's a great story about a knight who is mourning the death of his wife and child, and a young woman who has been left alone in the world, subsequent to the death of her family. This is the third book I've read by this author, and IMO, it's just about as good as the others I've read...although, Bride Of The Isle (Mills & Boon Historical) still remains my favorite. The story that unfolds in THE VIRTUOUS KNIGHT is romantic, intriguing, and touchingly sweet. The protagonists, Sir Alexander and Lady Lucy Kendal, are so well drawn that they seemed almost like real people. I connected with them, and felt empathy for both as they each struggled with their difficulties. Sir Alexander Breton has been wracked with grief for three years, ever since the premature death of his wife and young son. In his sorrow, he decides to dedicate his life to God and become a monk. But, before he can take his vows, Alex must fulfill a promise he made to a dying friend, to deliver a valuable, sacred relic into the care of his friend's brother for safekeeping. Lucy Kendal, on the other hand, has been living in an abbey for thirteen years, and although she has no other real options, she has no interest in taking her vows to become a nun. After the death of her parents, and then her brothers, the sickly twelve year old was relegated to an abbey by her guardian, where she was expected to die. Now thirteen years later, Lucy is hearty, hale, and lonely, living the restrictive life of a novice. Her days are filled with hard work, silence, and prayer, all while she is constantly reminded by the Abbess that her prospects for marriage are nill as no man would deign to take a "cripple" to wife. Despite her lame leg and lack of dowry, Lucy still harbors dreams of being a wife and mother--although she realizes the impossibility of her dream ever being realized. While traveling with a group of nuns to a new abbey, Lucy is involved in a wagon accident, which leaves her the sole survivor. Sir Alex, traveling to deliver the sacred relic to his friend's brother, witnesses the accident and comes to Lucy's aid. The sexual attraction Alex feels for Lucy is instant, strong, and completely unwelcome! Alex is set on his path to become a monk and attraction to women has no place in his life. Try as he might, however, he can't seem to let Lucy go, even while he thinks that he wants nothing more than to be rid of her. He wants to see Lucy safely to the abbey, but Lucy is having none of it. She is determined to grab her freedom and go out into "The World." The sweet darling; however, has absolutely no idea how to survive in the cold, harsh world and Alex finds himself rescuing her from one disaster after another. Lucy senses, what she believes to be, Alex's dislike for her, and tries to go her separate way. But Alex is resolved to see her safely settled, as he is deeply concerned for her safety. Soon Lucy is caught up in the danger that plagues Alex, as there are men who are after the sacred relic. Eventually, the couple get married, to keep Lucy safe--so Alex tells himself. How the couple outwit the men who pursue them and achieve their HEA makes for a riveting story. As wonderful as the story was, I do have one complaint (or maybe observation would be a better description.) I think Alex's determination to follow through on his plan to become a monk went on for a bit too long. It's not until around 90% into the story that he realizes his love for Lucy and the fact that leaving her is out of the question. Right up until then, despite the fact that they were married, and engaging in marital relations, Alex was indecisive about what he was going to do with Lucy...was he going to buy her a house and leave funds to take care of her, or maybe leave her in the care of his brother? IMO, once Alex married Lucy he should've put aside his plans to become a monk, even if only reluctantly. This is especially true in light of the fact that the two were having sex. I mean what was he going to do, abandon her to his brother's care even if she was with child? I could understand his still mourning his family--the entire story takes place over a two to three week period after all, and that isn't that long of a period to go from `I'm going to devote my life to God in memory of my late family, to I'm so in love with this new woman.' But, IMO, the story would have played better had he put aside his plan to become a monk, even while he felt guilty about remarrying and possibly starting a new family. His constant veering between the different options of what to do with Lucy was starting to become tiresome, when, thankfully, he finally realized that he loved her and could not leave her. I have to say though, that if prolonged mourning of a dead spouse was a pet peeve of mine, I probably would have been pulling out my hair by the time I got to that part of the story! LOL This one tiny flaw aside, I thought this was a fantastic story. If I could I would give it 4 � stars. As it is, I rated up because, IMO, it is closer to a 5 star read than a 4 star one. FYI, this is not a clean romance. There are a couple of loves scenes that are descriptive, although they are not overly graphic, nor do they include the use of any crude language. Happy reading!

Review # 2 was written on 2011-03-21 00:00:00 Jake Snake This story read as a modern writer writing about a historic time but had none of the feel for the time period. Her overuse of the words 'twas and 'twould was driving me crazy. The hero was interesting but his repetition of his situation was mentioned throughout the book and got old really fast. The heroine's lame leg was mentioned over and over again as well. I got it, move on. Some of the story was pretty interesting but, I don't know, just felt 'simple' to me. Hard to explain. Like the author didn't go into enough depth or something. I did finish it so obviously it kept my interest enough but I felt this could have had and been more. Not sure I'll pick up another by this author.