Reviews for A Year and a Day

The average rating for A Year and a Day based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-11-12 00:00:00 Robert Cappock A Year and A Day is a very nice medieval historical romance that includes a lot of historical details. Lynx de Warenne is an English Knight who takes possession of Dumfries, a Scottish castle during the fight with Scotland over the borderlands in the late 1200's. Once in the castle, he decides to handfast with a commoner, Jane Leslie, because he is desperate for a son and she comes from a family that seem to be prolific childbearers. Jane is much younger than him and has been allowed to run wild in the lands around the castle. She has healing abilities due to her Celtic heritage and can also communicate with animals. Jane doesn't really want to handfast with Lynx even if he is a noble but she has no choice. Lynx and Jane are handfasted quickly and consummate their vows which is a bit awkward because they don't really know each other. Lynx is called away to fight for the English and when he comes back six months later, he is overjoyed to find out he is going to be a father. Lynx's sister Marjory comes back with him and quickly sets to work helping Jane learn how to be more assertive with Lynx and showing her how to run a castle. Lynx is very intrigued with the new flirtatous Jane who leads him on a merry chase. Jane gives birth to a son, then sets about to win Lynx's heart so he will wed her because he wants her and not just someone who will give him children. Lynx and Jane fall in love over the course of months and find the intimacy and passion that lovers share. But the war between Scotland and England continues to rage and Lynx is caught right in the middle, so their love and lives are tested by the ensuing events. I really enjoyed this book. The historical events of the time period are a big part of the story and didn't seem to take away from the main story. I was impressed with the author's ability to show history in all of it's grayness - she showed how conflicted the ties were between the nobles of Scotland and England. Robert the Bruce was a big part of the story and his connections to England and the other contendors for the crown were not glossed over and dumbed down like some books have done. The story itself was very good and seemed to show medieval life as it would have been. Lynx and Jane did not fall instantly in love, it took months of getting to know each other. Their first love scene was a little awkward because they barely knew each other and Lynx just wanted to make a child. Once they fall in love and lust with each other, they are able to look back and laugh at that time. We see a lot of Lynx's actions on the battlefield and in meetings with other nobles which helps show how a warrior in that time period would have lived. Lynx does have a mistress when he decides to handfast Jane, but he doesn't sleep with her (or we aren't told that he did) again - not because he feels he shouldn't because it was acceptable at that time to have a mistress when married but because he was getting sick of her. He brings her to Dumfries where she tries to cause some trouble for Jane but he gets rid of her when he sees what she was doing. He only brought her to the castle because he didn't want to dump her in a strange Scottish city and he doesn't sleep with her there, so rest assured anyone who might be bothered by this. I like Jane a lot in this book, she is caring, loving and strong. She is willing to work to get Lynx to fall in love with her then gets to reap the rewards once he does because he is a very sweet and romantic man. I liked the romance between Lynx and Jane that developed over the second half of the book. We see their attraction and love grow for each other so it's that much sweeter when they finally make passionate love. Overall, this was a very good medieval historical romance that actually felt historical and accurate for the time period. The story itself was really good and we get to see first hand the beginnings of Scotland's war for independence from England. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good medieval romance.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-12-11 00:00:00 Cathy Parrish The novel begins as the heroine is confronted by a lynx while bathing naked in the river near her castle. Not a metaphorical lynx. An honest-t0-god, real-life wild cat who proceeds to pounce on her and then lick her breasts erotically. ROFL. Oh, Virginia Henley, you crazy old cat!!! The novel then proceeds to introduce the human version of the lynx, named, creatively, Lynx de Warenne. He does a handfasting wth the heroine because he desperately wants a son. Neither his mistress of two years, or his first wife, were able to conceive, or so he thinks. The mistress has actually been dousing herself with pennyroyal tea to abort her baby every time she finds herself pregnant. Why? Because she does not want to lose her figure. Was she twirling her mustache while imbibing the poisonous tea? Methinks yes. The hero treats the heroine as a broodmare. The so-called handfasting changes nothing to his relationship with the mistress. He even moves the mistress into the castle where his pregnant wife resides. TYPHOON OF TACKINESS!!! It is only when the mistress tries to trick the heroine into drinking pennyroyal tea that he reluctantly dismisses her. Not because he loves the heroine but because he is outraged that harm was directed towards his precious heir. No comeuppance other than that. The mistress leaves with her head held high and coffers full of money, clothes, and jewels that he had gifted her during their two year relationship. The heroine's vile, jealous sister, who helped the mistress poison the heroine, never gets any comeuppance either and dissolves into the mist. I think Virginia Henley needs to take lessons from Teresa Denys on how to write a satisfying comeuppance. Just when I thought the lynx episode of the first chapter was an isolated acid dream and the story would continue conventionally, the hero is injured during battle and the heroine nurses him back to health with...her breast milk!!!! OMG Virginia, whatever you are smoking, I want some! Pleeeeaaaassssse... Other than the craziness, which could have earned a " so gloriously bad, it's great" rating, this was a total fail. I never felt that the hero really renounced the OW. He actually got mad and upset when he learned that she had been murdered by her next lover, later on the story. I don't think he would have ever fallen "in love" with the heroine without the healthy, baby son or the weird, breastfeeding episode that seemed to have bonded him to her.