TEST
A warrior heroine in historical romance is one plot element that makes me look the other way when choosing my next read. That doesn’t mean I haven’t enjoyed a few of those heroines in the past but after reading Gwen Rowley’s latest featuring one very appealing fighting woman who can match, if not defeat, her leading man, I doubt I will routinely reject such heroines in the future without taking a closer look. 
As a chosen warrior woman among her people, it is Enid’s privilege to train the tribe’s young men in the arts of battle and provide them with the courage to succeed in defense of their land. In addition to her other skills, Enid, for a short period of time, has been magically bestowed with a few additional gifts including the enhancement of her beauty so that all find her pleasing and unthreatening, the strength of ten men in battle, and the ability to sense the presence of magic or disappear within the shadows to hide from the enemy. These skills must be replenished beneath the moon every third night and are to be used specifically for her mission to discover the latest in warfare techniques.
Although Sir Geraint is a fierce warrior and respected leader of men, he is also a man of reason and compassion and therefore an esteemed advisor to King Arthur. His prestigious position as a Knight of the Round Table is not his greatest title since he is also the future King of Cornwall. While traveling, Geraint first encounters Enid when he finds her single-handedly fighting off robbers on the road and, although he observes that she is quite the swordswoman, she does need his help in finishing off the ruffians. Experiencing what is best described as “love at first sight”, Geraint offers Enid his protection on the road to King Arthur’s Court and although she knows there is no need for such protection, Enid accepts his offer since she is experiencing a strong attraction as well. It is only hours before these two are seized by their love for one another and after a few days acquaintance are married.
Initially, Geraint impressed me as naïve, excessively optimistic, and a bit manipulative and, therefore, I could easily envision the problems that lay ahead for these newlyweds. I also had numerous warnings sounding in my head early on when I read of Enid’s “temporary” gifts and her duties within her tribe. I kept thinking about her enhanced beauty and Geraint’s possible reactions – would he find her too plain, or worse, would he think she enchanted him? Or how about having the strength of ten men in battle – just when was she going to show up her warrior husband? And what about that need to replenish her gifts beneath the moon every third night? (Now that was an accident just waiting to happen.) But the biggest potential controversy I saw for this dear couple was Enid’s refusal to share with Geraint her tribal duties of training future warriors and all it entailed…whew! Believe me, all these worrisome details kept me turning the pages as fast as I could and my attention never wavered once.
Enid is a particularly good natured heroine who is able to hide her dismay when, once at Court, Geraint attempts to dress her like a woman, encourages her to befriend numerous other women, and even takes time to admire her clumsy attempts at embroidery. But when Enid makes the grave error of exhibiting her skill in battle in front of Geraint’s men while coming to the defense of another, things go downhill rapidly and the truly interesting part of the story begins. Now I had something to sink my teeth in to and was able to give all of those nagging worries a temporary shove to the side.
The primary issue Geraint and Enid must deal with is trust, and, while that seems ordinary enough, it takes on a new meaning in this decidedly fresh storyline. Not only has Enid made a vow of secrecy to her father, but she also hopes that she will never have to reveal her short term gifts to Geraint. In an attempt to understand the very secretive Enid, Geraint makes assumptions to aid him in treating her fairly and giving her the obvious space she requires. But misunderstandings build quickly when there is such a great lack of information and Geraint ends up getting my sympathy vote. He is called upon to exercise a great deal of blind faith that I think few could muster.
Geraint and Enid are both extremely likable, well-matched characters whose love affair is touching once the initial honeymoon phase is past. Enid is a woman with true class who has no problem calmly taking a back seat to her husband when required. Geraint has the bigger learning curve but his character does not suffer as a result.
Set in the era of King Arthur’s Court, Knights of the Round Table: Geraint went a long way toward satisfying my need for a Medieval [or earlier] romance. Its writing could have been richer, its magic less, and its blind love more tamed, but I still found it un-put-downable. At times it was fun and at others a real sense of sadness prevailed but overall this was a remarkably satisfying read.
Grade: B
Book Type: Fantasy Romance|Medieval Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 29/03/07
Publication Date: 2007
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.