TEST
Set in Medieval Cornwall, Midnight Marriage takes place against the backdrop of the final years of the power struggle between between King Stephen and Henry FitzEmpress (later to be King Henry II). After the evil Sir Hugh de Noirville manages to drive the Earl of Liskeard out of Cornwall, he marries the earl’s younger daughter and imprisons her elder sister, Keira, in a convent, thereby solidifying his claim to the earldom. The frail earl applies to King Henry for help, and is promised the support of Sir Philip d’Apremont, the landless bastard son of a French nobleman, who in turn is to receive Keira’s hand in marriage and inherit the earldom. 
Sir Philip, known as “the Saracen” due to the dark looks he inherited from his Greek mother, enjoys a terrible reputation (for what is never made quite clear). He quickly rescues Keira from the convent and marries her, then begins a military campaign against Sir Hugh. The attraction between Philip and Keira is mutual from the beginning. They thoroughly enjoy their wedding night and engage in vigorous sex throughout the novel.
The two main characters start out as the cardboard type: He is the dark, brooding, invincible alpha hero who never speaks about his feelings. She is the feisty girl who does not like to be crossed. At around page 70, she throws a tantrum because he only married her for her inheritance and does not love her. Yawn, I thought. But then something unexpected happened: Both hero and heroine came alive to me. They leave off obsessing about each other’s feelings (mostly anyway), and all of a sudden the story is about working together, about arriving at decisions, about dealing with your partner after a disagreement. I was hooked and began to care how they would resolve their difficulties.
Ultimately, the theme of this novel is trust, and blind trust at that. Philip tries to control Keira, first because not knowing her, he does not trust her judgment, and later because he wants to protect her. Keira twice goes against his direct orders, the second time at a terrible risk to herself, and pays for it dearly with the fear that she may have lost his trust and respect. (Her actions there may strike some readers as TSTL, but they did not seem so to me, because she carefully considers the alternatives and decides that taking the risk is the better option.)
As much as I came to enjoy the main characters and their relationship, I was not happy about a number of other aspects. The writing style often seemed bland and stiff. And very little is made of the Medieval setting, so it seems rather wallpaperish. This is a real shame, because the author could have used the intricacies of the feudal system, the relationship between vassals and overlord, and the local knights’ torn loyalties between the old earl and Sir Hugh to good effect. Another problem was that everyone spoke English, not French and Anglo-Saxon and Cornish, as they would have. And though the author employs Medieval terminology when describing clothing, for example, her language is otherwise often very 21st century. For instance, Keira tells herself to stop “agonizing” about her new husband, and Philip sighs, “Keira, you are incredible.” while making love to her. Expressions like that just don’t go with the illusion of the time period.
My final complaint is with the terrible editing. There are numerous spelling mistakes, syntax that doesn’t work, sentences in which you can see the ghost of a revision still hanging around. A remarkable number of both commas and full stops are missing.
Midnight Marriage was not easy to grade. It captured my interest, and by the end I cared about Keira and Philip. Outweighing those positives, however, are the book’s more serious flaws, particularly the cardboard feeling of the setting and of the characters at until nearly the half-way mark. Had the book worked better, even the grammar problems could have been overlooked, but overall this ends up as a slightly worse than average read.
Grade: C-
Book Type: Medieval Romance
Sensuality: Hot
Review Date: 12/05/07
Publication Date: 2007
High school teacher. Soccer fan (Werder Bremen, yeah!). Knitter and book-binder. Devotee of mathematical puzzles. German.
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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.