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Having just read Isolde Martyn’s dense new medieval The Knight and the Rose, I was definitely ready for something light and fluffy as a change of pace. And while To Charm a Knight was both light and fluffy, it unfortunately was not very good.
Victoria Desmond’s billionaire boss, H. Walter Harrington, is a medieval buff. He loves the period so much that every year he sponsors a medieval fair. Now he’s bought himself an English castle to renovate; unfortunately for him the castle appears to be cursed, and the necessary repairs cannot be made. Walter hits on the idea of time travel. He will go back to the time when the curse began and will sort out whatever problems there are to get things back on track. Unwillingly and unwittingly, Victoria is taken along to make everything run more smoothly.
When they arrive at their destination, they discover they are ten years too late, and now they must find the location of a magic amulet to help restore Castle Avondel. To further complicate things, Walter gets himself thrown into the local lord’s tower and Victoria must fend for herself. Lucky for her a knight comes along to help.
Gareth of Avondel has returned to claim his castle. Ten years ago when he was still a lad, the castle was besieged and his parents were killed. He tried to rectify things then, but he failed. Now he has returned with the King’s favor and intends to set things right. But this will require that he find the magic amulet that went missing right before the siege. And finding the amulet means working with a certain very attractive young woman. . .Victoria.
To Charm A Knight was not all bad. Gareth was a bit of a grunter, but Walter and the other secondary characters were generally agreeable. Also things were not always what they seemed. There were some real surprises along the way which made the book more interesting. While I found certain characters’ observations to be funny, I think the author wanted the readers to be chuckling heartily all along. However, the book was not hilarious, but it was mildly amusing in spots.
Despite these nice touches, To Charm A Knight fell short in my eyes for several reasons. It was not that it was only tokenly medieval, which it was. None of the medieval characters seemed to really think like true medieval people, and there were numerous anachronisms and out-of-time reflections. And the book didn’t fail because the romances seemed rushed. Walter, for instance, has a love-at-first-sight experienced based on nothing substantial while Victoria and Gareth fall into bed unaccountably quickly – and then take their time realizing they are in love. And what they love about each other is not clear as it seems as though most of the time each finds the other annoying.
My real problem was Victoria’s attitude. Her cultural arrogance was astounding. She seemed like the stereotypical Ugly American. All she did was gripe, gripe, gripe about how bass-ackward the Middle Ages were and how unenlightened medieval people seemed. Well, no duh. The thirteenth century is five centuries – count ’em, 5 prior to the Enlightenment.
Victoria didn’t even try to fit in. She was pushy and bold. She made no concessions to local custom. She talked mostly in slang – which apparently her magical interpreter didn’t translate. So no one understood half of what she said. But did she even try to communicate more clearly? No. Because she was right, and they were all just a bunch of ignorant medieval slobs. I’ve seen her type before. She was like the American students I met while traveling in Eastern Europe. They were always wondering why there was no ice in their drinks or why no one in Gdansk spoke proper English.
But rather than act like real people would have, all of the medieval characters seemed to take Victoria’s observations very seriously. If Victoria told Gareth he was a chauvinist, well, eventually he came around to her way of thinking. If she told a female friend that she should demand equality, that person immediately began to blather feminist sentiment. How likely is this? People in other cultures do not change their entire worldview to suit the preference of foreign visitors. It just doesn’t happen.
Since this is a romance, it has a happy ending, but it’s a happy ending that is not at all believable. After continuously complaining about how terrible it is for women living in the Middle Ages, Victoria decides to stay in the thirteenth century because of her great love for Gareth. Now, I don’t think that for someone like her that outcome would be in the least bit desirable.
Based on my experience with To Charm a Knight I would be tempted to say medieval time travel books are not my thing. But I very much enjoyed The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, a fascinating look at both the Middle Ages and cultural differences. And so my negative reaction cannot be based on sub-genre. No, it must be that this was simply not a good book and that you would do better to look elsewhere.
Grade: D+
Book Type: Time Travel Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 04/02/02
Publication Date: 2001
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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.