Knight of Pleasure by Margaret Mallory

Book Description:
THE GREATEST PASSION

Lady Isobel Hume is an expert swordswoman who knows how to choose her battles. When the king asks her to wed a French nobleman to form a political alliance, she agrees. But that's before the devilishly charming Sir Stephen Carleton captures her heart-and tempts her to betray her betrothed, her king, and her country.

IS WORTH THE GREATEST PERIL

Sir Stephen Carleton enjoys his many female admirers-until he dedicates himself to winning the lovely Isobel. So when a threat against the king leads Isobel into mortal danger, Stephen has a chance to prove that he is more than a knight of pleasure...and that love can conquer all.

I'm really falling behind in my reviews, so this is short and to the point.

I really loved Mallory's last book, Knight of Desire, and it took me a while to get around to reading this one.  Pleasure didn't have the same amount of heightened drama and poignancy as her first effort, though I did appreciate the research that went into writing this medieval romance.  The writing itself was great, it was seamless and flowed well, but the actual plotline was frustrating to me between the hero and heroine.  They meet, there's an attraction, they give into it, but then she won't trust him.  It's almost a reversal of her first book in which the hero wouldn't trust the heroine.  Isobel, the heroine, was kind of a medieval tomboy, playing swords as a young teen who then gets married off to an elderly lecher.  She can't forgive her father for doing this to her, having been the apple of his eye. The theme of women and their utter helplessness while at the mercy of men in the medieval ages is strong throughout the story, as it was in her first book.  Despite Isobel's talent with a sword, she was still a woman that had no say in her future. 

Some years go by,  Isobel is a young widow, eager to inherit her dead husband's estate, having paid her dues over the years.  Only now she finds out that she's going to be married off again to someone not of her choosing.   She seeks help from the King (of England) who decides to marry her off to a French nobleman to try and make peace in that part of France by marrying a Frenchman to an English noblewoman.  Isobel isn't crazy about the idea, but what can she do?  While waiting for her betrothed to show up, she meets - and likes - Stephen Carleton who is a handsome young knight in the king's service.  We've met Stephen before in Knight of Desire.  He is the younger half brother of William, the hero from the last book.  Stephen is now grown and quite the ladies' man.   He has an eye for Isobel at once and the two of them develop "a thing" for each other - yet, she is betrothed to another - and Stephen's not a marrying kind of man.

This thing leads to another, and they can't deny their mutual attraction for each other which they can't stop.    They keep bumping into each other - alone - in the oddest places.  They have some clandestine up close and personal moments, yet Stephen resists bedding her, knowing it is unworthy of Isobel without marriage.  Yet, ironically, she wants to bed him before she marries her French nobleman, which he does and then he becomes the noble knight and asks her to marry him instead.   She won't, for she thinks he is unable to be faithful to her (knowing what a ladies man he is) and she doesn't want him to marry her strictly out of honor.  She hurts him by rejecting his offer - and coincidentally her French bridegroom shows up around the same time.  Due to some really lousy timing, Isobel must leave with her fiance right away to Rouen, leaving Stephen out in the rain and cold - literally.  He is crushed and goes to drown his sorrows.

More drama ensues as we find out that Isobel's fiance is up to no good and she is at his mercy when she arrives at his home in Rouen.  She's more like a prisoner than a soon to be bride and our suspicions about the intentions of her Frenchman are justified.  Luckily, Stephen ultimately follows her in the guise of diplomacy (it turns out he's really a spy for the king and he hasn't given up completely on her) and there's the usual danger and rescue at the end which is exciting and everything works out for Isobel and Stephen.   As much as the plot was well thought out and all made sense, I didn't find it compelling, although it wasn't boring either, it was just kind of ... nice.  I saw the pitfalls before they came and expected the eventual outcome.  Stephen was okay, but didn't have the charisma to hold my interest.  His rakish charms and good looks were worthy of a romantic hero, but I couldn't shake the idea that he was William's younger brother, and to me, William was the better man and Stephen was a bad boy. I just wasn't in the mood to read about a bad boy medieval rake who changes his ways over a tomboyish widow who turns him down when he asks her to marry him.  It just sounds like he was hung up on something he couldn't have and she should have trusted him more and given him the benefit of the doubt - easier said than done.

There were some very good scenes in the book, yet, ironically, they were not scenes between Isobel and Stephen.  My favorite moment was when Isobel and Stephen's older brother William are ambushed together and she must protect him from further violence.  William is hurt and Isobel almost single handedly saves him.  I found this part gripping and I suspect it's because I liked William so much in the last book, I was anxious for him, I still love his character.  I was glad to see his wife Catherine made a few appearances in this book as well, and she was able to talk some sense into Isobel about Stephen in the end.

All in all, it was a pretty good medieval but I had trouble with the actual love story between the hero and heroine.  I wasn't overly sympathetic with either one.  Isobel should have agreed to marry Stephen early on, taking a leap of faith, particularly when she had the King's blessing to do so and Stephen should have shown some more good sense in flirting with her in the first place.   But then we wouldn't have had the angst and worry and hand wringing that goes on in most romances.  I think I'm getting a little jaded of these type of plotlines and need a break for a while.

3.5/5

Disclaimer:  This book was sent to me by the publisher after winning it in a giveaway..

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Knight of Desire by Margaret Mallory

Book Description:
FEARLESS IN BATTLE

His surcoat still bloody from battle, William FitzAlan comes to claim the strategic borderlands granted to him by the king. One last prize awaits him at the castle gates: the lovely Lady Catherine Rayburn.

TENDER IN BED

Catherine risked everything to spy for the crown. Her reward? Her lands are declared forfeit and she is given this choice: marry FitzAlan or be taken to the Tower. Catherine agrees to give her handsome new husband her body, but she's keeping secrets, and dare not give him her heart. As passion ignites and danger closes in, Catherine and William must learn to trust in each other to save their marriage, their land, and their very lives.

KNIGHT OF DESIRE

I liked this book a lot, it has depth to it with a good plotline, a cut above the usual alpha male lording it over his new wife medieval. There is a poignancy about this couple, you're rooting for them and frustrated as well with the secrets and mistakes that leads to the angst between them. Both of them want to love one another and be happy, yet due to a series of circumstances and miscommunications, they have a long and circuituous road ahead to finally find the happiness they long for. Thanks to the vivid characterizations and unexpected plotlines, this book was a pleasure to read, though I did have a problem with some of the hero and heroine's actions, which didn't sit right with me. But overall, I loved it and could barely put it down.

When we first meet our hero and heroine, it is five years before the real story of the book gets started. They have a chance meeting in a stable as Catherine is planning to slip away the night before she is to marry - an arranged marriage with a man she does not trust. She senses he is not a good man. William FitzAlan, a young and green knight, inwardly wishes he could help her and stop the marriage, yet he cannot. Instead, he does the only thing he can do - he keeps her company on her last night as a maiden. He agrees to help her escape for a few hours while they talk together beneath the stars and it becomes a night both of them will remember fondly.

Five years later, Catherine is her own woman, a strong heroine, used to having the run of things. Yet, she is emotionally scarred. Being married to the brutal man who misused her repeatedly has taken its toll. It's no wonder when we first meet her again, she gets down on her knees and thanks God when she hears the news that he has been killed as a traitor in battle. As fate would have it, William FitzAlan is the knight that has been chosen by the king to marry her. He recognizes her as the same girl of that long ago night, yet Catherine does not recognize the shy and bearded knight of her dreams. Instead, before her is a large and imposing blood stained warrior fresh from the battle that killed her husband. William has come a long way himself in five years. Honor bound to his liege, the King of England, he intends to marry Catherine, despite the fact he believes her to be a lying schemer who betrayed her husband as a traitor knowing full well she'd be sending him to his death.

The plotline becomes more intricate, but the gist of it is, William must learn how to trust in Catherine and recognize that she has not turned into a cheating liar since their first meeting before she married. She is a gem and he must learn to recognize it. I couldn't help but wonder why he had such a hard time seeing it to begin with. Once he learned the truth of her unhappy first marriage, that should of clinched it and removed all of his doubts about her. Yet, then we wouldn't have such a good story with a good dose of angst and frustation!

Due to Catherine's first husband's cruelty, which William was told of by a trusted and loyal servant, it takes Catherine weeks to finally be comfortable enough to truly be William's wife in bed. She comes around with much cajoling and kind words and actions. They learn to savor and enjoy their nights together and he shows her a whole new side to marriage she'd never previously experienced. But, at first, she is scared to death, to say the least. Yet, despite this, due to her close friendship with the king's son, William thinks that she is the prince's mistress! Does he believe she was merely acting about being afraid to bed him when they first married? Unfortunately, her confession at a later point in the book of the true parentage of her young son doesn't help her case, though she has a good, albeit damaging, reason for it. Still, I had a problem with this plot point because it didn't seem to jibe with her fear of the sexual act itself due to her husband's brutality.

In any case, does William give her the benefit of the doubt? Does he understand or accept her explanation of why and how it happened? No! He thinks the worst of Catherine. Her confession only firmly plants the idea in his head that she is some kind of Jezebel, forgetting the terror in her eyes in those first few days of their marriage at the thought of getting into bed with him. How could she be someone's mistress? He continues to have too many remaining doubts about her when he should have more about his own men, such as the devious fellow knight whom he leaves in charge of the castle while he's away, despite Catherine's pleas to do otherwise. Big mistake.

There were so many reasons staring William in the face as to why he should believe Catherine, yet he ignored all of them and her good qualities. He refused to recognize he could be wrong about her. To add to that, he has a tendency of saying stupid things, bringing up - what he considers - her lying past which angers and saddens her. How can he make such tender love to her, yet not trust her? They spend their days avoiding each other. She fumes and he scratches his head wondering why. (Though I noticed it didn't keep him from her bed for too long *grin*) William's a good man and Catherine's lucky to have him, but he's got a lot to learn. I'm not saying it was all William's fault, since that confession of hers about her son really didn't help her case, but a man of the world and a knight such as William, should be a bit sharper when it comes to recognizing the signs when they're right in front of him. Eventually, William learns the hard way that he can't live without his new wife and he goes to the ends of the earth to keep her. I found it very satisfying when they finally are able to communicate their love for one another and put the past behind them. I loved the ending and how the author brought their story full circle. Nice touch.

I'm looking forward to her next book in the series, Knight of Pleasure, I think Ms. Mallory's debut is an excellent addition to the medieval romance genre and I hope she writes many more! Plus, her covers are divine - simply beautiful and luscious to look at!

4/5

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by the publisher last year after winning it in a giveaway.

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