With a flesh and
blood English devil at her Scottish keep’s gate, demanding that she marry him and
surrender her holdings to his dominion, Lady Caterine Keith is in sore need of a champion,
though she, herself, refuses to admit it. Having
been married twice before, she holds no love for being the chattel of a man, any man, but
most especially not an English man. Nor has she any love for the marriage bed.
Her dearest friend has other
thoughts on the matter, though, and against her Lady’s wishes, she sends a missive
imploring Caterine’s brother-in-law to send the champion that is needed so very
badly. And send a champion he does.
A champion with a heart as big as
the whole of Scotland, and shoulders to match, a badly scarred knight, who has long been
one of his most trusted, a knight who is much in need of a lady to heal the black
loneliness that haunts his soul. He
sends Sir Marmaduke Strongbow to Caterine in her hour of need. Though Lady Caterine’s missive asks for a
knight to pose as her husband, the Champion’s honor cannot uphold such a sham, and he
vows to marry the woman in truth.
And, after a very short time in
her presence, he knows his vow is the right one. For,
though the lady resists his every attempt to win her heart, he alone, out of all of his
brave Highland men, senses how much she needs a champion.
Not only to clear her land of the evil that has reduced her once proud
estates to ruin, but to put to rest the ghosts of old terrors that chase across her soul. But Sir Strongbow fears that he may not be the man
to chase away her old fears, as he is badly scarred and thinks himself horribly
disfigured.
Ms. Welfonder’s style is
beautiful to read, her words are almost poetic as they flow into a story that will absorb
readers and leave them wanting more. Her
characters are finely written, and her storyline draws readers into a historical world so
real, that one can almost taste the sea spray as it crashes against the cliffs of the
heroine’s home.
She has penned an utterly unique
hero in Marmaduke Strongbow, one strong enough to conquer every woman’s longing
heart, but sensitive enough to win the love of even the most jaded of readers. I highly recommend that all who have a
liking for a good historical romance pick up a copy of Bride of the Beast. It is, far and away, one of the best books
I’ve read in a good long while.
Reviewed for Road to Romance
by Janean Nusz, AuthorsArt.com
January 13, 2003 |
