Genre: Medieval Romance
Series: The Noble Hearts #1
Publication Date: September 30th 2011
ISBN: 9781481972970
Page Count: 290
Rating: ★★★★
Review Copy: ARC
Reviewed by: Lynsey
Buy Link: AMAZON
Synopsis: Lady Aubrey has a problem. Several problems. Her childhood love, Ethan, has returned home from the Crusades, but he’s more interested in winning his land back than wooing her. She has to rescue a pair of nuns who are being held prisoner in Derby Castle’s tower by the sadistic Sheriff Buxton. And to top it all off, she’s developing scandalous feelings for Buxton’s lackey, the dark and devilish Crispin. Faced with all that what’s a girl to do but don her disguise as the Derbywood Bandit and take matters into her own hands?
Sir Crispin is at his wit’s end. Not only does he have his hands full keeping Buxton from killing half the shire, now his arch nemesis, the Derbywood Bandit, has joined forces with his old rival Ethan. And that’s nothing compared to the burning torch he carries for his ex-fiancé, Lady Aubrey. He would do anything to win Aubrey’s love …
… until he suspects that there could be a closer connection between Aubrey and the Derbywood Bandit than anyone knows.
I find myself a little bit in love with this book. As other reviewers have remarked, this is Robin Hood-esque in its theme. Deliberately so. The author also likens it to the film A Knight's Tale, in that it's set in a historical time period, but the dialogue isn't always typical of the era - a bit of poetic license being freely used for the sake of a good line or two. And I loved it! I loved the swashbuckling action, I loved the badass heroine, I loved the multi-layered, thrillingly complex hero. Heck, I even loved the hideous, insidious antagonist! Add in a well-crafted plot and a romance you're not sure is ever going to happen (!!!!), and I'm one happy reader.
Lady Aubrey has been operating as the Derbywood Bandit for several years in an effort to raise the funds her brother no longer can since he came back from the Holy Land absent one leg. She goes out masked and remains silent, and so everyone assumes the Bandit to be a man. Including the sheriff's right-hand man Crispin, her favourite adversary. After the return of her brother's childhood friend, Ethan, whom she's always had a soft spot for, Aubrey is convinced she knows her heart and that Ethan is the one for her. So why can't she get the brooding, ever-sombre Crispin out of her mind?
Ummm, 'cause he's awesome, that's why! Although I can see why one might find Ethan the more appealing, less complicated choice at first, I started falling head over heels for Crispin as soon I read the first passage from his POV. And the more Aubrey couldn't see his heart right there on his sleeve bleeding for her, the more I loved him! It truly was the most entertaining build up to a romance, and easily my favourite part of the whole book.
But romance is certainly not all The Loyal Heart has to offer. In fact, there was an equal measure of time dedicated to the plot outside of the mushy stuff, which was just as interesting. An abundance of colourful side characters and a nice dollop of intrigue, all added to the medieval merriment and set the tone brilliantly. Yes, I can see how people could make comparisons to characters from Robin Hood, almost just transplanting one directly with another, change the name and "voila!", but did that mean the book was less enjoyable? Certainly not to me. If you're a fan of this kind of theme, setting, time period, then enjoy The Loyal Heart for what it is: a rip-roaring and romantic good read!
And right now, the Kindle edition is free, so... you still here?
4 Stars ★★★★
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by:
Merry Farmer lives in suburban Philadelphia with her two cats, Butterfly and Torpedo. She has been writing since she was ten years old and realized one day that she didn’t have to wait for the teacher to assign a creative writing project to write something. It was the best day of her life. She then went on to earn not one but two degrees in History so that she would always having something to write about. Today she walks along the cutting edge of Indie Publishing, writing Historical Romance and Women's Sci-Fi. She is also passionate about blogging, knitting, and cricket and is working towards becoming an internationally certified cricket scorer.
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