Viking Warrior: Connie Mason

 

"He would never forgive

"After a brutal attack on his farmstead, Wulfric the Ruthless had sworn vengeance on the Danish raiders for killing his young wife.  But when he laid eyes on Reyna the Dane, all he could see was a woman of extraordinary beauty, with flowing hair the color of moonlight and a body and Valkyrie would envy.  She was his thrall, gifted to him by his brother to warm his bed.  Could this beautiful healer also was the fire burning in his heart?

"She would never forget

"Stolen from her home by wild Norsemen, Reyna would always remember the face of the barbarian who'd destroyed her life.  When she first caught sight of her new master, she thought he was the very man he'd vowed to hate forever.  But Wolf's golden body and seductive kisses awoke very different feelings within her.  As one deliciously long Northern night blended into another, she realized he was no longer her enemy but her beloved..."

I used to adore Connie Mason.  My shelves are filled with her books since she's such a prolific writer.  This is the first one of her books I've read in quite some time...and I hate to admit that I was not over-the-moon about this book...

To begin, I felt like we came into the book after a lot of things had already happened which would have helped further the characterization.  Don't get me wrong; I fully understand that a great deal DID happen before this book began.  What I mean is I always felt like something was missing -- as if we lacked some information or set up to fully comprehend motivations or personality quirks.  I don't know how else to explain it other than I felt like something was not there and I felt like it should have been; like we were expected to understand certain things about the characters, but couldn't because the book had just begun.  The characters did develop and we learned more as the story went on, of course, but they were more so developed on the surface rather than with deeply-individual personality traits.  There wasn't all that much that was special about them.  Wulf was a stereotypical viking.  Reyna was a free woman-turned-slave at the hands of the man who had helped overrun her village in a blind act of rage and vengeance.  Her one unique trait was her healing knowledge.  We didn't learn much more about their characters:  they had no likes or dislikes, no defining characteristics which would set them apart in my mind from any other characters in a romance novel set in this time and place.  I longed for more!  I wanted to love them.  I wanted to be enthralled with their chemistry and their spark.  I just wasn't.  There was so little beyond their physical attraction (which felt extremely abrupt on Wulf's part, in my opinion) that it felt lacking.  Sure, each character had some admirable characteristics, but nothing above and beyond what one would expect in order to make a character simply "likable."  There was little to endear them to me.

I looked forward to a great deal of character development.  How would Reyna overcome her fear of males after her abuse and her hatred of the man whom she viewed as the cause of all her pain?  How would Wulf balance his attraction to Reyna as his thrall and the knowledge that she was still, above all, a Dane -- the breed he'd sworn to hate after the vicious attack and murder of his wife and unborn child?  It would seem that physical attraction can override a lot of deep, terrible emotions...  Granted, Wulf helped to clear up some misunderstandings with Reyna, but I didn't see why his sins should be absolved so cleanly.  I think all of this goes back to the lack of character development.  I believe it may have been sacrificed for sheer quantity of intimate scenes.  There were so many that I started to lose interest ("Oh, there they go again...").  Not to mention, they all became rather repetitive -- so much so that I was practically begging Wulf to show of some different moves!  (That last one is probably a really petty observation from my own personal tastes, but it is what it is.)

Perhaps one of the biggest issues I took wit this book was the language.  The use of modern turns of phrase and slang were numerous and jarring.  They truly ripped me out of losing myself in the book and caused me to struggle with suspending my belief.  Using "'tis" over and over again is all fine and well until you try juxtapose it to something like "adding spice to your life," or some other such phrase.

The book had a great deal of potential and I went into it with such high hopes.  All of my past reviews of Connie Mason were simply glowing (other than my observation that she seems to have found a good formula for a romance novel and tends to use it over and over again).  I was so hoping this one would be counted amongst one of the better ones.  Alas, it was not to be.  I found the characters flat and the plot a bit drawn out.  I thought some of the setting descriptions were well done and transported me into the scenes quite well.  Other than that, I do not believe I will be rereading this one again and it has already been stacked on my "to be donated" pile.

Lady of Conquest (Brides of Legend, Book Two): Teresa Medeiros UPDATED

 “He is called Conn of the Hundred Battles, the warrior-king who forged a nation from a land of isolated clans.  As High King of Ireland, he rides with the legendary Fianna, his elite band of warriors.  But a threat to the throne looms from a mysterious scourge who has vanquished several of Conn’s bravest warriors.  Conn rides out alone to face a seemingly invincible foe, never expecting that he will confront a grief-maddened hellcat with emerald eyes and hair like liquid flame….

 

“Wielding a sword called Vengeance, Gelina O Monaghan has sworn to defeat the man she holds responsible for her family’s ruin.  She never dreamed she’d be bested by him in combat…and lose her heart in the bargain.  Their forbidden passion will become a private war fought with swords and kisses, promises and betrayal—and surrender will be only the beginning….”

 

In addition to this being yet another book I finished on my vacation (believe it or not, it was only a week long), this is another re-read of a book I read quite some time ago; the original review can be found HERE.  Everyone here knows I’m a fan of Teresa Medeiros, but reading this book again only solidified my belief that I absolutely lean toward her newer works than her older ones.  Much like the first book in this duo, Shadows and Lace (the original review for which can be found HERE and the updated review can be found HERE), I didn’t end up a huge fan.  In hindsight, I think this was due in large part to the era in which these books were penned (thank you 1990s).  These books both had volatile, controlling relationships between the male and female leads.  There is a great deal of violence in this book -- yes, that includes violence Conn directs toward Gelina; yes, that includes physical violence.  I don't condone this in anyway, but I can see why it was a part of this story.  It, essentially, stayed true to the role Conn would have played during this time period, as well as the social mores of this era.  He was expected to be physically powerful and probably wouldn't have thought too much about demonstrating that power in a physical way.  That being said, here's a bit of a SPOILER:  There is a rape scene.  As a matter of fact, nearly all of the physical encounters between Conn and Gelina are rape-ish.  It feels so much less romantic.  There's a fine line between a male lead being powerful and breathtakingly masculine and being a brute to caves to his baser, more violent desires.  He ends up using sex as a weapon, and I found this a bit off-putting.  I noted it in my original review ten years ago (wow...I can't believe it's been that long), but this time around it made the story a bit of a struggle at times.  I chose not to re-read my original review prior to picking up this book again and I'm glad I didn't because it probably would have made me hesitant to read it.  END SPOILER

I liked Conn in the beginning; he seemed to be a good man and a good king.  He was powerful when he needed to be and merciful when necessary.  I would, however, have liked to see his perspective a bit more -- especially near the beginning of the story after we meet Gelina.  As soon as we start seeing Gelina's perspective, she seems to sort of overtake the narrative.  (This happened in Shadows and Lace, as well.)  I think it would have helped me to understand his motivations and appreciate his mercy a little bit better.  We discover that Gelina knew Conn when she was a child and how she admired him, but we don't really get to see those memories from Conn.  As the story progresses, I liked Conn less and less.  His desire for Gelina (a young woman who was supposed to be his ward) was powerful and consuming, but it takes him a painfully long time to accept his feelings.  When I say painful, I mean it.  I think this was because I didn't quite understand his hesitation.  She wasn't related to him in anyway and she was certainly putting out vibes that she was attracted to him and loved him.  He mentions the difference in age between them, but I don't think that should have been as big a deal as it was made out to be.  Then again, we're not given any good clues as to Conn's age (we find out pretty early on that Gelina is about sixteen) until nearly the end of the book.  By this time, a few years have passed and she's somewhere around eighteen or nineteen and I guess that he's about thirty-six.  There's such a big fuss over their ages, but in Ninth Century Ireland, I don't think it would have been as big a deterrent as Conn made it out to be.  Perhaps he was just making excuses and being stubborn?  (Again, a similar thing happened in Shadows and Lace.  Are we seeing some trends here?)

Gelina is as feisty as I remember.  She's brave -- if a bit rash -- and strong-willed enough to survive the had she's been dealt and to live in Conn's court beneath his oft-wavering moods and loyalties.  This was probably one of the most frustrating things because (since we see so much of her perspective, we know just how much she cares for Conn.  To see his lack of faith and trust in her is difficult to witness.  There was a cyclical pattern to her relationship with Conn (again, see Shadows and Lace).  Because the story is dragged out across several years instead of a snippet in the characters' lives, there is ample opportunity for them to fight/have a falling out/Gelina runs away or is sent away/Conn goes and retrieves her.  This happens more than a couple of times.  This certainly ups the dramatic tension, but it left me wanting more development of Conn and Gelina’s relationship.  All that time apart (for various reasons) can create bittersweet longing, but you also lose all of the closeness the characters could have been developing in the meantime.  Not to mention it hurt my opinion of Conn that he would have such little faith in Gelina.  I totally get that the circumstances of their meeting were less than ideal and he would have been well within his rights to kill her, but years have passed without her betraying him.  Cut the girl some slack!

As usual, there were some colorful secondary characters who really served to develop the plot and show us a side of Conn and Gelina that would have otherwise remained hidden.  The best example of this is Nimbus.  He was funny, witty, and irreverent.  While he got s little bit goofy at times, I enjoyed him nonetheless.  He provided a good outlet for Gelina’s childlike wonder and allowed Conn to have a sense of humor.  He also happens to become the source of one of the greatest conflicts between Gelina and Conn, though I won’t give this plot twist away.

Having a tangible villain in Eagon was a wise choice because it gave the story an outside source of conflict other than just what existed between Conn and Gelina.  It helped to place their story within a much larger framework of history, which is something I really appreciate.  Medeiros does this in some of her other books and, being the British history nerd that I am, I appreciate this touch.

In all, this was a well-written book (I always appreciate her writing style) and her descriptions of the scenery and characters are vivid and really help me escape into her books.  There were, of course, aspects of this particular story that I didn’t care for and this book will not be for everyone.  It’s a long read (though it only took me a few days) due to the timespan over which it takes place, though it’s interesting to see Gelina grow and change over the years.  Parts of it are frustrating (why can’t Conn just give into his feelings already?!) but other parts are tender.  There are moments of violence which literally made me cringe, but I persevered.  As part of a body of work, I recommend reading this book – even if you’re only curious to see how Medeiros has changed and developed her style over the years.  The comparison is a very interesting one.  This book was not really my favorite, but I am glad that I re-read it.

Fairest of them All: Teresa Medieros

“FAIREST OF THEM ALL

“She was rumored to be the fairest woman in all of England. But Holly de Chastel considered her beauty a curse. She had already turned away scores of suitors with various ruses, both fair and foul. Now she was to be the prize in a tournament of eager knights gathering from across the land, each more determined than the last to win her hand. Holly had no intention of wedding any of them, and concocted her most outrageous plan yet: to disguise her beauty from their avaricious eyes. But she never planned on Sir Austyn of Gavenmore.

“The darkly handsome Welshman had come looking especially for a plain bride and Holly seemed to fit the bill. Suddenly she found herself in the possession of this mysterious stranger, ensconced in his castle, and forced to keep up her carefully planned illusion. Why did this electrifyingly passionate male, who could have any woman he wanted, desire a homely bride—and what would happen when he learned he’d been tricked? By the time Holly found out, it was too late to avoid searing fires of passion—and the dark curse of Gavenmore….”

Now, you all know that I LOVE Teresa Medeiros, but I will say it once again: I LOVE Teresa Medeiros! I could tell that this was one of her earlier works, but I loved it nonetheless. There was this awesome element of the unbelievable with Austyn’s ancestor (I don’t want to give too much away!) and there were some cool mythological aspects. What made me even happier was—as always—the historical background for the story.

I took so much pleasure in the characters and their plights. The situations were sweet, hilarious, and—of course!—enjoyably awkward! As always, I thoroughly look forward to reading more of Medeiros in the near future! (I apologize! I would write more, but I’m exhausted and have a TERRIBLE headache! I promise to have a better review for the next book!)

Lady of Conquest: Teresa Medeiros

“MY KINGDOM FOR A KISS

“He is called Conn of the Hundred Battled, the warrior-king who forged a nation from a land of isolated clans. As High King of Ireland, he rides with the legendary Fianna, his elite band of warriors. But a threat to the throne looms from a mysterious scourge who has vanquished several of Conn’s bravest warriors. Conn rides out alone to face the seemingly invincible foe, never expecting that he will confront a grief-maddened hellcat with emerald eyes and hair like liquid flame….

“Wielding a sword called Vengeance, Gelina Ó Monaghan has sworn to defeat the man she holds responsible for her family’s ruin. She never dreamed she’d be bested by him in combat…and lose her heart in the bargain. Their forbidden passion will become a private war fought with swords and kisses, promises and betrayal—and surrender will be only the beginning….”

This book was Teresa Medeiros’s first and I can tell. She developed many characters for this story instead of focusing on two or three. I loved all of the history this book contained and it was a nice break from another author that I had been reading.

At times I wanted to beat Conn to a pulp for his inability to see what was right in front of him, and other times I wished I could hug him for his tenderness—it made it all the better knowing that he actually existed! Gelina was a fairly typical heroine with her loyalties split between those of family and her heart. She is a vicious warrior and an even fiercer lover. I loved her fiery spirit and her strong will to defy even the king of Erin in public. Their love story is one of the most rocky I have ever read and there were several plot twists that I both predicted and totally DID NOT see coming. All in all, Teresa Medeiros definitely didn’t disappoint me!

(***SPOILER: there was a rape scene, one near-rape, and another “pretty much rape” scene—for lack of a better way to describe it. This is the first author I have read that was brave enough to place the darker side of masculine power into the hands of the actual HERO of the story! I have mixed emotions about this, but it definitely only added to the overall effect of the story.***)