Book Log 14/2010 - Elizabeth Chadwick - The Wild Hunt

28/4/10
Elizabeth Chadwick: The Wild Hunt

I don't read many historical novels but someone left an Elizabeth Chadwick at my house last year and I got hooked so I'm gradually reading my way through her whole back catalogue. This is her first novel, set at the turn of the 12th century at the time when William Rufus - heir to William the Conqueror - is holding Britain by the scruff of its neck despite political intrigue. Guyon, a comfortable bachelor and courtier, with a pregnant mistress, is heir to his uncle's estate at Ledworth, close to the Welsh borders. On his ucnle's death the king grants him the right to take his rightful lands, but only on condition that he marries Judith of Ravenstowe to keep her holding from the rapacious border lords, de Belleme and de Lacy who between them are worse than the Welsh raiders who plague the area. The couple meet for the first time at their wedding. He's in his late twenties, she's barely fifteen.

It's mostly romance within a historical setting and though her later books concentrate on real historical characters, Guyon and Judith are fictional. There's a nice little sub-plot running through it as a secondary romance happens between Guyon's father and Judith's mother.

It's a light, fast, engaging read. If Guyon is too much of a modern man in allowing Judith to come to terms with womanhood at her own pace, and if Chadwick introduces de Belleme as the greatest threat and then removes him to the Crusades in favour of Guyon and Judith having their final battle with de Lacy, these are minor flaws that can be forgiven. It's a first novel and has great promise - fulfilled in later books.

Book Log 14/2010 - Elizabeth Chadwick - The Wild Hunt

28/4/10
Elizabeth Chadwick: The Wild Hunt

I don't read many historical novels but someone left an Elizabeth Chadwick at my house last year and I got hooked so I'm gradually reading my way through her whole back catalogue. This is her first novel, set at the turn of the 12th century at the time when William Rufus - heir to William the Conqueror - is holding Britain by the scruff of its neck despite political intrigue. Guyon, a comfortable bachelor and courtier, with a pregnant mistress, is heir to his uncle's estate at Ledworth, close to the Welsh borders. On his ucnle's death the king grants him the right to take his rightful lands, but only on condition that he marries Judith of Ravenstowe to keep her holding from the rapacious border lords, de Belleme and de Lacy who between them are worse than the Welsh raiders who plague the area. The couple meet for the first time at their wedding. He's in his late twenties, she's barely fifteen.

It's mostly romance within a historical setting and though her later books concentrate on real historical characters, Guyon and Judith are fictional. There's a nice little sub-plot running through it as a secondary romance happens between Guyon's father and Judith's mother.

It's a light, fast, engaging read. If Guyon is too much of a modern man in allowing Judith to come to terms with womanhood at her own pace, and if Chadwick introduces de Belleme as the greatest threat and then removes him to the Crusades in favour of Guyon and Judith having their final battle with de Lacy, these are minor flaws that can be forgiven. It's a first novel and has great promise - fulfilled in later books.

Book Log 15/2010 - N.M. Browne: Shadow Web

N.M. Browne: Shadow Web

You should never google your own name. When Jess does, she contacts another Jessica Allendon. Mistake number one. Her second mistake is going to meet her namesake. A handshake and Jess' world falls apart. She finds herself still in 2008 and it's London, but not the same one. All the rules have changed. The two world wars never happened; emancipation never happened. England is under the iron fist of its government and rebellion is seething beneath the surface.

Jess' skimpy T-shirt and jeans are the first thing to get her into a lot of trouble in this very prim and proper society as, left without options, she takes up the reins of the other Jessica's life, as a live-in personal secretary to a politician's wife, trying to survive, trying to get back home.

Some people in her old life have doubles in her new one. Jonathan Roberts - the husband's secretary, looks just like her best friend Jonno, but can she trust him? People are picking sides and she doesn't know which side she's supposed to be on and whether Jonathan is on the same side or not.

It's a fast-paced energetic story for readers of approximately 12 upwards that draws you in from page one and doesn't let you go. Jess' visceral bewilderment and panic gradually give way to dogged determination. Suspicion gradually turns to love. People are not always what and who they seem to be and plot twists come thick and fast to lead to a breathless climax. Highly recommended.

Book Log 15/2010 - N.M. Browne: Shadow Web

N.M. Browne: Shadow Web

You should never google your own name. When Jess does, she contacts another Jessica Allendon. Mistake number one. Her second mistake is going to meet her namesake. A handshake and Jess' world falls apart. She finds herself still in 2008 and it's London, but not the same one. All the rules have changed. The two world wars never happened; emancipation never happened. England is under the iron fist of its government and rebellion is seething beneath the surface.

Jess' skimpy T-shirt and jeans are the first thing to get her into a lot of trouble in this very prim and proper society as, left without options, she takes up the reins of the other Jessica's life, as a live-in personal secretary to a politician's wife, trying to survive, trying to get back home.

Some people in her old life have doubles in her new one. Jonathan Roberts - the husband's secretary, looks just like her best friend Jonno, but can she trust him? People are picking sides and she doesn't know which side she's supposed to be on and whether Jonathan is on the same side or not.

It's a fast-paced energetic story for readers of approximately 12 upwards that draws you in from page one and doesn't let you go. Jess' visceral bewilderment and panic gradually give way to dogged determination. Suspicion gradually turns to love. People are not always what and who they seem to be and plot twists come thick and fast to lead to a breathless climax. Highly recommended.

Book Log 16/2010 - Elizabeth Chadwick - The Love Knot

Elizabeth Chadwick: The Love Knot

Another excellent Elizabeth Chadwick historical. When Oliver Pascal returns from a long pilgrimage in 1140 he finds his brother dead and their lands given to a Flemish mercenary. The country's in turmoil with civil war raging between Stephen and Mathilda. Drawn to the site of a raid by the smell of smoke, he finds two survivors, Catrin, a young widow, and her charge Richard, bastard son of the old king. He delivers them safely to Earl Robert, in command of Mathilda's garrison at Bristol, and true to his promise continues to have an eye for their welfare. He's already attracted to Catrin, though still bruised from the loss of his beloved first wife in childbirth.

When Catrin persuades the old midwife, Ethel, to train her, she embarks on a new but dangerous career and Oliver is somewhat disturbed because, as a hearth knight in Earl Robert's employ, he goes where he's sent and he's not always there to protect her when she's called out in the middle of the night.

As the fortunes of war ebb and flow. Catrin's feckless husband - presumed dead - turns up and separates Oliver and Catrin, but of course that's not the end...

It's one of Chadwick's engaging historicals with a well researched background and peripheral characters, some of them real and some of them fictional.

Book Log 16/2010 - Elizabeth Chadwick - The Love Knot

Elizabeth Chadwick: The Love Knot

Another excellent Elizabeth Chadwick historical. When Oliver Pascal returns from a long pilgrimage in 1140 he finds his brother dead and their lands given to a Flemish mercenary. The country's in turmoil with civil war raging between Stephen and Mathilda. Drawn to the site of a raid by the smell of smoke, he finds two survivors, Catrin, a young widow, and her charge Richard, bastard son of the old king. He delivers them safely to Earl Robert, in command of Mathilda's garrison at Bristol, and true to his promise continues to have an eye for their welfare. He's already attracted to Catrin, though still bruised from the loss of his beloved first wife in childbirth.

When Catrin persuades the old midwife, Ethel, to train her, she embarks on a new but dangerous career and Oliver is somewhat disturbed because, as a hearth knight in Earl Robert's employ, he goes where he's sent and he's not always there to protect her when she's called out in the middle of the night.

As the fortunes of war ebb and flow. Catrin's feckless husband - presumed dead - turns up and separates Oliver and Catrin, but of course that's not the end...

It's one of Chadwick's engaging historicals with a well researched background and peripheral characters, some of them real and some of them fictional.