"Intelligent, Emotional, and Colorful Medieval"
This book is the second in a medieval trilogy by Madeline
Hunter. Her debut novel was BY ARRANGEMENT. BY POSSESSION is a Cinderella story, which might
sound ironic for such a harsh time period. It is a tale of
love that transcends every obstacle placed in its path. In
this instance, however, the glass slipper doesn't exactly
fit. Moira Falkner and Addis de Valence are of opposite
social classes. Moira had been born a bondswoman, while
Addis is the son of a baron. Due to previous marriages,
both have learned that glass slippers often do not often
make for a comfortable fit. As a girl, Moira had worshipped Addis from the shadows. She
had watched him marry a woman of his own class - beautiful,
noble, and spoiled as he had been. But it was she who had
comforted and nursed him through serious injuries, the same
injuries his perfect bride had cringed away from. She had
mourned for him when word of his "death" in the Crusades
had reached her and she had raised his "son" after his wife
died. In that time she had become a free woman. Her two marriages
had been so brief she'd been dubbed "the virgin bride".
After that most men feared to approach her. This becomes a
moot point when Addis returns home, very much alive. After eight years away, he has come to her cottage to
collect the child that Moira has grown to love. She is told
that the child's safety is at risk. Addis's stepbrother had
won favor with the inept king Edward. He'd usurped Addis's
family lands with the king's blessing. It is not a happy
homecoming. While Addis had been away he had been a slave to the
barbarians the crusaders had attempted to subjugate. His
soul had become as battered as his body. He finds himself
intrigued by this woman who stands up to him in order to
defend the
boy. Her presence dredges up lost memories which torment
him. He knows her. She is part of his past, a past when
he'd been young, content, and carefree. She brings him a
sense of
peace he has not known in many years. He is not about to
part with her. Moira is an all or nothing type of woman. She knows she
cannot have her dream, so she opts for nothing. Her heart
bleeds as she fights Addis' desire every step of the way.
Even now a marriage alliance is being forged between Addis
and the daughter of the noble who can help him recover his
birthright. Though he vows that only she shall own his
heart, he cannot offer her what she needs; a respectable
marriage and a family. He must live by the dictates of his
station. Will these two soul mates be forever
kept apart by duty and disparity of rank? BY POSSESSION is intelligent, emotional, and colorful. I
highly recommend this novel, and predict great things for
Madeline Hunter. Copyright © 2001
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Posted September 7, 2001
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