"Everything I had hoped for and more!"
Fighting a battle, Sir William Blackridge is badly injured
and falls off a cliff into the icy open water far below. Elaine of Rockland doesn't want to be out during the
winter, but her village desperately needs food, so she,
her brother and some of their soldiers are sailing along
the coast, trying to trade. When they pull the body of a
man out of the freezing water, Elaine is surprised to find
out he is still alive. When the man wakes up, he has no
recollection of who he is. But quickly discovers he has
the knowledge of a healer. Because their village healer
recently died, and most of the villagers are ill, Elaine
offers to allow him to return to Rockland for his services. With no knowledge of his true identity, Elaine gives him
the name Gabriel. Because she has fought so hard to be
considered equal to a soldier, Elaine has no desire to
ever have to submit to a man or marry. But Gabriel is
everything she could ever hope for in a man, kind, gentle,
a healer as well as a warrior...even if he does look like
he enjoys it too much -- he doesn't try to change her into
something she is not. For Gabriel, Elaine quickly steals his heart and not
knowing if he is already married drives him crazy. When
raiders again attack the village of Rockland, Gabriel
saves the life of her brother and Elaine looses her own
heart to Gabriel. Kate Hill really made me one happy reader with THE MAD
KNIGHT'S BRIDE. There are a lot of one-line sentences that
were either very funny or moving and meaningful so this
really was a perfect story for me. She did a fabulous job
with the sexual tension and the relationship between
Gabriel and Elaine because it truly is doomed. Yet true
love does prevail between William and Elaine. As a reader, you know he is going to recover his memory
and it broke my heart broke when Elaine found out her
Gabriel was really William, the man responsible for her
villages dire situation. Elaine was seriously torn between
emotions: loving Gabriel and the hatred she has for
William. William on the other hand, loves Elaine and yet doesn't
blame her one bit for not wanting him in her life or
Rockland. Because he has to confront his past, how he
proves himself worthy of her love was equally as touching
and also very shocking. He is everything you could want in
a hero: he has a horrible past that finally consumed his
good soul, and yet he was given a second chance at having
a real life and a home. I really liked him both as Gabriel
and the William he became when he regains his memories. THE MAD KNIGHT'S BRIDE is everything I had hoped it would
be. I devoured the story in one sitting and I whole-
heartedly recommend this story! Courtesy eBookIsle
Posted March 8, 2006
Reviewed by Cynthia Eckert
Posted January 12, 2007
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