Knight's Rebellion

The Sommerville Family #6

by Suzanne Barclay

'TWAS SAID THAT THE SOMMERVILLES LOVED ONLY ONCE

Yet Alys Sommerville was no heir to this legacy of passion, for the Fates had sent her along a different road. One that led straight into the arms of Gowain FitzWarren, the leader of a desperate rebel band ...

Though the highborn Alys was seemingly a bride of the church, Gowain could not fail to note the radiant beauty that her simple garb did nothing to conceal. But he was intent on recovering his birthright, and could scarce afford any distraction, no matter how compelling!

Genres: Romance, Historical, Historical Romance, Medieval, Medieval Romance

299 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 4, 1997

About the author

Carol Suzanne was born on 20 December 1945 in USA, daughter of Phyllis and Whit Hoose. She married Kenneth E. Backus, and obtained four stepchildren.

Published since 1992 as Suzanne Barclay, was an author for Harlequin Historical, specializing in romance set in the Medieval era. She founded the Lake Country Romance Writers in 1993, and served as the chapter's first president. She passed away on 15 September 1999 after a long battle with cancer.

Reviews

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorites, it's hard to put it down when you start reading it. Suzanne Barclay is one of my favorite author you can't go wrong with one of her books.

[Nancy McPherson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rereading an old favorite. #6 in the Sommerville's series. Now I need to dig through my storage boxes and see if I can find the rest of the series. This one is copyright 1997.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75⭐️ pretty good, too bad the last couple pages were dumb

[Linda C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gowain de Crecy returns from the wars in France to find his father has died, his mother disappeared, and his step-brother has declared Gowain’s parent’s marriage non-existent and, therefore, Gowain a bastard. He joins a band of dispossessed villagers and knights who wouldn’t do Ranulf’s dirty deeds living in the caves and organizes them to try to recover his birthright. Alys Summerville is a healer whose sensitivity to other’s emotions isolates her from touching anyone. On the way to visit an abbey under Ranulf’s protection, they meet the rebel band capturing Ranulf’s food wagons. After the battle, Alys is left behind and goes with the rebels to help the wounded. She learns the truth about the brothers and helps their cause. Another part of the Summerville saga that is well done.

[Readitnweep · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed this. 2-1/2 stars

[Maura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alys Sommerville is the daughter of goldsmith with a smidgeon of psychic ability, Ariana Sommerville. And Alys did inherit something paranormal - the ability to heal with touch, but it also means that she can't touch a person without all of their emotions overwhelming her. It is sometimes quite painful. She is desperate to get to a convent to study herbals and is escorted by Lord Ranulf, who claims his half-brother, Gowain is terrorizing his lands. When she is taken by Gowain and his not-so-merry band of outlaws, she realizes that it is Ranulf who is the real villain. She stays alongside Gowain, helps him overtake his holdings and he helps her overcome her issues with touch.

Alys was quite annoying at first, spoiled and cossetted. And that's okay because it was part of her growth experience. She learned to appreciate what she had, to challenge herself and to stop ordering people about. She also reflected on how spoiled she was. So all good there. Gowain was rough and brutish at first and had some serious issues with trusting women. He did learn to trust Alys (and a bit quickly in one instance...I figured he'd be angry longer). As is typical with this author, most of the UST and questions of whether the main characters love each other is resolved at about the 60% mark and is followed up by minor issues to provide a bit more tension. But no doubt about it, by halfway through this book, these two knew they loved each other and wanted to be together. The secondary characters were a bit more dubious, with my never knowing if they were wholly good or bad. Maye for example is a bit of a bitch, but she's vulnerable and blows hot and cold with the heroine. This was largely a great reading experience with plenty to keep me interested. I was not however a huge fan of the epilogue. Yeah it was good that they found his mother , but the heroine feeling that she had conceived their child that night after 6 months of trying was frankly really cheesy. I mean, realistically, there's no way a woman can be pregnant 3 minutes after sex...takes longer than that .