To protect her home and people, Cecily Tyrell would marry the devil himself! And if rumor held any truth, she would mayhap do so! A royal command bound her to wed Lord Rowan DeCourtenay, a knight of some renown...but a widower of shadowed repute. Still, he was the warrior she needed--but was he the man she wanted?Headstrong, valiant and dangerous she was, for Cecily Tyrell alone made Rowan DeCourtenay yearn to dismiss the guard around the citadel of his heart. Though would their love, born in disguise and adventure, survive when all his soul's dark secrets were finally exposed?
I don't mind (I like) a tattered hero with dark parts that need to heal, but the rendering of this one was very disjointed, and it covered the same conflict on a continuing loop for at least a third of the book. I got weary of that. It also made him less sympathetic and her too ebulliently forgiving.
The conflict was mostly his internal struggle to allow that he's worthy of her and a second chance for love. Totally fine, great even, but he resolved to have her and want her and then he'd get mad about something and retreat, and repeated this too many times for it to be credible. By all means repeat an action to show trauma or wrongheaded thinking, but give the poor boy some progress along the way.
The other conflict was external and dynamic but almost too much of it crammed into this short book. The Anarchy is a fraught and interesting time in English (Norman) history but its twists and turns--and twisty politics perhaps better left off page--are a lot to try and contextualize.
Our heroine was fine. I appreciated her quick wits and bravery, and that she balanced optimistic faith with pragmatism, but she was very one note. If the hero had progressed and she had more to do than react to his continually stalling out, maybe that would have helped them both.
I do think they're suited and will live a somewhat fraught life waiting for the arrival of Henry II.
I was expecting something that was more like the first books . The setting isn't my interest at all. Will be more careful in deciding on any future books by this author
Loved this one! For once a heroine that has the good qualities of integrity, forgiveness, empathy, understanding, fairness, honesty, and not holding a grudge!
Still a good read during power outage while a typhoon was raging outside. A good plot for a Romance, not so overly contentious in the dialogue... plausible and relatable scenarios... and way better than some I have encountered out there on the Net.
A ideia de um heroi traumatizado que precisa se curar emocionalmente para poder se amar e amar a heroína é muito boa, porém Deborah Hale utilizou-se desse artíficio tantas vezes durante o curso de Senhora do Destino que ficou difícil acreditar que Rowan era algo mais que um manipulador ou alguém com desenvolvimento emocional e intelectual muito abaixo de sua idade e experiência.
Deborah Hale is a good romance writer, but i guess i'm just not into the medieval scene of romances. Sorry Deb! normally i will read all of yours all the way through!