Lady of the Lake

by Elizabeth Mayne

Keeper Of The Ancient Secrets

Tala ap Griffin was both princess and priestess to the people of Arden Wood. And Lord Edon Halfdansson had succumbed to her mysterious charms. But was her power simple woodland sorcery, or the force of eternal love?

His liege had decreed that Edon, Wolf of Warwick, return to his lair and take to wife the bewitching Tala, uniting their warring fiefdoms in peace—though a marriage bed shared with the fiery princess could prove nothing more than a battlefield!

Genres: Romance, Historical, Historical Romance, Historical Fiction, Harlequin

297 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 1997

About the author

Marietta Kay(e?) Garcia is a native San Antonian, who knew by the age of eleven how to spin a good yarn according to every teacher she ever faced. She's spent the past twenty years making up fo r all her transgressions on the opposite side of the teacher's desk, and the last five working exclusively with troubled children. She particularly loves an ethnic hero and married one of her own eighteen years ago. But it wasn't until their youngest, a daughter, was two years old that life calmed down enough for this writer to fulfill the dream she'd always hadof becoming a novelist.

Reviews

[Courtney · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really don't like giving books bad reviews.

I try to take period literature/romance where the women are submissive with a grain of salt.

But when I read a line where the hero wonders how he's supposed to control a woman that he can't beat (because lightning struck him when he tried to take a belt to her), you lose me.

When she said she realized that she loved him, I literally rolled my eyes.

I should have shut the book after he nearly raped her in the beginning.

For reals.

[Robin Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

A so-so read. I think the book could have used a little more editing. For instance, at the end of chapter 8, an evil character stumbles upon a young boy, a prince, who she wants dead, and they scuffle. The last two lines read: "...she made certain the gamely limping atheling of Leam was her captive forever...She saw to it that he broke his neck." So I'm gasping, thinking that she has just killed the young prince. The I turn the page, and lo and behold, the scuffle is interrupted and the prince is saved. And yet it said "he broke his neck!".

Okay, maybe that's a small thing, but it just really irritated me. There were other times when a chapter or section would end, and the next one would start and I would feel like something got left out.

Anyway, in the end of course I still enjoyed this light romance, but not enough to bother seeking out anything else by this author.

[Cristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

La strega e il vichingo.

Racconto carino, niente di speciale e senza forti emozioni a parte una trama blanda, con colpi di scena comprensibili e l'inopportuna conversione storica da parte delle ultime vestigi pagane del regno d'estate.
Insomma, poteva andare meglio ma questa storia, più che amore era una storia di convivenza e di reciproca onoranza delle parti in causa!

[Priscilla · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uma história em que o heroi fica confuso porque não pode bater na própria esposa.

Poupe-me.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've treasured this book for almost 15 years, having read it as a teenager and fallen in love with it's Celtic and Pagan imagery. My teenage years were harder than most and I struggled with the idea of religion, and this book was one of the first doors that opened me to Paganism. Though I eventually fell away from Paganism too, some things have stuck with me over these last 15 or so years.

I've held onto this book for so long, remembering it in a far better light than I found it today. The religion is not the problem however; it is the content. Older romance novels unfortunately tended to follow a formula that we now recognize as manipulation, emotional abuse, and in some cases romanticized rape. This book unfortunately combines those things with unexplained insta-love, and a man who preys upon the weakness of the woman he is to take to wife. Don't misunderstand me, I realize things often occurred this way, or worse hundreds of years ago, but that does not mean we should perpetuate it now because of how things were.

The Pagan religious rites/aspects are still as interesting to me as they were 15 years ago, though now I know them to be not quite accurate. After finishing this book this morning, I realized that similar to Tala, I spent my teenage years looking for any sign that there was a true higher power, something I could look to for a salvation that I inevitably could only get for myself.

I think, similar to my struggles then, it is best to leave this book in the past as well.

[ChicaLectora · Rating 3 out of 5]

No me llaman la atencion los libros sobre vikingos, pero este cayo en mis manos y la verdad ,me hizo pasar un buen rato. Es bastante variado, desde ser un libro de epoca , hasta la magia y el cristianismo.

Una crítica: El final, que es lo que le resta puntos. Sobre todo la frase del final, es algo con lo que no estoy para nada de acuerdo. Me hubiera gustadoun mensaje más esperanzador y acorde a la personalidad de la protagonista.

[Jaclyn Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very well done romance novel. The plot was strong, emotions ran high, the characters were well thought out and believable and there's just enough magic and fantasy for it to verge on a less trashy genre than most novels of its kind.

[Patricia Solla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this historical tale of very old England. There's sorcery and an arranged marriage and a missing husband (different marriage). The characters are interesting and the storyline runs smoothly.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I must admit that they author's vocabulary had me stumped more than once.