A Moonlit Knight

Ladies of St. Jude's Abbey #3

by Jocelyn Kelley

In twelfth-century England, St. Jude's Abbey is no ordinary sanctuary of prayer and ritual. Established by Eleanor of Aquitaine, it trains young women in the knightly arts, as well as martial arts from the East. In times of trouble, these formidable women are called upon to protect the royal family and England. Mallory de Saint-Sebastian is one such woman...

Summoned in the middle of the night, Mallory must leave the Abbey to protect the Queen's life as a revolt against King Henry rages. With a knight's sense of obligation, she is determined not only to shield Eleanor but to find the enemies threatening her life.

Arriving at St. Jude's Abbey, Saxon Fitz-Juste is amazed by the Queen's choice of a female knight as her newest warrior. A troubadour in Eleanor's royal court, Saxon is ostensibly loyal to Her Majesty - but his true mission remains to be seen.

Although Mallory knows firsthand how dangerous and destructive lust can be, she and Saxon are drawn to each other. But she may soon discover once again how deceit can turn love into hate...

Genres: Romance, Historical, Historical Fiction, Historical Romance

290 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 2, 2006

About the author

In spite of being raised to play well with others, Jocelyn Kelley has always believed every woman needs to kick some butt sometimes. She learned this in third grade when the boys played soldiers and tried to relegate her to a non-combatant role. Soon she was taking the hill (or at least the playground tree) with them. Her assumption that women could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with men continued when she was offered a Direct Commission to the US Army and served as the first and only woman in her unit.

Jocelyn's been writing “stories” all her life, and, when she decided to write for publication, she wanted to write what she read – historical romance. Why historicals? She explains it as, “I want my heroine to be able to pick up a weapon and use it without having to fill out reams of paperwork as she would in contemporary times. She might not use that weapon, but I want to give her the option to do so.” In other words, a kick-butt heroine.

She found the kick-butt heroines she wanted to write with The Ladies of St. Jude's Abbey series that came to life in her mind while she was walking through Times Square in NYC, Since then, she's written four books in the series. In July 2007, she begins a new series – The Nethercott Tales – the stories of the three Nethercott sisters, who in Regency England are trying to prove that their father's lifelong search for ghosts wasn't in vain. But they never expect that the ghosts will help them stop a murderer or end a thousand year old curse.

In her non-writing life, Jocelyn loves to travel and enjoys music. She was a soloist with a local group of Up With People, but limits her singing now to when nobody else is around.

She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and three children.

Reviews

[Verena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't really know how to judge this book. It's a brilliant idea and an easy, fast-paced read.
It's actually appropriate for adults, as it belongs to the "not so clean books". But apart from this detail (you could skip this what I mean!), it could be more interesting for younger readers liking strong heroines.
This is the first part (and my only) of St. Jude's Abbey, a place, where young ladies are trained to fight and protect Queen Eleanor, one of the stronger women of history. Special arts are possible because of the Japanese coach Nariko.
The heroine in this book is Lady Mallory. She is very gifted with bow and arrow, and chosen for a special mission in the fight between Queen and King. Of course, there's the male part, with Saxon, who isn't the one he says to be. Which leads to a kind of Mr. and Mrs. Smith story line.
Mostly, I would compare it (also the cover!) with "Willow".
Whoever likes a smart heroine on a mission for the queen's sake in medieval England, some romance (with a sweet wedding), but also villains and plots, will likely like this novel.

[LadyAileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ho appena finito di leggere questo libro e avendo letto anche quelli precedenti ero preparata allo stile dell’autrice. Sicuramente è un romanzo che non annoia anzi si legge in un paio di giorni. E’ vero che si nota l’estrema cura riservata allo sfondo storico in cui si muovono i protagonisti però secondo me ne ha risentito la storia d’amore che ha avuto meno spazio.
Una donna-cavaliere è sicuramente una novità in un romance medioevale. Una lettura piacevole e intrigante.

[Gwyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Urgh, I just can't. the writing is beyond poor and I just didn't care about the characters at all. I feel like this is just a less good version of the book Graceling. Gave it 150 pages because it was a recommendation from a friend but I gave up after that. Life is too short for bad books.

[Elena Micheli · Rating 2 out of 5]

Non mi ha entusiasmato si perde troppo

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just okay.

[Cristina Contilli]

A differenza della maggior parte dei romance dove i protagonisti sono personaggi inventati in questo libro c'è un personaggio storico reale che ha un ruolo importante, si tratta della regina Eleonora D'Aquitania che viene descritta nella sua vita alla corte di Poiters, nel momento in cui è in pericolo, perché ha deciso di appoggiare la rivolta del figlio Enrico contro il padre. Per capire il contesto storico in cui si muove Mallory De Saint Sebastian (che credo sia frutto della fantasia dell'autrice) una monaca appartenente ad un ordine monastico guerriero al femminile arrivata a Poiters con il compito di difendere la regina e di scoprire se nella sua corte si nasconde qualcuno che trama contro di lei, mi sono dovuta andare a leggere la biografia di Eleonora, altrimenti non sarebbe stato facile seguire tutti i risvolti della storia e capire le allusioni a guerre, rivolte, alleanze tra famiglie nobiliari, presenti nel romanzo. A parte il fatto che il libro richiede un breve ripasso sulla biografia di Eleonora, è indubbiamente un romanzo basato su una rigorosa documentazione storica come spiega l'autrice nell'intervista, messa in appendice al volume, dove spiega che si è documentata con cura sulle tecniche di tiro con l'arco.
Non sono ancora arrivata alla fine, perciò, non so se Mallory cederà alla corte del trovatore Saxon oppure resterà fedele ai suoi voti religiosi... trattandosi un romance credo però che la prima ipotesi sia quella più probabile.

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleonora...

P.S. Finito come prevedevo Mallory e Saxon si sono messi insieme, anzi si sono addirittura sposati.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one didn't resonate with me as much as One Knight Stands did. Mallory was a strong heroine and I liked her most of the time. I thought she changed too much by the end but I get the idea that love changes people. But my main problem with this one was the leading man - Saxon. He was too scheming. There was a lot of undercurrents/lying going on in this book. And he was involved in a lot of it. And when Mallory finally figures it all out - she forgives him rather easily when he had been lying the whole time. I found that she trusted him and forgave him too much. Especially since he had been directly lying to her.

This book also seemed to drag a bit in the middle and I didn't mind to put it down. So overall not my favorite romance but still okay.