Fair Border Bride

by Jen Black

In 1543 in the Border country between England and Scotland, Harry Wharton meets and falls for Alina Carnaby. Caught up in the middle of a reivers' cattle raid he is left for dead. Alina finds and hides him only to have her father threaten to kill him. He escapes, and Alina can only hope he will return and claim her as his bride before she is forced to marry a neighbour's son. Tensions grow and events force her into a major decision that will change her life.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Jen's home town is Newcastle upon Tyne in the north east of England. She lived within sound of Durham Cathedral bells until she was seven, then moved to Stockton where she attended Grangefield Grammar School, and later went to Newcastle University as a mature student and gained an Honours degree in English Language & Literature. Work in various industrial, public and academic libraries in the north east followed, including a stint as library manager at Gateshead College for a number of years.

She updates her blog three times a week: http://jenblackauthor.blogspot.com
and can also be found on Twitter and Facebook as well as Goodreads.

Reviews

[Misfit]

Free today, although the one Amazon reviewer raving makes me a bit nervous...

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a Northumberland market place in the year 1543, Harry Wharton, spy to King Henry travelling to Scotland first lays eyes on a beautiful, flirtatious girl named Alina Carnaby. Harry would like to linger but his mission presses, yet moments later he is presented with another opportunity to get to know the lovely girl who has enchanted him – by the fact she is about to be gored by a runaway bull.

Harry steps up to the mark and rescues the lady, but she is betrothed, and her father happens to despise anyone by the name of Scott, the name Harry gives to hide his true identity.
As an admirer of Jen Black’s novels, I recommend this romantic story set in a time when women were possessions, obedience was taken for granted and their lives subject to the will of a patriarch. Ms Black writes with a succinct and yet colourful style and portrays descriptions and emotions beautifully. Alina, Matho and Harry are engaging, well rounded characters and I’m happy to say Fair Border Bride isn’t the end of their story as there is more to come from this author.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely read, taking us back to Northumberland in the early 1500s. Alina is a very forward lass for her time who has an immediate fancy for a new lad in town. The story isn’t that simple, of course, and there are very amusing moments – even though they probably shouldn’t be since they’re almost deadly ones for the main male character, Harry. Harry is a young man to whom a lot of unusual things happen but he’s got a really think skull and he can take a bit of roughing up! He’s a likeable chap, as is Alina a likeable lass. I didn’t think anyone was a real baddie but there are some dastardly deeds happening in them borders areas- the reivers are out but they’re not the only ones who are pretty nasty at times. The path to Harry and Alina becoming a wedded couple is full of pitfalls and hitches. The wedding scene wasn’t exactly predictable but it was easy to picture it since the writing is very well portrayed. Some of the speech seemed a little modern for me but it was a quickly read, highly enjoyable tale.

[Lindsay Townsend · Rating 5 out of 5]

From its fast-paced, compelling opening, 'Fair Border Bride' is an exciting historical romance set in the border lands of northern England in 1543. The romance of Alina and Harry is full of incident and tenderness and is a well-told story, with moments of humor, sensitivity and passion. They are sympathetic, rounded people and believable in their dilemmas and conflicts. The other characters in the novel are also very well-drawn, and the whole is filled with fascinating historical detail about a part of England that is rarely explored in Tudor historical fiction. If you want to lose yourself in vivid adventure and romance, I have no hesitation in recommending this novel by Jen Black.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked the story line. Anything in this time period interests me. Plot somewhat predictable but very enjoyable nonetheless. Few typos; some of the brogue was difficult to understand; but all in all, I enjoyed it and would recommend it.

[Chris Bullock · Rating 4 out of 5]

An adventure right from the start that kept my attention focussed. It is well written and the characters are well portrayed. Primarily a historical romance with just the right amount of love and adventure mixed in.

[Candice · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a free Kindle book it was better than average.

[Jessi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decently written book, however the e-version had some errors.