My Lady's Treasure

by Catherine Kean

Facing the tall, brooding rider by the stormy lakeshore, Lady Faye Rivellaux clings to her goal—to rescue the kidnapped child she vowed to protect. At all costs, she must win back the little girl she loves as her own. When the stranger demands a ransom she can never pay, Faye offers him instead her one last hope—a gold cup.

Brant Meslarches is stunned to see the chalice. Worth a fortune, it's proof a lost cache of wealth from the legendary Celtic King Arthur does exist, as Brant's murdered brother believed. Brant can't return the little girl to the lady whose desperate beauty captivates him. Yet, now that he's seen Lady Faye, he can't let her escape his grasp; she is the key to his only means of redemption.

The last thing Faye wants is an alliance with a scarred knight tormented by secrets. But, she has no other way to rescue the child. Risking all, she joins Brant's quest. And finds some things are more valuable than gold.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical Fiction, Historical, Medieval, Adventure, Medieval Romance

360 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 2007

About the author

Catherine Kean is an award-winning, Kindle Unlimited All-Star author of medieval romances whose creative muse has coaxed her to also write in other romance genres.

She wrote her first medieval romance, A Knight’s Vengeance, while her baby daughter was napping, and now has a backlist of over 20 published books. Catherine’s novels were originally published in paperback and several were released in Czech, German, and Thai foreign editions. She’s won numerous awards for her stories, including the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. Her novels also finaled in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the National Readers’ Choice Awards, and the International Digital Awards (twice).

In 2019, she started writing paranormal romances for the Cat’s Paw Cove Romance series. When not working on her next book, Catherine enjoys cooking, baking, browsing antique shops, shopping with her daughter, and gardening. She lives in Central Florida with two spoiled rescue cats.

Reviews

[Beanbag Love · Rating 2 out of 5]

I might have given this 2.5 and rounded it up to a three if the ending hadn't been so abrupt, leaving a lot of loose ends to tie up.

I had a hard time getting into this story. The author was too coy with pertinent details about the leads' pasts. Particularly the hero's. It kept me from engaging fully with them and I never felt the urgency to get back to reading when I put the book down. I felt like it took forever to get to the end. I don't think she had to reveal all, I just think there was plenty that could have been told without spoiling anything really important saved for later.

Because "later" is where everything happens. Everything else is just vamping until that point. The book could have been a novella and covered all the relevant info.

Kean also indulged some of my most hated devices: 1) walking off in a huff and refusing to listen which only unnecessarily prolongs the wait until the necessary dialogue happens; 2) not revealing information when there's absolutely no reason to not reveal it. Why didn't Brant call Torr out when Torr acted like he was just finding out Brant had killed his own brother? Brant had no reason to keep that information to himself at that point,, and 3) ending the story without a denouement after the climax.

This book has a lot of high ratings, so maybe it just struck all my personal sour notes. I've listed them here, though, and if you don't like those authorial devices, then you've been warned. :)

[Elis Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, I found this one confusing.

Let’s start with the premise: Faye Rivellaux is a penniless widow, shattered by the loss of her child through miscarriage. Her best friend was married to a fellow named Torr, and they had a daughter named Angeline. When Angeline's mum died not so long ago, she extracted Faye’s promise that she’d look after the girl. Torr allowed Faye to move into his castle, the better to make her queasy with his lustful gazes and erratic behavior.

Now Angeline has been abducted. And the ransom note comes to Faye, with instructions that she tell no one about it, and bring a lot of silver to a certain site. Because it makes PERFECT sense that the kidnappers, instead of going to the wealthy lord who is the kid’s father, would expect a penniless widow to come up with the loot all on her own.

Brant Meslarches is recently back from the crusades, and wallows in guilt because while in the Holy Land he killed his brother. Torr helped cover it up, but now he’s using what he knows to get Brant to do his bidding—namely, Brant’s supposed to show up at the beach where Faye is to deliver the ransom, and scare the crap out of her for some reason.

Brant’s told she won’t have the ransom, so he’s gobsmacked when she actually shows up with some loot—a gold cup. More to the point, it’s an old, Celtic gold cup. Brant's dead brother was obsessed with finding King Arthur’s treasure, and Brant wants to find it for him, maybe make up for, like, killing him and all. So now Brant's really interested in Faye, cuz maybe she knows where the treasure is.

Astute readers will already have done the math wrt the kidnap/ransom thing (the whodunit is fairly obvious. The whydunit is not nearly as clear, but eh, ok), but the H/h take their sweet time—close to 16 chapters—figuring it out.

In fact, when Faye shows up with the cup, and Brant doesn’t bring the little girl, she fails to jump to the most logical conclusion—that he must have done away with the child and might also do away with Faye. There’s a struggle over the cup and she clonks her head, and he carries her through a storm to his room at the inn, where they exchange a lot of sexually-charged conversation. Because, if *I* thought a guy kidnapped and probably killed a little girl, I’d be all about his big manly chest and biceps, too. Anyway, in the end, she steals the cup back from him, takes the time to change back into her storm-drenched clothing where he might catch her instead of taking off in the borrowed outfit and changing in the shrubbery on the way, and heads back to Torr’s place. OK, so why would she do that? By this time she believes Brant's claim that somebody else has the kid, and that he was sent to get the ransom. So why would she steal the ransom back? Wouldn’t she be afraid that by taking the loot she’s guaranteed the child’s death?

Later she sees him talking to Torr; they clearly know each other. She still doesn’t do the math. Then Brant shows up in her room and kisses her senseless, and when she starts to struggle he promises not to rape her, and she says “How can I believe that when I don’t even know your name?”



Really? THAT’s the reason she shouldn’t trust him? NOT that he is apparently part of a conspiracy to kidnap and maybe murder a child?

As for Torr and his part of the whole mess—well, that makes sense once you realize that it doesn’t have to.

I liked the first book in this anthology better. 2.5 stars—will bump to 3 because at least it’s a Medieval, though it’s only talk about the crusades and a few trappings that set the date.

[Vikki Vaught · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story was very disappointing. Even though, the hero had very little money and no property we were supposed to believe they would achieve an HEA. The plot had several holes in it, that pulled me out of the story, and I found myself having to re-read sentences to clarify. As much as I try to find something redeemable in every story, that didn't happen with this one.

[Tere · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was not as exciting as I thought it was going to be. The heroine in this book was so stubborn and dramatic that it almost made me want to stop reading! Every predicament they got into was her doing. The hero had possibilities but he had his own backstory that we were not privy to.
This book was predictable from the beginning. There was a lot of unanswered questions. I thought the author was a bit wordy. I wonder if she was paid by the words and not the story.

I did not like the way the book ended, it needed an epilogue or some type of follow-up. Brant had no home and no money, where were they going to live? How were they going to eat? It could not be all sunshine and rainbows after they left the cave? If you want a light read something that requires no complexity, then this is a great book to read. I won't be suggesting it to my friends.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

All that boo hooing about the treasure and that's how it ends??!!?? Oy.

There was a bit of drama in this. As the archers were surrounding them, I had to put it down. Would he make it out? Could he?

He's very bold and takes liberties that I feel were excessive and dangerous.

[Alisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A true bodice buster - with gorgeous women, handsome knaves, Arthur's long-lost treasure sought and a child to be saved. A fast read, not very challenging plot, but some well-earned heavy breathing.

[Maura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lady Faye promised her friend on her deathbed that she would protect her daughter, and that is why she lives with on the same estate as her friend's husband, who is a less than honorable character. When the daughter is kidnapped, Brant, a man in debt to the friend's husband, is recruited to pick up the ransom - but he's been told there won't be any and he should just scare Faye when she brings it. To his surprise though, she tries to pay him with a golden cup, which he recognizes as a piece of treasure from King Arthur's hoarde. Brant and Faye make a bargain - he will help her recover the lost child and she will help him find the rest of the treasure.

This was an enjoyable story on the whole. I'm honestly surprised the characters didn't catch on to who the villain was much earlier than they did and at how quickly Faye was to trust Brant given that he was a part of the whole scheme, but it was a fairly exciting story with perceived betrayals, escapes, hiding from the villain, etc. The romance between them was good too, with falling in love only to question how well you think you know a person - and the strain that puts on a relationship. I'd give this author another read for sure.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very entertaining story with lots of passion and suspense. At the end, I couldn't read the pages fast enough to see what the conclusion would be. The characters are very complex and as more secrets are revealed we get to know the motivations for their actions. I liked that the lines between bad and good were blurred and it wasn't until the second half of the book that they started to become clearer. I enjoyed this novel very much...it had me on the edge of my seat for the last quarter of the book. I wished that it had gone on to tell more of the conclusion between Brant and Faye so we could have had more of a glimpse into what their lives together would have been like together.

[Rob · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated the Heroine in this story, she grated on my nerves right from the beginning, and when she finally came to her senses, which wasn't until almost the very end...well it was just too late. The Hero deserved much better early on, it didn't make any sense to me at all his continued pursuit of her. Had it had a more thorough ending, I probably would have given it a better rating, but it was just as disappointing

[Kbee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can't remember when I started it, put it aside for some weeks couldn't get into it though the begining looked promissing.

Ok, 2 stars is harsh so I'll go to 2.5. The story was good predictable but good anyways. Very boring at times.To many repeated musing looked like the author had a certain number of pages to get to. But rehashing things don't help to tell the story. It got interesting in the last 3 or 4 chapters.

[Cassia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable romance, thanks to an accurate psychological study of the main characters: Faye, Brant, Torr.
Each one of them looks for something: Brant for atonement for a dreadful murder; Torr is in search of a treasure; Faye wants a little girl safe.

The plot is quite simple, no wars, no sieges, only a domestic feud with many lies and half truths in the background. Maybe I would have been more at ease with a less abrupt finale, but the overall story deserves 3,5 stars.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

draaaaaaaaaaag... that is the theme of this book. It took me forever to get into it and even then I was only in it enough to want to finish it so I could move on. I wouldnt even recomend this book for time pass. Just keep looking.

[Ronda Blanke Geiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. it started a little slow but built up steam. Although I figured out most of the ending before I got there. There is a twist at the end that is well worthy the wait. I enjoyed this and would recommend.

[Allie_oco]

Free today on Kindle - 4.20.12

[Tasha Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review pending

[Petula · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely historical romance.

[Lake Lady · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, well paced romance novel.

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

This could have been so good, it has these tantalizing hints of King Arthur, a wicked villain, all that, but then the author ruins it all by making the main characters immoral. It was sad.

[Martha · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stats - Fie! This is not a good one!