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St. John Family #2
Lord of Enchantment
Discovering the handsome, shipwrecked Morgan St. John on the island beach where she is self-exiled, clairvoyant Penelope Fairfax learns that he has no memory of his life as a merciless agent to the queen of England.
336 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1994
3 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Suzanne Robinson
36 books62 followersLynda Suzanne Robinson (b. July 6, 1951 in Amarillo, Texas) is an American writer, author of romance (under the name Suzanne Robinson) and mystery novels (under the name Lynda S. Robinson). She is best known for her series of historical whodunnits set in Ancient Egypt during the reign of Tutankhamun and featuring Lord Meren, "the Eyes and Ears of Pharaoh". She lives in Texas with her husband and has a doctorate in anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 9, 2025
Cast aside by her parents who fear her stranger visions, the heroine has been banished to the little island where she lives and adopts all sorts of unwanted people. She’s envisioned a prophecy of a man. A man with a horrible scar who will come to the island and do her and everyone on it harm. So when she finds a man washed up on the beach she knows instant panic. Is this the man she’s dreamed about? The man is badly injured and suffers from a head injury that makes his lose his memory but even then, she knows he’s dangerous. Young men always are. And she can’t wait until he is healthy enough to leave. The hero wakes up to such a pain in his head and the face of an angel hovering over him. A beautiful angel but a mad one.
In fact, the whole island seems to be a cage for those crazy enough not to be allowed in polite society. There’s the cook who threatens to poison him. The beast of a Nanny who is almost his size and hates his guts. There’re the 2 idiots who bicker constantly and who seem to have a brain between them. And their mistress is the maddest of them all. She’s reckless, stubborn and frustrating beyond capability. She runs from him every chance she gets until he finally corners her and forces contact. See, no matter how mad she is, she is a pretty little thing and in the chaos of his lack of memory she is the one constant. Without her, he would truly be alone.
The heroine is terrified of this man who has taken over her island, making demands and posturing like the lord of the castle. He makes her feel stupid and awkward and it seems like everything she does isn’t good enough. He shames her for willingly starting a war with her neighbor and disrespects her in front of the servants. In short, he is the most arrogant and sufferable man she’s ever known. And she’s horrible attracted to him. Their passion was doomed to end in an affair but that’s not where the story ends. When another stranger comes to the island and proclaims the hero to be the villain he seeks, the heroine is horrified. Not only is this villain a priest but a traitor to the crown. Perhaps it’s her insecurities and fear of her emotions that propel her to reject him but neither the less, she completely dismisses him and whatever lies he’s told her. No matter how much he proclaims his innocence she is blind to it and it hurts him to have her so lacking in faith. But it makes him enraged. And then, he remembers who he is. He’s not a man so pitiful to chase a skirt. Whatever love he may have felt for her was no what was in his heart but rather it was a foolish mistake of the man he used to be. The heroine is confused and hurt by this abrupt change of heart. The man she knew is no more and, in his place, is a cold ruthless man whose words are sharp. She doesn’t completely understand why she follows him to the main land but she does and in fact shoots him when she thinks he’s about to hurt an innocent woman. It’s then that the truth comes out. He is a soldier for the crown and everything he’s tried to tell her was honest. She realizes she’s lost the love she once had because of her unwillingness to believe him. But when he realizes she is in danger, he still rushes to protect her and just may all that stand between them is pride and hurt feelings.
I struggled with this book for a few reasons. Language was one thing. I commended the author for attempting to keep the language authentic but it still made it extremely hard to follow along. And the frequent curses of God’s Balls or God’s intestines was driving me absolutely nuts! Secondly, both characters were hard to like as they were insufferably stubborn and ignorant. The hero was a jerk, a womanizer and a arrogant SOB before he regained his memory but afterwards? He was an asshole. If he wasn’t insulting her on a daily basis he was making rude comments to her and expecting her to fall on his dick at a moment’s notice. It did seem that what he felt for her was lust, not love. He was also a complete flip flop. One moment he hates her and the next, out of nowhere, he’s trying to seduce her. It was weird. The heroine was just as confusing but at least what she did made sense even if was as ignorant as he is and by far as stubborn. Overall, I just couldn’t get into the story completely. It always felt like I was on the outside, not submersing myself in the plot. It wasn’t horrible, but neither was it great.
In fact, the whole island seems to be a cage for those crazy enough not to be allowed in polite society. There’s the cook who threatens to poison him. The beast of a Nanny who is almost his size and hates his guts. There’re the 2 idiots who bicker constantly and who seem to have a brain between them. And their mistress is the maddest of them all. She’s reckless, stubborn and frustrating beyond capability. She runs from him every chance she gets until he finally corners her and forces contact. See, no matter how mad she is, she is a pretty little thing and in the chaos of his lack of memory she is the one constant. Without her, he would truly be alone.
The heroine is terrified of this man who has taken over her island, making demands and posturing like the lord of the castle. He makes her feel stupid and awkward and it seems like everything she does isn’t good enough. He shames her for willingly starting a war with her neighbor and disrespects her in front of the servants. In short, he is the most arrogant and sufferable man she’s ever known. And she’s horrible attracted to him. Their passion was doomed to end in an affair but that’s not where the story ends. When another stranger comes to the island and proclaims the hero to be the villain he seeks, the heroine is horrified. Not only is this villain a priest but a traitor to the crown. Perhaps it’s her insecurities and fear of her emotions that propel her to reject him but neither the less, she completely dismisses him and whatever lies he’s told her. No matter how much he proclaims his innocence she is blind to it and it hurts him to have her so lacking in faith. But it makes him enraged. And then, he remembers who he is. He’s not a man so pitiful to chase a skirt. Whatever love he may have felt for her was no what was in his heart but rather it was a foolish mistake of the man he used to be. The heroine is confused and hurt by this abrupt change of heart. The man she knew is no more and, in his place, is a cold ruthless man whose words are sharp. She doesn’t completely understand why she follows him to the main land but she does and in fact shoots him when she thinks he’s about to hurt an innocent woman. It’s then that the truth comes out. He is a soldier for the crown and everything he’s tried to tell her was honest. She realizes she’s lost the love she once had because of her unwillingness to believe him. But when he realizes she is in danger, he still rushes to protect her and just may all that stand between them is pride and hurt feelings.
I struggled with this book for a few reasons. Language was one thing. I commended the author for attempting to keep the language authentic but it still made it extremely hard to follow along. And the frequent curses of God’s Balls or God’s intestines was driving me absolutely nuts! Secondly, both characters were hard to like as they were insufferably stubborn and ignorant. The hero was a jerk, a womanizer and a arrogant SOB before he regained his memory but afterwards? He was an asshole. If he wasn’t insulting her on a daily basis he was making rude comments to her and expecting her to fall on his dick at a moment’s notice. It did seem that what he felt for her was lust, not love. He was also a complete flip flop. One moment he hates her and the next, out of nowhere, he’s trying to seduce her. It was weird. The heroine was just as confusing but at least what she did made sense even if was as ignorant as he is and by far as stubborn. Overall, I just couldn’t get into the story completely. It always felt like I was on the outside, not submersing myself in the plot. It wasn’t horrible, but neither was it great.
April 28, 2020
Lord of Enchantment is the fourth and final chapter to Suzanne Robinson's Gallant series, and like Lady Defiant, Lady Enchantment is a complete dud. Only half of the series is readable, unfortunately. I really wanted to like Lord of Enchantment but it wasn't coming together. It had a kooky The Tempest atmosphere but it never landed, and there were also recipes that began certain sections of the book. It was lost on me why they were included in at all. It was a case of insta-love too fast without any build-up.
The whole series has been a bit theatrical in its delivery and I loved that in Lady Gallant but even I thought it was too much here. Lady Gallant and Lady Valiant are the only good reads in the series, and Lady Valiant is quite similar to Lady Gallant. Ah, the catch-22 of the romance genre - to want what you always want but done in a slightly different way!
The whole series has been a bit theatrical in its delivery and I loved that in Lady Gallant but even I thought it was too much here. Lady Gallant and Lady Valiant are the only good reads in the series, and Lady Valiant is quite similar to Lady Gallant. Ah, the catch-22 of the romance genre - to want what you always want but done in a slightly different way!
March 19, 2018
Morgan St. John washes ashore on an isolated island with no memory of who he is. Penelope Fairfax has exiled herself there with her band of merry misfits running the joint because she has “visions” and is afraid of being charged a sorceress. Commence much buffoonery over pigs, a neighboring feud, a wiley lying priest, dim witted castle folk constantly bumbling and arguing.... this book is a mess.
January 12, 2018
Kinda crazy. Hero is high on himself. Heroine comes across as whimsy/fey. It was okay. The mystery was compelling and yet the heroine was not up to the level of the evil of the bad guy. I had no problem finishing but won't re-read. Lots of testosterone in the men which fit the time period.
May 12, 2024
Not a good one. The story makes not much sense and it’s all over the place. The characters were like in a bad Shakespeare farce ,similar to burlesque actually. All was leaning to the absurdity.Only the first half worth reading due to some logic and then all went downhill ,the romance was forced ,the plot had no much sense and the ending was a relief that all finished finally. The rest of stupidity makes for no comments, including the recipes.
November 19, 2019
Heroine’s lack of faith and stubbornness were frustrating. I didn’t care much for some magical things.
Although, I was glad for Christian’s reappearance, I think his interference did the main romance no good. They should figured it out by themselves.
Although, I was glad for Christian’s reappearance, I think his interference did the main romance no good. They should figured it out by themselves.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 1, 2020
The weakest of the entire series.
March 8, 2012
Overall Rating: 2.85 // Action: 3.5 / Emotion: 2.5 / Romance: 3 / Sensuous: 1 / Suspense: 3 // Historical Flavor: 3.5 / Laughter: 1 / Tears: 0
Was bound and determined to read Lord of Enchantment , Suzanne Robinson's fourth and last book of The Queen's Spies Quartet because wanted to figure out how these books were tied together since Fantastic Fiction and FictionDB disagreed about the way Suzanne Robinson's books are tied together. Another reason wanted to read Lord of Enchantment , the second book in the sub-series The St. John Family Duet, was to see if the St. John brothers were able to overcome the hatred sewn between them by their evil-hearted father and cultivate a relationship.
There are several broad, personal reasons that prevented the total reading enjoyment of Lord of Enchantment . First, have never been a fan of the "amnesia" story line. Second, instead of laughing and enjoying the antics of the buffoons that inhabited Highcliffe Castle, found them tiresome. Third, a diminishing lack of interest in the story happened right around Chapter 11, when the beginning of the misunderstanding was introduced. The lack of interest grew to dissatisfaction around Chapter 17, when Morgan decided he could not love a woman whose betrayal was so great.
A more in-depth, detailed review of Lord of Enchantment appears at
Wolf Bear Does Books.
Caveat: Would recommend that the four books of The Queen's Spies Quartet be read in order. It is much easier to understand the connections between the characters and to follow the historical progression.
Was bound and determined to read Lord of Enchantment , Suzanne Robinson's fourth and last book of The Queen's Spies Quartet because wanted to figure out how these books were tied together since Fantastic Fiction and FictionDB disagreed about the way Suzanne Robinson's books are tied together. Another reason wanted to read Lord of Enchantment , the second book in the sub-series The St. John Family Duet, was to see if the St. John brothers were able to overcome the hatred sewn between them by their evil-hearted father and cultivate a relationship.
There are several broad, personal reasons that prevented the total reading enjoyment of Lord of Enchantment . First, have never been a fan of the "amnesia" story line. Second, instead of laughing and enjoying the antics of the buffoons that inhabited Highcliffe Castle, found them tiresome. Third, a diminishing lack of interest in the story happened right around Chapter 11, when the beginning of the misunderstanding was introduced. The lack of interest grew to dissatisfaction around Chapter 17, when Morgan decided he could not love a woman whose betrayal was so great.
A more in-depth, detailed review of Lord of Enchantment appears at
Wolf Bear Does Books.
Caveat: Would recommend that the four books of The Queen's Spies Quartet be read in order. It is much easier to understand the connections between the characters and to follow the historical progression.
October 29, 2012
A not very remarkable romance, which was too bad, because the premise was cool, a psychic who helps a young man remember their lives in Elizabethan England.
September 14, 2013
They're all a bunch of crazy lack wits in this book.
Read
March 11, 2016It was an entertaining read. Enjoyed the strange characters the heroine was surrounded by.
September 19, 2013
Not as fun as the past books.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews