What do you think?
Rate this book
Convent Brides #1
A Knight for the Defiant Lady
A dramatic, emotional medieval romance
Sworn to protect her
But she’s threatening his guarded heart…
Retrieving Lady Allis from a convent is no easy task, as mercenary knight Sir Leon soon discovers… Brave and beautiful, Allis awakens emotions Leon thought he’d long buried after losing his family. Yet upon their return to her castle, the social gulf between them widens when Allis’s father demands she marry a nobleman. Leon has always believed love is an illusion, but will he be able to watch his defiant lady marry another?
From Harlequin Your romantic escape to the past.
Convent Brides
Book 1: A Knight for the Defiant Lady
Book 2: A Knight for the Runaway Nun
Sworn to protect her
But she’s threatening his guarded heart…
Retrieving Lady Allis from a convent is no easy task, as mercenary knight Sir Leon soon discovers… Brave and beautiful, Allis awakens emotions Leon thought he’d long buried after losing his family. Yet upon their return to her castle, the social gulf between them widens when Allis’s father demands she marry a nobleman. Leon has always believed love is an illusion, but will he be able to watch his defiant lady marry another?
From Harlequin Your romantic escape to the past.
Convent Brides
Book 1: A Knight for the Defiant Lady
Book 2: A Knight for the Runaway Nun
283 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 25, 2023
About the author
Carol Townend
63 books92 followersCarol Townend writes atmospheric Historical Romances and Sagas set in England and Europe. Born in Yorkshire, she went to a convent school high on the Whitby cliffs. Later, she studied history at Royal Holloway College, London. She lives in London with her husband and daughter.
Carol's first novel, Sapphire in the Snow, won the RNA New Writers' Award. Two other novels were shortlisted for the RoNA Rose award - Betrothed to the Barbarian in 2013 and Unveiling Lady Clare in 2015.
Carol loves research, and spends too much time hunting for excuses to go on research trips. She can often be seen teetering on the battlements of various stately homes or castles.
Carol's first novel, Sapphire in the Snow, won the RNA New Writers' Award. Two other novels were shortlisted for the RoNA Rose award - Betrothed to the Barbarian in 2013 and Unveiling Lady Clare in 2015.
Carol loves research, and spends too much time hunting for excuses to go on research trips. She can often be seen teetering on the battlements of various stately homes or castles.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 10, 2026
I saw the words “Convent Brides” as the series title, and I immediately clicked “buy” on both books in this series. Just say less.
Lady Allis refuses to marry the man her father chose for her. She knows he’s in love with someone else—in fact, he’s about to have a child with this other woman—and Allis refuses to be caught in the middle of that. But her father won’t hear her protests, so Allis does the only thing she can think of. She takes her sister to the Poor Clares in nearby Avignon and hides out with the nuns. Her sojourn is short-lived, however, when her father sends a mercenary named Sir Leon to fetch her back. Leon had a hard life before rising to the position of knight, and now he prioritizes the safety and financial security of his men. The job fetching Allis will give his men an easy mission with a good payday, but he doesn’t bargain for the attraction he feels to this noble lady, or the protective streak she’ll bring out in him.
I am always interested when an author decides to set a book in the 14th century. This was a notoriously bad time to be a European. There was pestilence, famine, the Hundred Years’ War, and the Black Death. It was just not a good time or place to be alive. This book takes place before the Black Death hit Southern France, but it does overlap significantly with the Avignon papacy and comes after some of the economic disruption. I thought the setting was effective and found the history to be an exciting change of pace from most medieval romance I read.
The plot of this book is kind of silly, but then again, so are most Harlequin Historical medievals I read. Don’t take the story too seriously, and you’ll enjoy yourself. I did really like the individual conflicts our characters were dealing with throughout the story. Allis does not want to be both the wife and the other woman in her marriage. She knows and likes her fiancé’s lover and really doesn’t want to end up between them. I enjoyed that she wasn’t pushing back at her father over the traditionally bad marriage in a medieval romance (aka, marriage to a gross old guy), but instead had really specific reasons why she didn’t want to be in that situation. Leon’s story overlaps with the history of the Cathars, which is fascinating in the context of medieval religious reform groups. Carol Townend doesn’t dig too deeply into their beliefs, but we do see the long arm of the Church come down on regular people who had legitimate gripes with the institution of the Catholic Church.
Overall, this was a fun read. I was able to unplug my brain and travel back to a time worse than ours, which is honestly a treat at this point. 4 stars.
Lady Allis refuses to marry the man her father chose for her. She knows he’s in love with someone else—in fact, he’s about to have a child with this other woman—and Allis refuses to be caught in the middle of that. But her father won’t hear her protests, so Allis does the only thing she can think of. She takes her sister to the Poor Clares in nearby Avignon and hides out with the nuns. Her sojourn is short-lived, however, when her father sends a mercenary named Sir Leon to fetch her back. Leon had a hard life before rising to the position of knight, and now he prioritizes the safety and financial security of his men. The job fetching Allis will give his men an easy mission with a good payday, but he doesn’t bargain for the attraction he feels to this noble lady, or the protective streak she’ll bring out in him.
I am always interested when an author decides to set a book in the 14th century. This was a notoriously bad time to be a European. There was pestilence, famine, the Hundred Years’ War, and the Black Death. It was just not a good time or place to be alive. This book takes place before the Black Death hit Southern France, but it does overlap significantly with the Avignon papacy and comes after some of the economic disruption. I thought the setting was effective and found the history to be an exciting change of pace from most medieval romance I read.
The plot of this book is kind of silly, but then again, so are most Harlequin Historical medievals I read. Don’t take the story too seriously, and you’ll enjoy yourself. I did really like the individual conflicts our characters were dealing with throughout the story. Allis does not want to be both the wife and the other woman in her marriage. She knows and likes her fiancé’s lover and really doesn’t want to end up between them. I enjoyed that she wasn’t pushing back at her father over the traditionally bad marriage in a medieval romance (aka, marriage to a gross old guy), but instead had really specific reasons why she didn’t want to be in that situation. Leon’s story overlaps with the history of the Cathars, which is fascinating in the context of medieval religious reform groups. Carol Townend doesn’t dig too deeply into their beliefs, but we do see the long arm of the Church come down on regular people who had legitimate gripes with the institution of the Catholic Church.
Overall, this was a fun read. I was able to unplug my brain and travel back to a time worse than ours, which is honestly a treat at this point. 4 stars.
March 8, 2024
Vanilla_91 - per RFS
.
Care Fenici,
Un cavaliere per la dama ribelle possiede tutte le caratteristiche più pure e intrinseche dei romanzi del genere: abbondanti dosi di romanticismo, una passione bollente e un amore capace di superare ogni ostacolo.
Allis, figlia di un conte, fugge in convento pur di sottrarsi alla volontà del padre che vuole darla in sposa a un uomo che non ama. La giovane è una donna coraggiosa, testarda e appassionata e non sopporta l’idea di trascorrere una vita costretta in un matrimonio infelice.
Lord Michel, padre della giovane, assolda un gruppo di mercenari capitanati da sir Leon di Tarascona e affida loro il compito di riportare l’adorata figlia a casa sana e salva. L’accordo appena concluso appare agli occhi di Leon davvero semplice e vantaggioso rispetto agli incarichi precedenti, ma il cavaliere non poteva certo prevedere le reazioni intense che la compagnia di Lady Allis gli avrebbe suscitato.
Si tratta di una lettura leggera, che scorre con semplicità e senza eccessivi intoppi. L’ostacolo maggiore che la neo-coppia dovrà affrontare sarà la differenza di ceto sociale, ma i due sapranno lottare pur di offrire una chance di sopravvivenza al legame appena nato.
È un romanzo breve che si legge in un soffio, ma è anche una bella carica di dolcezza, tenerezza e desiderio, una forte combinazione di sentimenti ed emozioni pure e piacevoli.
Vi consiglio la lettura di questo romanzo se avete voglia di fare un tuffo nel passato in compagnia di un valoroso cavaliere e di una tenace dama.
.
Care Fenici,
Un cavaliere per la dama ribelle possiede tutte le caratteristiche più pure e intrinseche dei romanzi del genere: abbondanti dosi di romanticismo, una passione bollente e un amore capace di superare ogni ostacolo.
Allis, figlia di un conte, fugge in convento pur di sottrarsi alla volontà del padre che vuole darla in sposa a un uomo che non ama. La giovane è una donna coraggiosa, testarda e appassionata e non sopporta l’idea di trascorrere una vita costretta in un matrimonio infelice.
Lord Michel, padre della giovane, assolda un gruppo di mercenari capitanati da sir Leon di Tarascona e affida loro il compito di riportare l’adorata figlia a casa sana e salva. L’accordo appena concluso appare agli occhi di Leon davvero semplice e vantaggioso rispetto agli incarichi precedenti, ma il cavaliere non poteva certo prevedere le reazioni intense che la compagnia di Lady Allis gli avrebbe suscitato.
Si tratta di una lettura leggera, che scorre con semplicità e senza eccessivi intoppi. L’ostacolo maggiore che la neo-coppia dovrà affrontare sarà la differenza di ceto sociale, ma i due sapranno lottare pur di offrire una chance di sopravvivenza al legame appena nato.
È un romanzo breve che si legge in un soffio, ma è anche una bella carica di dolcezza, tenerezza e desiderio, una forte combinazione di sentimenti ed emozioni pure e piacevoli.
Vi consiglio la lettura di questo romanzo se avete voglia di fare un tuffo nel passato in compagnia di un valoroso cavaliere e di una tenace dama.
August 24, 2023
Following a heated disagreement with her father whereby the spirited and intelligent Lady Allis refuses to marry a man she does not love, she steals away in the middle of the night with the help of a household knight and her handmaid sworn to secrecy. Weeks pass until her location is found out, and enlisted to retrieve her and bring her home is mercenary-knight Sir Leonidas of Tarascon, a man as cunning and clever as he is guarded to Lady Allis' charms. Yet, upon their return to her home, all between them becomes more and more difficult to navigate when her father continues to demand she marry a nobleman she does not love, or one she cannot stand, and Sir Leon finds he must face his past in order to secure a seemingly out-of-reach future.
I think I enjoyed the premise of this a lot more than I did the overall execution, because I couldn't help but feel that there was something missing in and amongst the characters. I may need time to let this one sink in because I can't quite put my finger on what it was, but there was something that just didn't quite hit right. There were moments when I felt things were going a bit too fast, moments where they went a bit too slowly, and a few tension build ups that ultimately didn't go as far as I think they should have.
Overall though I did like this, Townend is a new author to me, and I can see myself picking up more of her work in the future. Despite being a fairly cut-and-paste plot, A Knight for the Defiant Lady is well written and doesn't try to be more than it is, instead makes good use of the tropes that it employs to deliver a satisfying book.
I think I enjoyed the premise of this a lot more than I did the overall execution, because I couldn't help but feel that there was something missing in and amongst the characters. I may need time to let this one sink in because I can't quite put my finger on what it was, but there was something that just didn't quite hit right. There were moments when I felt things were going a bit too fast, moments where they went a bit too slowly, and a few tension build ups that ultimately didn't go as far as I think they should have.
Overall though I did like this, Townend is a new author to me, and I can see myself picking up more of her work in the future. Despite being a fairly cut-and-paste plot, A Knight for the Defiant Lady is well written and doesn't try to be more than it is, instead makes good use of the tropes that it employs to deliver a satisfying book.
June 8, 2025
A so-so, ultimately dull read that I was struggling to bother with by the end. The last 100 pages where skipped hard. The leading couple are rather bland, I wasn't feeling much in the way of romance at all. The plot was so wishy-washy and meh - any tension or urgency that may exist are done away with the hey-ho attitude the father has to his daughter's betrothal. She just skips off and does her own thing without any consequences like a bold, modern wo-man and not, you know, like a woman living under the dictates and strictures of the medieval setting. She has a few rousing feminist rants as well, and smashes the patriarchy with the full support of her father, jilted betrothed, and husband. You go grrrrl. No thanks.
October 9, 2023
Interessante l'ambientazione e il background del protagonista, ma come al solito tutto poco approfondito in un romance storico. Storia d'amore piuttosto banale, lei un tantino insopportabile e del tutto anacronistica, ma ho letto di peggio.
Read
April 2, 2023Historical Fiction, Sagas, Medieval Romance
Miniseries
Convent Brides (Book #1)
Miniseries
Convent Brides (Book #1)
May 3, 2025
An enjoyable medieval romance novel. Sir Leon was a swoon-worthy hero and the story was mildly interesting.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews