By: Madeline Hunter Publisher: Bantam Average Rating: Binding: Mass Market Paperback Label: Bantam Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 416 Publication Date: June 06, 2000 Release Date: June 06, 2000
Lady Christiana Fitzwaryn was not opposed to marriage. But she demanded to be married on her own terms, not as punishment for a romantic indiscretion, and especially not to a common merchant. Yet she was in for a shock when she met David de Abyndon. For she was confronted by no ordinary merchant but a man of extraordinary poise and virility. He was unaffected by their difference in social status. And even less affected by her well-thought-out arguments against their upcoming betrothal. Instead, it was Christiana who felt uneasy in the presence of this naturally lordly man behind whose cool blue eyes she sensed the most uncompromising of passions.
David de Abyndon understood Christiana's dilemma, for he too harbored a secret pain. How could he tell her that there was more to this arrangement than met the eye? How could he tell her about his deal with the king--a deal that meant he had all but bought Christiana sight unseen?
What's more, now that he had seen this beautiful, spirited woman, how could he convince her that the love she sought was not in the callow knight she had romanticized but in the flesh-and-blood arms of the man who may have bought her body--but in the bargain lost both his heart and soul?
"No Good" I'm so glad in didn't read this before reading "by possession" and By design" Because I would not have read them after reading By Arrangement. This book started out okay and as the story went on it got progressively boring. It was really hard for me to get through. Too much plotting took away from the romance of the story. The romantic scenes were not that good. The hero and heroine were just ok. All in all it was very dull. But MD made up for it with next following series.
I could not finish this After reading the rave reviews on Amazon, I decided to buy this book. I started reading it and found myself not concentrating. I had an immediate dislike to the heroine. She was so mean to the hero and although he wasn't high on my list, I felt bad for him. The plot appeared to develop at a snail like pace. I made it to page 72 and could no longer read it anymore. I really wanted to like this book. I agree with another reviewer, perhaps the novel I read before had my standards set too high. My love for historicals is allowing me to give it a 2 though 1.5 would be more fitting. I may try this book later in the future.
Oh. I forgot to add, the order in which you read these books is quirky. See her website for the order.
A dishonest man. This story had a good premise, but did not work for me. My three biggest beefs were the dishonestly of the hero, the convoluted later half of the book and the uncertain conclusion. In my opinon, an important part of love in transparency. The heroine hit the nail on the head when she said that David remaind opague to her. I thought he remained opague to the reader as well. Maybe I would have felt better about David if he had completely come clean at the end. But, of course, true to his character, he did not.
The part after the kidnapping went on far too long.
Another reviewer mentioned that David and Christiana would be better understood after reading Lord of a Thousand Nights. Other than the three books already on my "to be read" shelf, I have no intention of reading another Madeline Hunter book. She is very knowledgeble and a very good writer, but I just can't stand the "up in the air" conclusions of her books. Will the Fitzwaryns regain their lands? Will Morvan survive the wars? Will David ever tell Christiana the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about his dealings with the king? Will David become his father's heir?
Real life is full of uncertainties. I don't read romance novels to be confronted with the harsh realities of life. I like my happily ever after. And for me, that does not include a lot of unanswered questions.
Good, but.... This was my first book by Madeline Hunter and I was plesantly suprised. The main characters were well developed and I enjoyed the time frame of the book. The plots were interesting, though it seemed like this almost could have been done as two books. There was a switch from one plot to another just about the middle of the book. Also, there was information that could have been slightly better presented or better explained, or maybe just left out, but I guess they were part of a previous story. (I personally hate it when authors do that. If you're going to talk about something that happened in another book, explain it well enough that I don't acutally have to read the other book to understand.)
All in all, a reasonably good book and I would read from this author again.... maybe the book that is a precursor to this one...
Yawn, 2 1/2 stars Sorry, I must have read a really GOOD book before I started this one...I could not finish it. I made it to just beyond the wedding and I just could not make myself complete it. It may have just been a matter of bad timing for me... I don't know. I liked the characters, David, much more than Chritiania, but I just was not that interested in the intrigue. I guess it was not intriguing enough. Maybe if it had some humor in it I could have stayed interested...? The love scenes were a little flat for me. I switched to a Gaelen Foley book instead and could not put it down for the first 150 pages....It is much more exciting and passionate and intriguing, and they haven't even had sex yet! Get the Hunter book if you want a bland romance in a historical setting, not too exciting to get your self worked up about. Sorry, I really wanted to like it, and it is not like me to leave abook unfinished. I will give her another try with another title...regards & good reading.
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