Customer Reviews

The Ground She Walks Upon

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Nobleman Niall Trevallyan is summoned in the middle of a stormy night and told by the county council that he has a geis (pronounced "GAYSH"); if he does not follow it, tragedy will ensue. Not only is Niall eminently sceptical of all Irish lore and superstition, his intended bride is also a baby barely a few days old.

He discards the whole idea and proceeds with his life. As you would expect, things do not turn out well, and Trevallyan becomes harder and lonelier as the years go by. Finally unable to stand the living reminder of the geis nonsense, he sends a young Ravenna to a London boarding school.

She returns to Lir a beautiful young woman, harboring resentment toward Niall for sending her away from everything she knew. She is articulate and strong, but isolated from everyone because of the circumstances of her birth.

As you can predict, Niall is strongly attracted to the older Ravenna. More than that, he becomes obsessed with keeping her his own. He seeks to keep her in his bed and in his castle, while Ravenna predictably rejects this presumptuous high-handedness. She wants nothing to do with Lord Trevallyan, who treats her like a servant and simply uses her body--unfortunately, he can pretty much do as he wishes, since she has no family to protect her. The more he bends her to his will, the more she loathes him.

More than just two lovers are at stake, though; the land and all its inhabitants will be affected by their relationship. But if ruin is to be avoided, the last and most important part of the geis must be fulfilled--Niall must get Ravenna to fall in love with him.

Add to this conflict Ravenna's search for her father, another story within the story, and the backdrop of Irish Home Rule unrest, and this is definitely a story worth reading. The first few chapters have a wonderful "midnight-on-Halloween" sort of feel to them. But be forewarned--melodrama fairly oozes out of this book, and logic is sometimes sacrificed to it. The emotional ups and downs are nonstop, right up until the end.

If you happen to be a drama queen (and I am a bit of one myself), you'll love this book. If you're not, you may want to check it out at your local library.

While Lord Trevallyan's reason for not wanting to have a relationship with Ravenna --- he's resisting fate --- is plausible, it gets a zero for dramatic effect. Trevallyan is also in constant battle with his hangup about their age difference (rightfully so) which just made him seem insecure. In turn, Ravenna hates Trevallyan for sending her off to an English school where she was shunned and ridiculed. Again, plausible, but boring. Ravenna's story within the story I simply found distracting from the real story and not particularly interesting.

Having no great obstacle but stubbornness and resentment, the story just dragged on and on. Still, no matter how thin the plot, if told well, any story can be great. Unfortunately, this story just did not catch my imagination.

And last but not least --- I know it's essential to the plot, but if I had to read the word "geis" one more time . . .

At first it was really interesting, but I got bored in the middle because it went on for too long and seemed to have a fakey reason they couldn't get together (he wasn't about to let the geis control him.) So I skipped to the end, which of course wasn't any big surprise.

I love this book!! I was captivated by the story and characters and couldn't put it down until it was through. I would absolutely recommend this to any historical romance fan.

I read this book for the first time many, many years ago. I keep coming back to it. I enjoy the main story, but am not as enamored with the story Ravenna writes. The mixture of Irish history and mythology is just up my alley.

After some of the reviews I thought this book would be great. I love Irish romances. This book did not deliver. I am a very fast reader and at 8 days I still had about 60 pages to go. In the middle it became so tedious and like someone else said, if I hear the word "geis" again I will really ...... One word, no two....laborious and disappointing. I have read much better. Sorry for this review, keeping it honest.

I loved this book. It's very melodramatic, but it works because it is beautifully written. This is one of her best books. It's very much like Lions and Lace and Fair is the Rose as it is set in a different time and setting than the usual stories of this genre.

I have read the majority of Meagan McKinney's other works. And in my humble opinion, this is the best. This story is a work of art.

I don't usually go in for this genre, but thought it might be worth reading because there were no flowers, lace or jewelry involved in the low-key cover art. I find sulky, tempestuous, byronian heroes (?) and heroines which are either addled-pated tantrum throwers, or close-lipped, longsuffering martyrs who torture themselves keeping agonizing secrets a source of fatigue. It all overdraws on my power to suspend disbelief. Two things, though; the sex was pretty good, and I found the "story within the story" of Aidan and Skye utterly enchanting.