Heat of the Knight [Paperback]

Jackie Ivie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 6, 2007

Since Lisle MacHugh lost her husband in battle, her clan has barely survived. Now, the MacHughs can reverse their ill fortune if they agree to give Lisle's hand in marriage to their greatest enemy: the notorious Black Monteith.The wealthy Langston Leed Monteith, aka the Black Monteith, has returned to Scotland after years of banishment. With his father's misdeeds leaving the family name in tatters, no decent lass will marry him. But when Monteith sets eyes upon the fiery Lisle, he knows he must have her...Once wed, Lisle resists her fierce attraction to the man she loathes. But she has found her match in Monteith, who introduces her to pleasures she never dreamed possible. When their secrets are revealed, Lisle and Monteith will confront their greatest challenge, testing their union as husband and wife...

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Zebra; Regular Print/Single Titl edition (November 6, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821780131
• ISBN-13: 978-0821780138
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #779,637 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a native of the beautiful state of Utah, where I first discovered how much I liked reading the historical romance genre. I then relocated to the really large state of Wyoming where I found out I loved writing historical romance more than reading it. Well...now I live and work in the enormous state of Alaska with my family, my four pets, and a whole lot of snow, mountains, and wildlife.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Huge Disappointment after the last book I'd read..., December 7, 2008

By 

J. Myrna RottenRomance (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heat of the Knight (Paperback)

I've really debated whether to rate this one or two stars. While it didn't have some of the truly horrible things that I've seen in other books (such as rape), it did have some pretty awful things.

The only other Ivie book I've read is "Lady of the Knight" (guess, unlike SOME reviewers, I don't qualify as a TRUE "Ivie Fan"), and I enjoyed that a lot. I expected to enjoy this one, and for the first... quarter of it or so, I did. After that I just kept getting angrier with it.

Firstly, Lisle (said like "weasel"? They would have used that phrase back then, I'm sure) started out a strong (maybe a bit too prideful), reasponsible and determined woman. Within a couple of chapters she becomes a cowed woman who goes along with everyone else. She seems to be just along for the ride.

Langston had noble goals, we get it. But he didn't pursue them in a noble manner. He had an "ends justify the means" belief. That's not necessarily bad, but didn't endear him to me. His "noble" sacrifices, such as his first marriage and Saladin were tainted with his selfishness and how those "sacrifices" were really ends to his own means. His marriage in order to arrange a partnership with a slave-trader, and his "gift" of Saladin to engender himself with the Captain.

Langston set about to control Lisle from the very beginning, and the "trick" with the opiate in her bath was just obnoxious. Despite it not being what it seemed, he still had her being followed and jailed by her maids. How weak of mind and will WAS she to manage to be fooled by it?

As for Lisle, she became more and more TSTL thoughout the book. Her rafter climbing and spying just showed evidence of how little trust they had in eachother. Also the scene with the brazier emphasized just how little faith she had in merely his likelihood of not seriously injuring her! She found him hot, so as long as he showed any signs of even the slightest decency, she leapt at the chance to use them to justify "loving" him.

The sex scenes were okay. There were parts that felt almost word for word like Lady of the Knight, and, if not exact, awfully darn close. Oh, and of course the "he's so big, and it hurts so bad" kinda thing was there, too. *sigh* It wouldn't have gone amiss to have a couple more interludes, maybe a bit more lovingly done. The problem with that, though, is that it would imply that there WAS tenderness and love between them.

I think, though, that the most irritating facet of it all was that so little of the book came to a satisfying conclusion. The trip to France seemed to be an afterthought just to put in an historical figure. What happened with all the furniture? She never really even explained WHY he had all that furniture hanging from the ceiling! And either I don't recall it (unlikely), or they really didn't use all those complex and bizarre defenses that the castle had. 'Cause there wasn't really an ending to it, really. Which is a shame, because as we saw with her prior book, she's definitely able to write a climactic fight scene. The epilogue left me feeling no closure to the plot. It's as if Ms. Ivie just decided "I've written enough, I think I'll end it now."

I'm not "off" this author. I'm willing to read more. Heck, I'd buy her books just for the cover model! ;) But I'm sad that someone who writes SO well, who has such a great ability to bring life to characters and scenes, has wasted so much of her talent on a storyline and characters that were so unworthy of her.

I guess I'll stick with 2 stars on this, because she really IS a good writer. I simply couldn't develop an attachment to or an appreciation of the characters and their pursuits.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Avoid., April 17, 2009

By 

P.G. Dawn (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heat of the Knight (Paperback)

Yes, I admit it. I bought the book because of the hot guy on the cover. I didn't have great expectations, except to find a sweet love story with steam and maybe a sword-fight or two... What a disappointment. I couldn't finish the book. The writing was just that awful. As Simon says--sorry.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing!, August 30, 2008

By 

HopefulRomantic (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heat of the Knight (Paperback)

*semi spoiler* First, I would like to point out that although the Langston (the hero) uses slave trade as an explanation for his wealth, we learn that it is just posturing and that he doesn't engage in trafficking slaves.

Overall, this story was very very intriguing. I loved how the author didn't reveal the mystery surrounding the Monteith castle and Langston to the reader. We learned everything along with Lisle which kept me very interested and almost made the reader a part of Lisle's discovery and investigation. The story was intense to say the least but in a good way and I thought that the author kept the setting and the interactions between the H/H realistic to the time and place without compromising the romance. Ivie's descriptions were detailed, some might find them overly so. But for me it just brought to life the castle, the land and the life of the highlanders.

I loved the heroine, she was spirited but not in an obnoxious manner. I could understand her reactions to things, she was practical and just at times when i, if in her place, would maybe not have been, but there was so much else going on that to make stupid and irrational misunderstandings between H/H a point of contention in the novel would have ruined it for me. Luckily that did not happen, they moved past initial misunderstandings and the story became about discovery, emotional and physical. The hero was also a great package to unwrap. Mysterious, a bit tormented, afraid to open up but doesn't resist when love comes knocking, and not to mention a glorious body.

I would recommend getting it from the library, it may not be everyone's cup of tea but i certainly enjoyed it. It read a bit slow but ultimately the author did a good job of building the anticipation and drawing the reader in. I wanted to figure out the whole of the mystery and get to the end...but without skipping over a moment of everything else :).