Customer Reviews

In Her Bed (The Dragons of Challon, Book 2)

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I read this one without having read the first one and I don't have an overwhelming urge to go and read the first one. It's a decent enough story. Woman alone - pretending to have a husband to keep her property. The warrior who thought he was in love with his cousin's wife but soon realizes that it's really this other woman who's his soulmate. She drugs him and has sex with him to get pregnant. Mayhem and love ensues. Of course there is an evil plot. She has some brothers who I could have done without as well as a man servant who's strangeness was more of a distraction than a quaint eccentricity for me. It's a nice read when you have nothing else going on but I'll wait and check the library first before buying her next one.

Looks like I will be the "voice of dissent" here. First of all, I want to go on record as saying how well written "A Restless Knight" (book #1) was.

The style of book #2 (this one) is different as it occurs AT THE SAME TIME, BUT FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE as book #1. It was kinda neat, actually; except that there was repeat scenes and EXACT dialogue from book #1 throughout--but again from the perspective of Damien or Aithinne. Yet, when you already know the final outcome(s) kinda puts a "blah" on the suspense/drama.

Okay, that repetition aside, there was a great deal of repeated conversations and thoughts from this book alone. Case in point, Evelynour tells Aithinne something, Aithinne then repeats it to several others and unfortunately, we have to read that same information over and over again. This happens throught the book. And dreams that we read, then experience--almost verbatum. Come on...

Also, I did not like Damien's character! Up until the final millimeter of the book he showed very little feeling for Aithinne other than as a bed partner. It even appeared that he USED her in bed thinking of Tamlyn.

And, that entire "he loves Tamlyn" just got old.

And, all the arguing! ugh

The 3 brothers and guard didn't add to the story, but took away from it. Again, my opinion.

All the jealousy was just tiring. If you remember in book 1 it was Tamlyn that felt Aithinne was the "prettier" cousin. "Wish" (LOL) they could have somehow come to terms with that early in this book.

Finally, the title, "In Her Bed." Well, with a title like that can't really take the book to the local auto shop to read while having the car repaired, huh?

There it is, the voice of dissent. Sorry. I really wanted to like this book. I read book #1--twice.

I decided to pick up this book and her other dragons of challon book after hearing about it, and I read this one after the first one.

*sigh* I did finish this book, I did like it better than the first book. I liked the plot a little bit better on this one. It was interesting to see Aithinne and Damien's point of view in this book. However, I did find myself skimming over the repeated dialouge at some parts.

Still, I had a problem with the flat characters and bad dialouge.

This book and its counterpart were just not my cup of tea!

I had high hopes for this book, because it had such a high star rating, but I cannot see the charm that others have. I found the story to be very boring and unoriginal, like so many books set in this time and place. Neither the hero or the heroine was given much depth of character, and I found that I didn't care much one way or the other what happened to them. [...]

The plot, at least in the beginning, seems to borrow quite a lot from an old favorite, Johanna Lindsey's Prisoner of My Desire. Furthermore, even showing it's age, PoMD is definitely the better read. I also agree with other reviewers who felt that Damian, the main male character (I can't call him the hero), treats Aithinne poorly and the story never convinces me that, in the end, he does love her and not her cousin.

I really wanted to love this book since I thought "A Restless Knight" was a pleasant surprise. I couldn't get past chapter 5. Sadly it's in the "to be donated to the local library" pile. The mystical aspect of the story was confusing (too much "witchery") and the heroine was not believable nor likable. Also, there is something inherently flawed with a story when the heroine of the second book resembles the heroine of the first book...especially when the hero of the 2nd book had a "past" with the heroine of the first one. I won't delve too much into that tidbit, you'll just have to read 'A restless Knight" (a decent read, IMO) to learn more about that.

Sound confusing? It sure was! I tried, I really tried. This book just didn't work for me.

I found the book tedious and had a hard time motivating myself to continue reading it.

The plot itself is just plain dumb...

I suppose not every book is a work of art.

Ok, I realize that there are glowing reviews here and I am a fan of providing a rave review if the book has touched me.

I must say that I was disappointed with the book overall. I am torn about how to go about posting this. I cant say I DIDN'T like IN HER BED, but also I cant quite say that it was a fabulous book either. I absolutely loved A RESTLESS KNIGHT. Deborah MacGilliwray's writing style us absolutely marvelous. Her attention to historical detail and how she interweaves the development of the main protagonists is outstanding.

What can I say about IN HER BED? - it has fabulous secondary characters, the continuation of the story of Julian Challon and Tamlyn, as well as mixing humor and poignancy to the story. Even though the protagonists are likable enough - the story and development was rather unbelievable. I was rather disturbed by the way the Aithinne takes Damian as her sperm stud and how she drugs him to keep him there and ultimately drugs again to make him forget what has occurred. It was demeaning and unpleasant and even though her motives are well explained, I didn't care for that portion of the story. It is rather implausible that a man as virile and strong as our hero, Damian, for him not to be disturbed and not to show how his manly pride is bruised by how he has been abused... (forget the fact that he has visions of what has occurred to him... you can tell through the book that he knows that it is Aithinne that has "used " him as a stud). I persevered, as I love the Dragons of Challon and wanted to acquaint myself with Damian's and Aithinne's story. As I continued reading the story, I felt that I had already read it. Some of the incidents repeated this book had occurred in the first installment. Also, even though I truly don't mind fey and magical situations as well as storylines where characters have the kenning and ability envision past and future events, I felt that it was a little stretched here.

Still even though I have written mostly negative rather than positive - I did like the book... I enjoyed the continued story of Julian and Tamlyn, the secondary characters of Aithenne's triplet brothers whose escapades resemble the Three Stooges. Damian and Aithinne's story was a bit far fetched but the book was still beautifully written. That was the reason I persevered and finished reading it. I am looking forward in reading ONLY FOR ONE KNIGHT - the next installment in the Dragons of Challon. I guess A RESTLESS KNIGHT - spoiled me!

In her Bed is a new spin on the captive/captor storyline, a woman holds a man hostage. There are some strange elements to this story and I really never could get past them.

Aithinne Ogilvie is in a quandary, this Scottish lass is worried that her neighboring Lords are going to discover that she is not married and that her guardian is dead. If they uncover this she could lose her land. Her three ridiculously naïve and inept brothers kidnap a man for her so she can use him sexually and get pregnant, thereby keeping her lands.

Damien is an English Knight and he wakes up in a sensual dream after he is abducted from a Beltane festival. At first he believes he is in bed with his cousin's fiancé Tamalyn, a woman he greatly admires and wants. They make love for days with Damien being in a constant drugged state. A potion is then forced upon him to forget.

Aithinne cannot forget though and she is devastated when Damien calls her Tamalyn during one of their intimate moments. What should she expect? She has never introduced herself to him and she sees him only at night. She is actually a cousin to the beautiful Tanalyn and they do look a like. She releases Damien and hopes to never see him again but when Tamalyn's husband and Damien arrive at her castle she has all her old feelings emerge about Damien.

Aithinne lies constantly about most everything. She lies about her relationship to her guardian, she lies about his fake illness, she lies about his death, she lies about her feelings, and she lies by omission about her nights with the drugged Damien. It was hard to like her. Furthermore she is arrogant, something she accuses Damien of constantly. She thinks she knows what is right for everyone.

She is pregnant and has no intention of telling Damien about the child. All her grand schemes were never thought out because she seemed to always choose the path of least resistance when it came to Damien which in her case was avoidance and lies.

Damien is drawn to her and she misinterprets it constantly, she believes she is the second choice to Tamalyn. She has the sight yet it never really comes to play in her own actions. She makes love with Damien after he comes to her castle the second time undrugged and in possession of all his faculites most willingly and when he questions her about her child's parentage she is most angry and irrational, believing he should know the child is his. How could he, he was given a potion to forget his time with her. Also this woman lies almost to the end of the novel.

Damien was a decent hero but more background info would have been nice. I understand there was a prequel to this novel and I felt like there were some missing parts to Damien's character that were probably explored more in the first novel. I never could understand why Damien loved Aithinne. She was unrepentant for actions and illogical in her decision making. Finally I was never comfortable with Damien being drugged and used sexually. It was terribly exploitive.

I read this book while on vacation. I found it to be slow and formulaic, but a good mindless read. I'd borrow other books in the series from the library, but I wouldn't buy them.