Hostage of the Heart [Import] [Hardcover]

Linda Acaster (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin Mills & Boon (April 11, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0263111229
• ISBN-13: 978-0263111224
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Linda Acaster is an award-winning novelist and short-story writer, born in the English city of Kingston-upon-Hull and now living on the Yorkshire coast on a Saxon settlement site a stone's throw from an ancient spring. The locales of "Torc of Moonlight" are on her doorstep.

History has always fascinated her, especially the day-to-day lives of people who never feature in history's grand recollections. Undertaking the research necessary to breathe life into these long-ago lives regularly throws up direct connections to 21st century living that she exploits in her fiction.

"Torc of Moonlight" is the first of a trilogy of thrillers set in university cities around the fabled, and eerie, North York Moors. Kindle book "Torc of Moonlight : Special Edition" contains research articles, author interview, and opening excerpt from Book 2 "The Bull At The Gate".

Some of her previous print novels have been relaunched as Kindle books, including "Hostage of the Heart", exploring the role of mediaeval battle hostages and set on the English-Welsh borders on the cusp of the country's last invasion (1066), and "Beneath The Shining Mountains" (originally "A Wife For Winterman"), a story of love and misplaced honour among a First Nation people on the northern plains of America in the 1830s. Much of the insight for this latter novel came from her years as a re-enactor of the period - yes, in northern England, but you knew that the English were eccentric.

Linda's short fiction covers a variety of genres, from the expected historical and women's fiction, to horror, literary, crime, SF and fantasy. Kindle book "Contribution to Mankind and other stories of the Dark" holds five ghost/horror stories.

"A Sackful of Shorts", an anthology launched by Hornsea Writers, contains one of Linda's more literary stories, a jazz saxophonist coming to terms with his past.

If you wish to be kept up to date, drop by her blog http://lindaacaster.blogspot.com to read opening excerpts of all her available fiction, and www.lindaacaster.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A charming romance that's not over the top, July 4, 2010

By 

Jenna Elizabeth Johnson "Rose of Ethöes" (Central Coast CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hostage of the Heart (Kindle Edition)

I discovered this little gem after asking authors if they'd like to be interviewed for my blog. Ms. Acaster volunteered and after reading her responses to some of my questions, I decided to purchase the Kindle edition of her book. What a good choice! This story is definitely a romance, but is a very sweet one without all of the overtures and exaggerations of emotion and physical attraction you find in the typical run of the mill romance novels. The hero and heroine come off as real people, and both of them nestle their way into your heart. Some of the secondary characters are interesting as well, and by the end of the book I was surprised at the revelation that was made (I'm usually able to weed those out while I read). All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys European history, a heartwarming romance and a good dose of intrigue. Bravo on a story well written!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good read, June 11, 2010

By 

Keen Reader - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hostage of the Heart (Kindle Edition)

This is a sweet romance and a gripping historical tale combined, set in the Welsh borderlands and Anglo-Saxon Northern England in medieval Britain. If you are looking for romance and adventure this is a good story to lose yourself in.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A View of History not often seen, February 26, 2011

By 

Toni V. Sweeney (Orange County, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hostage of the Heart (Kindle Edition)

Dena is a young Saxon noblewoman, come to live with her uncle Edwulf after her father, his estranged brother, dies. She doesn't fit in very well at her uncle's manor; both he and his wife Ethelin have aspirations of grandeur and are 11th century social climbers, so where in her former home, Dena would have felt at ease with the farmers and servants tending her father's house, here, she is forbidden to fraternize with those "beneath her station." At the present, Edwulf is away, helping King Edward guard his shores from the attacking Norwegians. With the estate left relatively unprotected, Gwylan, the Welsh warrior whose lands Edwulf had confiscated, decides to take back his property. In the confusion of abandoning the manor to take refuge at a neighboring lord's castle, Dena is left behind, only to be captured by the attacking Welsh. She is saved by Rhodri ap Hwyel, a young man who obviously has some relationship with Gwylan, and also has no love of the Saxons, having been sent as a hostage to Edward's court and there abandoned by his relatives to the Saxons' cruelty. Laid low by poisoned ale left behind just for that purpose, he and his men are tended by the girl and when they ride out, he takes him with her. On the journey, as if decreed by Fate, the two young people realize they are falling in love.

When they are attacked by a party of Lord Baldric's men, Rhodri has a chance to escape but his fear for Dena causes him to be captured. At the Lord's castle, Dena comes to believe that Wybert, her uncle's steward, purposely abandoned her to divert the Welsh in order to give his men time to get away. Discovering that Gwylan is just as devious as both Wybert and her uncle in sacrificing those they love to gain a victory, she attempts to save Rhodri's life by convincing the others he's more valuable as a hostage than a corpse. When Rhodri sees a chance to escape and takes it, he's overcome by Wybert who orders him killed, and for her obvious love of one of the enemy, Dena is carried away to a hermitage in the forest while Wybert himself lights the wood piled around the stake to which Rhodri is chained...

MY OPINION: Once I started this book, I hated to put it down to get to sleep, in fact, I think I actually fell asleep while reading it. Not that it was dull, far from it, but because I stayed up until 5:00 AM to finish it! There's so much to say about Hostage of the Heart but I don't have that much space. Like Linda Acaster's other historical tales, the research she's taken with the story shines through. We've had so many stories about the Normans' treatment of the Saxons but very few about the Saxons' treatment of the Welsh or any other of the peoples inhabiting England in the 11th century. It's a view not seen very often and this is an entertaining story pointing that out. I'd like to have learned more about Rhodri's background and the time he spent at the English court, because the few bits of explanation were merely tantalizing. There's probably enough speculation there for another novel! I also like that the author includes a epilogue telling what happened to the characters in later life. All in all, this is a lovely story and one everyone who reads it should enjoy.