Customer Reviews

Knight of Desire (All the King's Men)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Knight of Desire by Margaret Mallory is sizzling must have summer read. Delicious from page one to the very end, this is one love story you won't soon forget. A Debut book by this author that will leave you hungering for more.

William FitzAlan is a Knight of renown and high on the King's list of best of the best. A man with no title, lands nor wife, he is surprised when the King hands him all this on a platter for being who he is, a devoted Kings man to the death.

Catherine is Lady of Ross Castle and a close friend of the Prince. She is also the battered wife of a sniveling coward who rules this Castle and a man that has little to no scruples. When Catherine is trust into a plot to overthrow the King and Prince she knows where her allegiance falls and betrays her husband.

The story starts really quickly with the death of Catherine's husband and William's acquirement of lands, title and wife if he will have her. The king has given William two choices as to what he may do with the Lady of Ross Castle and he wonders if he will regret his choice for quite some time.

This is a delicious romance that flows smoothly from beginning to end, action packed throughout and sit on the edge of your seat fascinating that you won't be able to put it down. Even now with having finished this book I am craving more, ever so much more that I read the excerpt for the next book which is due out in December and wonder if I can indeed wait that long without going stark raving mad.

Our Author is new and this is a Debut book and one that surely make you come back for more. She has included all the best of deceit, love, pain, doubt, intrigue and so many more emotions that you will constantly be driven to go from one page to the next and wish you could read this in all one day. It will be very hard to put this one down even for the must have potty break.

A beautiful cover coupled with an emotional story creates the wonder that is KNIGHT OF DESIRE by Margaret Mallory. I recently fell into the world of Historical Romance and have thus far been fortunate to encounter some great works. KNIGHT OF DESIRE falls firmly within this category. The romance was tender, the passion hot and the suspense surrounding our main characters was enough to get even the toughest of hearts pumping with adrenaline. This was a fantastic book and one that I am thrilled to have read.

Lady Catherine Rayburn has done the unthinkable; she has betrayed her husband. In doing so, she has aided King Henry, but will anyone care about her reasons? When a man betrays the King as her husband did, his family usually is forced to suffer the consequences right along with him. Will King Henry show Catherine mercy or will he doom her to a life in prison?

William FitzAlan has always wanted land of his own; his desire for a family and a stable life that he can hold on to is overwhelming. When the king graces this warrior with all that was Rayburn's, FitzAlan is suddenly closer to achieving his dream. The only problem is that the king has also given FitzAlan the power to decide Catherine's fate. Will he take her as his wife, or will he send her to the tower? With a body made of steel, but a heart made for love, FitzAlan agrees to marry Catherine and save her from a dark future. With conflict rising inside and outside of the castle walls, FitzAlan must fight to protect his new family and attempt to claim his new wife's body and her heart.

Mallory did a beautiful job of creating this tale. Her research went a long way toward creating a feel of authenticity in the book. Many of the characters and historical elements of the book are accurate. There are, of course, instances where Mallory took creative license, but it all helped in making the story a wonderfully cohesive work of art.

The main characters, Lady Catherine and Lord William are highly complex individuals. Both come with their own set of desires, fears and a fair amount of history. The back-story of both characters unfold slowly. Mallory gives us a look into the pasts of Catherine and William inch by inch, pulling us in closer and making the story completely addictive. Not only do we want to know what happens next, but she leaves us wanting to know what happened before. What events helped developed the two people that now find themselves standing in front of each other, surrounded by strife? I absolutely loved how Mallory did this. It gave the reader something to look forward to on different fronts. Her ability to keep us interested in both the past and the present was amazing and really helped to make KNIGHT OF DESIRE a fantastic read.

In addition to the characters, Mallory did a great job of imbuing depth and complexity to other aspects of the book. The political atmosphere of the time was explained wonderfully, adding a note of suspense and intrigue to an already wonderful story. Sometimes we would find ourselves face to face with a highly romantic page and the next page we would find ourselves tossed into the politics of English as they battle the Welsh. This is part of where Mallory's research comes in to play. She does a really great job of bringing life to this aspect of history and helping us to feel the tension in the air.

Speaking of tension - wow! Tension is what pulls a reader through a book, making him or her unwilling to set the book down. It is what makes us say, "Oh, just one more page. Just one more chapter." The tension that Mallory graced the pages with really brought the story to life. On my second day of reading this, it was like I blinked and all of a sudden was five chapters ahead in the book. Her words flow so beautifully, the tension rising and falling throughout the pages that this becomes less of a book one is reading and more of a story that we get to experience.

If I had to pick one thing that made this book really memorable for me, it would be the descriptions that Mallory uses. From the way she creates the landscape to the way we get to feel the textures and colors of the clothing, Mallory's words create a sense of realism. She does a wonderful job of engaging our senses, ensuring that we can taste, tough, smell, hear and even see the story come to life. I'm not joking when I say that I can close my eyes and picture some of the landscapes that Mallory paints for us. KNIGHT OF DESIRE is truly a colorful story - a treat for the eyes.

KNIGHT OF DESIRE was a beautiful book with a memorable and compelling story line. Mallory's characters are complex and realistic, making them easy to relate to. The scenery was gorgeous was were Mallory's descriptions. There were a few occasions where I would have loved for the pace to pick up just a smidge, but in all honesty this lasted for maybe a paragraph or two. To top it all off, the cover of this book is just incredible. The artist has done an amazing job of creating the luminescence that Mallory instills Lady Catherine with.

I highly recommend that fans of Historical Romance give KNIGHT OF DESIRE a try. I honestly don't see how someone could not love this story and I think that your brain and heart will thank you for it later. If you're looking for something to curl up with on a rainy day, this might be a choice to consider. Even if you're looking for something to get your blood going, you may think of picking this one up. It has something for everyone to fall in love with, just as I did.

This is Margaret Mallory's first romance, I believe, and was followed by Knight of Pleasure. I found Knight of Desire to be well written though I didn't like the story at times and found Lady Catherine Rayburn, the heroine, to be inconsistent and sometimes her actions (and hence the story) a bit unbelievable. Set in the early 15th century, it's the story of a knight who is rewarded service to the king by a castle and lands forfeited by a traitor who was killed. In the bargain the knight gets the young widow. I wasn't fond of the fact Catherine had been in a fairly long abusive marriage that left her scarred. It took away from my enjoyment of the romance and affected the relationship with the hero. It was a bit unbelievable that while she would put off her savior knight husband for two weeks because she was so frightened by the idea of sex while she could take a total stranger to her bed while still married to the abuser...yeah right. It was difficult to see her as the victim and at the same time the courageous feisty gal. I had difficulty keeping who she was in focus. Like another reviewer, I did not like the continual use of "for sooth" as it seemed a bit forced. The hero, Sir William FitzAlan was another contradiction. He got angry when it seemed he should be more understanding and was at other times so understanding he looked like a whimp. So while her writing is good and fairly well paced, I didn't like the story that much. Knight of Pleasure is the sequel and I'll separately review it as I thought it was better.

On the night before her wedding Lady Catherine secretly decides to go on one last ride before she is to marry the man her King has chosen to be her husband. There she meets a young knight (William FitzAlan) who accompanies her on this ride and returns her safely to the stables, but not before leaving them with memories that they think back upon over the years.

Five years later, Lady Catherine betrays her husband in order to protect her king. Her husband was violent and abusive and she has no remorse in betraying him for the traitor that he was. On the day of her husband's death, she learns that his/her lands and castle are forfeit to William FitzAlan. The King has left her with no choice but to either be taken to the Tower or to marry FitzAlan. Reluctantly she chooses to marry William - as for William, he recognizes Catherine as the young girl he still thinks of and immediately marries her despite his doubts as to what type of woman can betray her husband.

Although the main threat to Catherine is easily resolved with their marriage, there are still many other issues that they have to deal with. For one, Catherine has only been to the marriage bed with her late husband and it was not something pleasant for her. So she is none too thrilled about consummating her marriage. Secondly, William has issues trusting her - he is constantly questioning her actions not to mention his closest friend keeps reminding him of the outcome of her previous marriage. As passion ignites and danger closes in, Catherine and William must learn to trust in each other to save their marriage, their land, and their very lives.

I love historical romances - and this one has just the right amount of romance, witty banter and likeable characters. Ms. Mallory definitely did her research when describing the Welsh rebellion of the 15th century as well as Medieval England. This is a well-written story and you will see that the pages fly by with ease. It is riddled with love, lust and betrayal... what more could you want out of a romance novel? I can definitely recommend this to fans of the romance genre and congratulate Ms. Mallory on a very enjoyable debut.

In Knight of Desire, Lady Catherine Rayburn is locked in an abusive marriagve, her only solace the memory of the one innocent night she spend with a kind man as a girl and her son. When her husband becomes a traitor to the English crown for his own benefit, she spies on him and sells him out to the English. When they put him to death, Catherine considers herself delivered and free. All she wants is a quite life in her castle with her child. Unfortunately, the King of England has other plans for her- it is either to the Tower for being the wife of a traitor or marry another man and let him resume control of her castle.

Emotionally and mentally wounded from her former husband, Catherine does not trust or submit easily to her new husband William FitzAlan, who she does not recognize as the man she spent her one good evening with before marriage. William, a soldier, has a hard time understanding women or trusting her because his own mother quite manipulative. It takes the two of them a while, but they soon enough fall into passionate love with a few tiffs in between since William is the jealous and quick to assume type. At the same time, conspiring against them is William's friend Edmund, who pretends to be a loyal protector in order to give Catherine over to the enemy. Held hostage by the Prince of Wales and the Tudor family, the now pregnant Catherine can only accept her fate or hope that her husband comes to rescue her.

Knight of Desire is a historical romance, its context Medieval England and the Welsh rebellion of the 15th century. I have to admit, my knowledge of Medieval England is a bit lacking, but I do know a considerable bit about Medieval society and expectations in general. Aside from a few things that I couldn't imagine a woman of the time doing (not saying some women didn`t and couldn`t defy expectations, of course), I was pretty much pleased with the historical accuracy of Knight of Desire--and trust me, I was looking at the small things such as what they used for dinner and how they ate. If a fork showed up, I would have promptly closed the book and refused to reopen it!

The book is very well written, as well, so it flows along from page one to the end without those little bumps along the way that come with reading a book that is a bit difficult or awkwardly written at times. All of the action and the descriptions work well on text. As it seems, this is Mallory's first novel and shows just what a adept writer she is and how much she deserves to be published. Her talent with words give credibility to the entire novel in general. Mallory's English countryside is breathtaking, the wilderness wild, the fights rough and bloody, and the passion hot. I certainly never got bored with reading this novel and had it in bed with me late into the night and early morning.

Most of the second half of the drama was fueled by Catherine supposedly being so beautiful that a man wanted her enough to hate her. Typical romance stuff there, which I have difficulty enjoying. I prefer my romance to defy convention in certain ways and to catch me by surprise. I was a bit bothered by the rampant use of the phrase "in sooth" because I don't believe in dotting modern language novels with archaic terms unless the words used are nouns. That is just a personal pet peeve of mine, and my personal feeling on the matter doesn't diminish the simple fact that Mallory wrote a very good historical romance novel, which paints a satisfactory picture of Medieval life in England. All in all, Knight of Romance is a good book and I would definitely recommend it to fans of the romance genre.

I'm an avid historical romance reader. This is a good beginning for Mallory's first book. Nevertheless, there were some things about the heroine/Catherine which bothered me. First, I found it offensive that at varying times throughout the book she slapped her second husband/hero, threw wine in his face, and also threw a pitcher of cider at him. This was after she had been physically abused by her first husband, one would think the heroine would not want to be physically volatile with her second husband. The hero/second husband was good to her and very patient, and it was disturbing that the heroine/wife/Catherine retaliated in that manner. Sure they had their misunderstandings, but it never warranted her to abuse him. A good conversation would have cleared up the misunderstandings, but then Mallory would not have 300 pages to publish. Catherine seemed difficult to please, despite the fact that the hero/second husband loved not only her, but also her son from another man. SPOILER ALERT***The other bothering aspect was that Catherine never told her husband that his best friend was calling her a "whore", etc. I found that omission a weak plot device. It is also a little irritating when the heroine is being fawned over by every single male in the book, friend or foe, including the 12-year old stepson. Oh, please.

Given no choice in the matter, Lady Catherine was forced to marry an abusive spouse. Outraged by what has become of her, she vows to find a way to insure her son Jamie is never in her situation especially keeping him safe from his mean-spirited father. Catherine finds a means by giving information to her friend Prince Henry on Welsh rebel activity led by her husband. Her efforts lead to the death of her brute of a husband.

In 1405 King Henry IV proclaims her guilty of sedition and declares her lands forfeit and gives them to his loyal soldier William FitzAlan. The ruler also informs Catherine she has a choice of marrying William or dying in the Tower. William distrusts his new wife, but cherishes her beautiful body. As they become acquainted they fall in love, but trust is a more difficult bond to build; without it an unknown adversary may leave both dead.

The key to this terrific medieval romance is in the background as Margaret Mallory provides the audience with various viewpoints on the Welsh rebellion without hindering the changing relationship between the widow and the king's selected second husband for her. Thus the reader obtains a the perspective of real persona to include the Prince of Wales Hal, his mentor Hotspur and rebel leaders like Owain as well as fictional characters like the heroine, her late spouse (in retrospect) and William. The romance is strong but typical of the sub-genre. Fans will desire more deep historical romances from Ms. Mallory.

Harriet Klausner

The hero isn't worthy of the heroine. All he does is blame her for being unfaithful when she has done nothing of the kind. He refuses to trust her, and his failure to rescue her is quite in character for him. He is not a strong man - he listens to everyone but his wife. The characterization of the heroine is problematic. We are supposed to believe that she is a physically battered wife who miraculously becomes a woman strong enough to openly defy her husband.

Mallory's debut medieval pairs the wily Lady Catherine with the honorable, but stubborn and insecure, William FitzAlan in a hasty marriage. Catherine's husband had betrayed the Crown, but Catherine had been sending the prince messages behind her husband's back. The day the king's forces catch up with and kill her traitorous husband, she's offered a choice: live in the Tower of London, or marry William, who the king gave her lands to. Reasonably, she agrees to marry.

The book shines on the virtues of its plot. There's angst, yes. Catherine was abused by her previous husband and is not terribly keen on the whole wife thing. William doesn't trust her or women in general. But the plot keeps twisting and turning, with running away to an abbey, royal visits, kidnapping, intrigues, and bad guys getting what's coming to them. She drops clues and builds foreshadowing subtly. Never did I think I had the next step all figured out, but neither was I ever totally surprised.

None of this book is groundbreaking. You know these guys. She's spirited. He's alpha. There's a ton of misunderstanding and groveling. But the plot moves so well, pulling us along a surprising journey, that the stock characters are acceptable. They're not cardboard cutouts, but this is not a character study by any means. I enjoyed Catherine's poise and spirit and William's drive to do the right thing and ability to apologize when he's done quite the wrong thing, but they're very familiar characters to me.

Regardless, I look forward to subsequent books of hers. She has a good voice for medieval romance, if maybe a touch too modern.

Overall: 4.65 // Action: 3.5 / Emotion: 3.5 / Romance: 3.5 / Sensuous: 3 / Intrigue: 3.5 / Medieval Flavor: 4.5 // Laugh: 2 / Tears: 1

Margaret Mallory's debut novel, "Knight of Desire," book one in "All The King's Men Trilogy" is a different medieval romance that is a joy to read. It features {1} an incredibly beautiful, strong willed, adversity-overcoming heroine who intelligently struggles to overcome obstacles in her path; {2} a hunky, driven, angst-filled hero, who wants nothing more than to belong; {3} a story that features the strengths of the heroine more than those of the hero; {4} a bit of action and adventure to keep the story interesting; {5} a strong thread of romance interwoven through the plot as the hero and heroine must learn to trust one another; {6} a tad bit of suspense -- as in, how will William and Catherine ever overcome all the difficulties (emotional and physical) thrown into their path of happiness; {7} a touch of spice and heat during numerous bouts of lovemaking; {8} although not as deep as would desire, there was an emotional connection to the protagonists during their struggles; and, finally, {9} several engaging, entertaining and interesting supporting characters (although several were under-developed).

Would surely recommend this book to readers who enjoy a good medieval romance. Am anxious to read the next two books of the trilogy.

See Wolf Bear Does Books for a more in-depth, detailed, review of "Knight of Desire."