Customer Reviews

My Lord Conqueror (An Avon Romantic Treasure)

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

 

 

I've never been a fan of the Medieval period, but after reading My Lord Conqueror, Samantha James has got me hooked. Merrick and Alanna are two strong-willed people who butt heads many times throughout the story. He is a Norman who has conquered a Saxon village. She is his Saxon slave. Though Alanna vows to hate him for the rest of her life, and Merrick swears that she will be his slave until he deems otherwise, there is no denying the feelings they have for each other. I like the way the author describes Alanna's feelings of confusion. She is a Saxon who is falling in love with the enemy and she doesn't know what to do. I also like the way the author describes the settings, the clothes and the people's way of life.

Samantha James is my new best friend, well, in reading anyway. Her books are incredible. I can't get enough of them. In My Lord Conqueror her hero, Merrick of Normandy is delicious in every way! Her heroine, Alana is fearless and lovely and fun. The ending was chilling and had me enthralled. Her words fairly leaped off the pages. I have read, no devoured, several of Samantha James books: His Wicked Ways, His Wicked Promise, A Perfect Bride, A Perfect Groom, and my personal favorite of the trio, A Perfect Bride. The only way a reader could be disappointed in reading Samantha James's books is if there wasn't any more of her books to read, so keep writing Ms. James and I'll keep reading, BRAVO!!

What is there not to like about Alana and Merrick? They were wonderful. I loved reading their story. Merrick never treated Alana as Rolfe treated Ceidre in The Conqueror going so far as to marry her off to his best friend and taking her on their wedding night. Alana and Merrick's story was filled with love, not like Rolfe and Ceidre, which was filled with brutality and betrayal. I much preferred Merrick and Alana's story of love to the brutal cruelty of The Conqueror. Alana and Merrick were well matched and their love came out strongly and nicely where you could relax and enjoy the storyline. There was warmth in their story and her gift was an extra touch. Merrick never treated her with indifference. Their feelings for one another and reactions to the other gave the reader a warm, fuzzy feeling. I felt they were strong, flushed out characters that made their story a very enjoyable read. Samantha James is an excellent writer that has her own style and stands with the best. Us squeamish readers need our writers too.

I read this story a long time ago. I will probably need to purchase a new book sometime soon because the one that I have is almost falling apart. This is a pretty old book. I think it was written in the early nineties. The formula for the story (Norman Knight and Saxon peasant) has been used before, but the author works their magic in a special way. With most historical romances of this period. You begin to feel ambivalent toward the hero or heroine. Not with in this book!! You understand the reasons for the heroine's anxiety, and you also understand the pov of the hero. I highly recommend this book.

I liked this book. It did remind me of Kathleen E. Woodiwiss's The Wolf and the Dove but it didn't have the strong character developement that that book had. The hero, Merrick is a Norman Lord who has taken be force the Heroine's home. Alana, is a Saxon who was the former lord's bastard child. She is feared by the villagers because of her dreams that tend to come true. He makes her his mistress despite the fact that she fights him at every turn. She must over come her own feelings of hate to love this conqueror and he must overcome his distrust of her. The story is a good one but I wished the characters had a bit more substance.

HE IS MERRICK OF NORMANDY, THE NEW LORD OF BRYNWALD CASTLE. SHE IS ALANA,THE ILLEGITIMATE DAUGHTER OF THE SLAIN SAXON LORD OF BRYNWALD. FROM THE TIME THEY MEET,HE IS DETERMINED THAT SHE WILL OBEY HIM, SHE IS JUST AS DETERMINED TO FIGHT HIM. THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THESE TWO CHARACTERS WILL STAY WITH YOU WAY AFTER YOU FINISH READING THE BOOK. A FAST PACED PAGE TURNER TO THE END. AN EXCELLENT READ!!!

After reading all of the reviews, I was under impression that the book would be something like Brenda Joyce "Conqueror", it was not even close to that! Merrick came out looking completely weak and powerless. He couldn't control the villagers or anyone else for that matter, allowing his own people to plot against him. Most of his dialogue was " I am your lord and conqueror. You will be mine." But all he did is whine this entire book. The author spend so much time leading to the inevitable sex scene, it was absurd- with all this bathing and sleeping in the nude,by the time they actually did it no one cared! Alana's strange devotion to the same people that hated and abused her all of her life, not to mention her sister that clearly despises her, makes her look incredibly stupid. And why bother giving characters names, if all they called themselves is " Saxon" and "Norman"? If you want a strong hero who is in control, read the "Conqueror" by Joyce!

The general theme and occurences of this book parallels Brenda Joyce's The Conqueror, but makes a poor job of it. The 'hero' makes empty threats throughout the book and eventually loses the respect of the readers as he began to sound weak with his empty threats. The heroine is made to be a matyr who remains loyal to 'her people' despite their rejection and cruelty to her. She lacks intelligence in that she is unable to judge a person from his actions rather than from the nation of his origin. Throughout the book she makes these petty attempts at 'escaping' but makes no clear plan on how to go about it. The book is most boring and frustrating in that it fails to draw the audience into the emotions of its characters. After a-while you feel that the author has cheated you because of wasted time. The book gives the impression that the author went through the motions of putting in the ingredients and forgetting to mix or add heat. The product lacks chemistry and was a waste of time.

Norman conqueror takes over castle, finds Saxon village girl he is attracted to, makes her his own personal slave, forces her to reside in his private chamber, burns her cottage, isolates her from the people she cares about, blackmails her into having sex with him, and he wonders why he's getting all this hostility from her?

Now where have I read this before?

Oh yes! Now I remember. Kathleen Woodiwiss's "The Wolf and The Dove!" Give or take a few plot twists, this story has the same sequence of events. Although, I have to credit Ms. Woodiwiss on the fact that she took the time to create developed characters, a hero who treats the heroine better, and an interesting romance. This author did not take the time to develop any of the characters, and she didn't even create any interesting dialogue. It always went something like this: heroine, "I hate you, Norman. I hate you!" hero, "You will be mine! You will serve me any way it pleases me!" I hated reading this the first time, I was ready to chuck this book out the window when their fights are still ending this way on page 220.

Sorry Ms. James. I like intelligent, well-developed characters, fighting that is not so repetitive, and heroes that do not mistreat the heroines out of misplaced jealousy and distrust.