Customer Reviews

Lord of Midnight (Signet Historical Romance)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For some reason, I am less keen on mediaeval romances than on those set in the Regency or Georgian period. However, with books like this one, and Mary Jo Putney's Uncommon Vows, I might read mediaevel more often!

Renald de Lisle, the new King's Champion, fights in a tourney on the king's behalf, and kills his man. As a reward, he is given the dead man's estate, Summerbourne, but the king asks him to marry one of the unmarried women on the estate. By process of elimination, he chooses Claire Summerbourne, the dead man's daughter, as his wife.

Claire - still in mourning for her father - is deeply distrustful of de Lisle: she is wary of him because he is a warrior by profession, and she resents his acquisition of her father's property. She doesn't want to marry him, but has little choice. However, by the day of their betrothal the two have come to understand each other, and by the following day - their wedding day - they are ready to admit that they love each other.

However - as the editorial review above makes clear - it's at this point that Claire discovers Renald is the man who killed her father, and she realises that she cannot commit to him.

The remainder of the book deals with Renald and Claire coming to terms with the harsh knowledge which lies between them, made all the more difficult by Renald's feeling that he did nothing wrong; he was acting lawfully and in accordance with the king's instructions. How Claire comes to understand and forgive, and to reconcile her love for Renald with her love for her father, is told very well and very convingly by Beverley.

The historical detail is also very interesting, as well as being accurate; I certainly learned a lot from this book.

My only complaint is that - typically - there was no indication on the book's cover, or even inside before the start of the book, that this was a sequel to another mediaeval romance by Beverley, Dark Champion. While reading Lord of Midnight, I kept coming across references to Imogen and Fitzroger, and when eventually these characters were encountered, it did seem as if readers were supposed to be familiar with them. Beverley's postscript then revealed that Lord of Midnight is a sequel to Dark Champion. I wouldn't say that it's essential to read Dark Champion first, but I did feel that it might have been useful to have read it. I do wish publishers would be honest when one book is a sequel to another!

Can you live with the man who killed your father? Jo Beverley believes that you can, that love can conquer anything - even that. That is probably the main reason I gave this book 4 stars only.. everything else about it is excellent, but I found the central theme too difficult to swallow.

The characters are very well written.. Renald is hard, tough, unyielding.. but oddly vulnerable in his attraction to Claire.. she is defeated, heartbroken and vulnerable, but beautifully strong in her pride and dignity..

Very well written.. the twists and turns will surprise you and delight you.. funny at time, heart wrenching at others.. what else can you ask for from a historical romance?

Jo Beverley was doing quite well with this historical piece until she wrote herself into a corner. Although it was quite a dramatic set-up--the hero tricking the heroine into marriage, when she doesn't know he's the man who killed her father--you can tell that the author had a problem making a convincing argument for why we and the heroine should forgive him and fall in love. Quite frankly, it didn't succeed. She sets up Renald as a liar and a sycophant of a King with dubious character, who has killed the girl's father, a man who was no warrior. He comes across as rather creepy, following her around to make certain nobody tips her off until he's got her safely wedded and bedded. At first, the heroine is resolute in her hatred of this conqueror who invades her house, even before she knows the truth. You can actually feel a heavy hand from the author, first having Claire unaccountably fall in love with him, and then unaccountably forgive him after she learns the terrible truth. It's forced, it's infuriating, and ultimately, I had to stop before finishing the book because it all became an extremely transparent "sell job" where the author was singing the hero's praises in an effort to redeem him in our eyes and justify his role as the heroine's worthy husband. I wasn't convinced.

To make matters worse, heroine Claire was an unappealing airhead who couldn't seem to make up her mind about anything. She hates the conqueror and cuts off her hair to make sure she's ugly, then worries about how she's going to look. She loves adorable baby animals, but doesn't hesitate to eat them when they are served up at her wedding feast. She wants to run away or defy the invader in her household, despite the fact that her family might be evicted into poverty or killed by an enraged Renald. She hates him, loves him, hates him, loves him, hates him...and all at the rather obvious direction of the Author. It's like watching someone trying to make two mismatched puzzle pieces fit, and just about as interesting.

Renald de Claire is a shadow of the character first introduced in the prequel to LORD OF MIDNIGHT, entitled DARK CHAMPION.

LORD OF MIDNIGHT tells the tale of Renald arriving at Summerbourne with the body of Clarence Summerbourne, traitor to the throne. He has been sent there by the King's order to marry one of the three maidens at Summerbourne and to deliver the body of the man he killed. Claire Summerbourne and her two aunts are the marital choices, however the two aunts flee to the convent leaving Claire to take on the responsibility.

The entire premise to the story is dismal and the fact this man has killed the family's patriarch is disturbing, not to mention that one of them must marry him. Claire Summerbourne, being the obvious choice to become the intended bride does not talk much with Renald, her intended, until midway through the story. Though we are lead to believe she is falling in love, there is very little chemistry between them.

Renald, who was a light and impulsive character when we first meet him in DARK CHAMPION, is a ghost of that man in this story. Not portrayed when we first meet him as a serious warrior, he is every bit that in this story. Understandably he has just killed a man and now must marry his daughter. This could potentially explain his change in attitude though the change is not fully embraced nor the story believable. Bastard FitzRoger, who he played 2nd to in that story, clearly out shadows him and it is hard to understand the change to the enchanting Renald in DARK CHAMPION.

Sparks begin to fly eventually and Jo Beverley is a consistently good storyteller making the read worthwhile but not with the heavy punches of her two earlier medievals.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I have read my share of historical fiction and it is terrible how many really bad authors are out there. Jo Beverley is not one of them. This book is well researched, honest and very believable. I agree that with the previous reviewer that marrying your father's murderer would be wrong but, frankly, if you read the book you would see that this is exactly the dilemma faced by our heroine. In the bloody days of the medieval era the rules of society were not quite the same as ours. And when one understands the role of the King's Champion it changes matters even further. What can I say? Read the book. The hero is wonderful. . .understanding, gentle as well as the big bad plundering wolf that the heroine thinks he is. In a genre that used to be full of controlling and almost abusive heroes, this one is a charmer I'd like to meet today!!

In 1101 England, Lord Renald de Lisle, acting as the King's Champion, duels and kills the peace loving Lord Clarence of Summerbourne, a traitor who refuses to pledge fealty to the throne. King Henry grants the Summerbourne estates to Renald with the caveat that he marry one of the three maidens residing there.

When Renald arrives, he receives a cold reception from the residing four women, but marries Clarence's daughter, Claire. He soon falls in love with his bride, but worries that when she learns the truth about her father's death, she will hate him forever. She reciprocates his feelings of love until she learns the truth on their wedding night. Can their love be strong enough to overcome the fact that he killed her father?

LORD OF MIDNIGHT is an extremely enjoyable Medieval romance that fans of the sub-genre (and for that matter historical romance readers in general) will relish. The story line is an intriguing period piece and the battling lead protagonists make a fun to read couple. Jo Beverly is clearly one of the leading writers lighting up the Dark Ages.

Harriet Klausner

I always used to hate medieval romances because I thought they were dry and boring...and most of them probably were, but not thsi one. I had read two of Jo Beverley's Georgian books before and I really liked her style so I decided to give this one a chance. Halfway through, I was still unconvinced that medievals COULD be good, but towards the ending I was mesmerized and couldn't put it down.
I think the thing with Jo Beverley is that her romances aren't just about love and sex...they're about the problems that real people actually deal with, about honor, death, God, morals, and all those other tricky questions. And she deals with them beautifully without always losing that passion--and I'm not just talking about the lovers'. This book goes so deep and really makes me think about the problem with justice, and also to see justice from the medieval point of view and then compare it with our modern day notions.
Before this book, I read romance purely for fun but with Jo Beverley, the word 'romance' has become so much more. Don't get me wrong, the romantic element is as strong here as in any other book, but it is intertwined with some pracical issues which I appreciate.
I really recommend this book and the only reason I don't give it a 5 because I have REALLY high standards for books and a 4 is definitely a good rating for a book I would not look at twice if I found it on a bookshelf before reading Jo Beverley's other romances.

I just love Jo Beverley! She never fails to move you into the period and into the hearts of minds of her main characters. Here you have the story of Claire Summerbourne, anxiously awaiting the return of her father from a rebellion to overthrow the upstart king Henry Beauclerk. Instead, who rides up to the castle but Renald de Lisle, kings champion, to bring her fathers body home and assume ownership and title to Summerbourne.

He has won the prize of Summerbourne, along with the kings orders to wed without delay, one of the three maidens living there and to care for the rest of the deceased Lord Summerbournes family.

Meeting Claire Summerbourne, he is immediately taken with her and as much as she would admit to herself, she finds him physically disturbing. The plot goes on with Renald trying to wed the lovely Claire before she discovers his awful truth.

The characters are so well fleshed out, you can feel all the emotions and struggles each has in their hearts and soul. Again, a most magnificent story set in and during the reign of King Henry. I also love the way she reintroduces characters from previous novels so that the flow of these books brings you back to revisit the other characters that you hated to lose track of once their stories had ended.

The characters are easier to relate to. Renald is everything you look for in a man. He is intelligent, strong, witty,passionate and most of all patient! Claire is everything you want to be as a woman. They were meant for each other! I loved it!

I found this book to be an engrossing read. The story flows easily and it kept my interest, which isn't surprising, given Jo Beverley's storytelling talent. That said, once I had closed the book, I found I had a few gripes with the story.

I realize that the premise was a difficult one: could Claire love her father's killer? I could suspend disbelief long enough to accept that Claire would EVENTUALLY come to love Renald, and the story would have been perfect if the author had shown us how she came to love him and what the hero did to conquer her heart. Well, he didn't have to do much, because she fell in love almost on sight and for no discernible reason (other than his being handsome and attractive, which is one lame motive given the difficult context of the story).

We don't get much additional information from the hero, either. In fact, the story does without his thoughts and feelings completely, as it is told from Claire's point of view, leaving us readers to wonder at Renald's declaration of love for the heroine: it comes out of nowhere, much like the heroine's feelings.

In sum, I enjoyed the book, but found myself having to do increasingly strong efforts at suspending my disbelief. Jo Beverley's books usually require less work in this sense.