The Loyal Heart (The Noble Hearts: Book One) [Kindle Edition]

Merry Farmer (Author)

Book Description

Lady Aubrey has a problem. Several problems. Her childhood love, Ethan, has returned home from the Crusades, but he’s more interested in winning his land back than wooing her. She has to rescue a pair of nuns who are being held prisoner in Derby Castle’s tower by the sadistic Sheriff Buxton. And to top it all off, she’s developing scandalous feelings for Buxton’s lackey, the dark and devilish Crispin. Faced with all that what’s a girl to do but don her disguise as the Derbywood Bandit and take matters into her own hands?

Sir Crispin is at his wit’s end. Not only does he have his hands full keeping Buxton from killing half the shire, now his arch nemesis, the Derbywood Bandit, has joined forces with his old rival, Ethan. And that’s nothing compared to the burning torch he carries for his ex-fiancé, Lady Aubrey. He would do anything to win Aubrey’s love …

… until he suspects that there could be a closer connection between Aubrey and the Derbywood Bandit than anyone has guessed.


Four and a Half Stars

This is a really entertaining book with love, lust, action, intrigue, humour, stress, happiness and sadness and is well worth taking the time out of your day to read.

-Lindsay and Jane’s Views and Reviews

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Merry Farmer is an award-winning novelist who lives in suburban Philadelphia with her two cats, Butterfly and Torpedo. She has been writing since she was ten years old and realized one day that she didn't have to wait for the teacher to assign a creative writing project to write something. It was the best day of her life. She then went on to earn not one but two degrees in History so that she would always having something to write about. Today she is a giant History nerd and a hopeless romantic waiting for her own love story to start.

Product Details

• File Size: 567 KB
• Print Length: 322 pages
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005R4K75W
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #68,334 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars loved it March 27, 2012

By MJ

Format:Kindle Edition

When Ethan returns home from the crusades, he discovers his home has been reclaimed and a new Lord has been appointed in his place. He also discovers that the new adversary in town `the Derbywood bandit' is not a man but is Lady Aubrey; the sister of his old friend and neighbour. Crispin, the man Ethan believes killed his father now lives in his home and acts like he's Lord of the Manor. Much seems to have changed in the two years Ethan has been away!

I think I was expecting a run of the mill romance when I picked up this book but that isn't what I got. `The Loyal Heart' is kind of a reverse adaptation of `Robin hood prince of Thieves'........Our Robin is a tough female who disguises herself as a man and keeps the local Bailiff Crispin on his toes by out manoeuvring him and his men at every turn..... Don't misunderstand me the story quickly moves along and isn't a rehash of this well known legend.

Aubrey our MC has been in love with Ethan for years but it has taken her this long to realise that really he is a selfish ass and not worthy of her attention, on the other hand Crispin who she has spent years thinking is an ass turns out to be rather thoughtful and nice. It takes Aubrey's realisation of this fact for Ethan to finally notice Aubrey as a woman rather than his friends little sister. Definitely a case of not realising what you've got `til it's gone and wanting what you can't have! There were some fairly unpredictable things in this plot........I didn't expect ------ to happen, Well I'm not going to give that away am I! But there were a couple of things that surprised me and I liked that.

I did notice a few typo's, `out' instead of `our' wrong tense and things like that, they weren't excessive but they were noticeable, it didn't take away my enjoyment of the story but I have deducted point 5 from my rating because of them.

This is a really entertaining book with love, lust, action, intrigue, humour, stress, happiness and sadness and is well worth taking the time out of your day to read.

Copy supplied for review

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Engaging April 4, 2012

By Mary Ann

Format:Kindle Edition

I enjoyed reading this book. It was fun and engaging.

If I was going to offer the author some pointers I'd say

a) Add a little more description to set the scene. I kind of know what medieval England might look like but not everyone would. It would also add to the atmosphere.

b) All the characters need a little more depth, back history, motivation and detail. Why and how is Aubrey so good with a sword? What did Crispin do that was so awful in the past? Why don't the people of Ethan's estates want him back?

c) Find another word for smirk!

OK, so the last one was a bit pedantic but it was used enough that I started to notice it.

In spite of these points and a few other minor quibbles it was a pleasure to read and I should say that the sex scenes are really well written. It all moves along at a good pace. I liked it enough that I'll be reading the sequel.

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Fun, Great Story October 7, 2011

By Laura Kent

Format:Kindle Edition

First, I wish to qualify my review. I hear many e-books are subject to "friend review" suspicion when 5 stars are involved. I only met Miss Farmer online in recent months, and while we've had friendly exchanges, I am not in the circle of friends and contacts involved in the making of this book. We met and talked primarily because I found her website and loved the posts she put up. I gave her a few blog awards and though this book, as "historical romance," was out of my preferred genre, my enjoyment of her posts led me to sample it on Smashwords.

I had an easy excuse to pass on reviewing and rating this if I didn't like it (not my genre) and I wasn't obligated to either. Am I biased? Possibly, but only because I loved Merry's blog before picking up her book. I'm a fan first.

I hit the end of 20% and thought, what, already?! I dished out the $3 that same day to read the rest. I spent all day reading (not all that unusual for me with a good book) and finished it up the same day I got it. That is unusual for me. I usually take my time with books (sometimes reading more than one at a time). There are only two reasons I read a book all in one day. It is either a fairly easy read (ie fluff) or I just can't put it down.

I couldn't put The Loyal Heart down for long. Merry taps into my childhood love for swashbuckling adventure but inserts a character I always wanted in the fray. A swashbuckling woman without a crutch. She's not Robin Hood's girl, or his daughter, or "The love interest." She's not defined by a better/more well-known man. She's Aubrey and her story may share common threads with the Robin Hood legend, but it stands on its own and turns it on its head.

What Maguire did for Oz, Merry does for the Robin Hood story. The only difference is that Merry draws on research and real places during the times surrounding the legend and turns Loyal Heart into its own story with hints of the legend. This is not a rehash of an old story, it stands on its own.

Only one part of the text gave me pause, but I don't want to give it away. I'll only say I found it odd for the character near the end and wasn't sure I "bought" that they'd make a certain assumption about a certain death without making sure. I also only found about 10 typos max and they were easily read over with the intended words. This is the only reason I wavered between 4 and 5 stars. It was really only enough to make a 1/4 of a star difference, so I rounded up.

I can't wait for book 2, it moves on to the not a nun, nun as the main character and her comic relief (in book 1) love interest. Yes, non-nun nuns have love interests. And no, it's not something out of Sister Act!

More About the Author

Merry Farmer lives in suburban Philadelphia with her two cats, Butterfly and Torpedo. She has been writing since she was ten years old and realized one day that she didn't have to wait for the teacher to assign a creative writing project to write something. It was the best day of her life. She then went on to earn not one but two degrees in History so that she would always having something to write about. Today she walks along the cutting edge of Indie Publishing, writing Historical Romance and Women's Sci-Fi. She is also passionate about blogging, knitting, and cricket and is working towards becoming an internationally certified cricket scorer.

You can email her at [e-mail] or follow her on Twitter @merryfarmer20.

Merry also has a blog, http://merryfarmer.net, and a Facebook page, www.facebook.com/merryfarmerauthor, and loves visitors.