8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Lush, Emotionally Charged, Sensual Delight!, June 28, 2006
This review is from: Sinful Pleasures: The Templar Knights (Mass Market Paperback)
SINFUL PLEASURES, Mary Reed McCall's second book in her Templar Knights Trilogy is a gloriously romantic story and an outstanding historical drama; based in part on true events. In this exceptionally talented author's skillful hands ~ all the adventure, excitement, political intrigue and rich pageantry of the Medieval Era, as well as, the hardships, conflicts and, life and death struggles faced by the people of that time; are seamlessly woven into the storyline and vividly brought to life for the enjoyment of the reader. Although Ms. McCall's thorough research of the medieval era is clearly reflected in the meticulous attention she pays to historical detail; the author never lets the setting overshadow the beauty of a love story that can be only described as ~ a lush, emotionally charged, sensual delight.
Traditionally, the Holy Order of the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon was made up of proud, noble, strong and highly trained knights who had committed their lives to service and had taken vows of poverty, chastity, piety, and obedience. These valiant warrior-monks or Templar Knights, known for never surrendering in battle, were a fearsome and elite fighting force in medieval times, until ...a fateful Friday the 13th, in October of 1307. On this day King Philip the Fair of France ordered the immediate arrest and imprisonment of all Templar Knights on charges of heresy; allegations many believed was to allow the devious king to officially seize the Templar's vast wealth and assets. Thereafter, began a vile and corrupt inquisition that used horrific and despicable forms of torture to force innocent men to make false confessions of heresy; or perish by their righteous denial. Few men were able to survive hellish "questioning" by the French Inquisition...
The story begins about 6 months after the start of the Inquisition in a chateau in France; where Lady Alissende of Surry has gone to seek refuge. Lady Alissende, a lovely and wealthy young widow is being pressured by her well-meaning mother and Cousin Michael to accept a proxy marriage in order to save herself from being taken by force by her ruthless and unscrupulous Cousin Hugh, the Earl of Harwick ~ whose suit has the Kings support. After suffering in a loveless marriage for four years, Alissende would rather not marry at all, but like most women of her times, she knows she really has no way of protecting herself from the schemes, intrigues and whims of powerful men like the King or Hugh. Michael tells her she needs a strong man to defeat Hugh but it also must appear be a `reason of the heart' to pacify the King. He thinks the best choice for her husband is none other than Damien de Ashby; the man she had so foolishly and publicly rejected five years earlier ~ the man she truly never stopped loving.
Our hero, Damien de Ashby ~ fought hard to rise above his common blood and humble beginnings to become a strong, proud, and honorable knight. Once a well respected and nearly unbeatable tournament champion, known for his brave pure heart and fine face; he was nicknamed the Archangel. After being openly spurned and humiliated in front of nearly two hundred members of King Edward's court by Alissende ~ the woman who had shown him love beyond compare... but then coldly trampled his heart ~ a stunned and devastated Damien left England to devote his life the Templars. Now after spending several months in a French prison being subjected to unspeakable tortures by the Inquisition, Damien is rescued and brought back to health from the brink of death; only to be asked to marry and offer his protection to Alissende ~ the one person he thought he'd never see again in his lifetime. And the one person he's afraid he'll fall in love with all over again.
In this well-plotted story Ms. McCall unveils a riveting, breathtaking and deeply passionate love story between the physically and emotionally scarred hero, Damien and the genuinely remorseful, tender and fun-loving heroine, Alissende. As these remarkable characters rediscover their love for each other; the author treats us to beautifully written love scenes that sizzle with passion and steamy sensuality ~ most especially my favorite, the "erotic picnic" in Chapter 18.
SINFUL PLEASURES is an exquisite tale of two lovers destined to be reunited; and joined together ~ body, heart and soul ~ for all time.
This heartwarming and unforgettable story is not to be missed ~ I can't recommend it enough.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well Worth Reading, September 16, 2008
This review is from: Sinful Pleasures: The Templar Knights (Mass Market Paperback)
Since previous reviewers have outlined the story in "Sinful Pleasures", let me just say that Damien de Ashby reminded me of Brad Pitt in
"Legends of the Fall". Anyone who saw that movie will most likely remember the strength, force, and emotional vulnerability that Pitt's character embodied. Damien de Ashby seemed to me a mirror image of those wonderful masculine qualities.
Strong writing, great characters, a book well worth reading.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good but not great..., October 12, 2011
This review is from: Sinful Pleasures: The Templar Knights (Mass Market Paperback)
The book started off pretty good as most books do, despite the fact that I am not particularly fond of the picture of the hero on the cover (seems young and sort of soft) so I had to kind of block that out and try to picture him differently. Luckily the author manages to make him seem strong and at least in the beginning, gives him a sense of personality. The heroine also started off pretty good. I was able to get a sense of who she was. However, the author's phrasing was inconsistent. Good at times but very contrived at others. When she was on though, she was reminiscent of Marsha Canham or Kathleen Woodiwiss. But then it started to get a bit irritating. The way both the hero and heroine could barely contain themselves through the charade of a wedding I thought, was sort of ridiculous. This is a Templar Knight who had been highly trained and who had withstood torture for a year! And now he can barely control himself just looking at the heroine? Ok. Catch me in the right mood and I'll fall for anything... The author spends to much time, pages and pages on how the heroine drove the hero to complete distraction where he could think of nothing else. This was a bit much for me. I mean I got the point after the first few paragraphs. You really have to wonder how he was ever able to stay celibate while a Templar. And I also did not like the fact that the book started out with them reuniting from five years ago. It was like reading a sequel when you had not read the first book yet. She tells you about it in retrospect but you don't get to read it as it happens. You really don't get the details of why the heroine rejected him until later on in the book. When an author skips ahead and then tells you about what happened in past tense, well this has always been a pet peeve for me and this author does that a lot. Another thing that bothered me was the way all the characters and circumstance were as expected or happened as expected. The very definition of contrived. An example would be the confrontation in the practice yard with one of the men the hero was training. The way in which the author portrayed this guy as a typical bully and then did a total about face after the sparring fight. This was a bit pretentious to me. I found myself skimming over pages because nothing interesting was going on besides the hero's barely uncontrollable lust. And this got old quickly. However it started to get interesting again when the bad guy showed up. But he was kind of typical and predictable too though. I began to notice that when the story started to become more interesting, the skill of the actual writing seems to suffer somewhat. It was sort of like the author got caught up in the action of what was going on with the tournament and all, and then seem to sacrifice creativity, prose and depth. Another thing was that even though this is a book on medieval romance about a Templar Knight, there really isn't much history here. I mean there just wasn't much of a story surrounding the romance. I guess that is a matter of taste though. Some people like the emphasis of a historical romance to be on the romance and I prefer that the history, time, place and atmosphere play a prominent albeit natural part of the romance. When I think of books like "On a Highland Shore, Clandara and Highland Rose with its rich history and highly developed main and secondary characters... I don't know. I just don't get that from this book. Good but just not one I would read again.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
