Customer Reviews

The Truest Heart

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

 

 

This is the first Samantha James novel I've ever read and I was led to it by the favorable reviews of her other works. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be one of her better books. There's nothing horribly wrong with it but it was just an average read.

Prose style: The language is overly flowery and James writes this book as if she's being paid by the adjective.

The Heroine: The heroine is a bit of a ninny. She knows that not only her own life but the life of her young brother depend upon her keeping her identity a secret and yet she can't even lie about her name to a man made delerious by fever.

The Hero: He posesses all the stock romance hero characteristics---good looking, tall, arrogant but tender, passionate to the point of near-madness etc. ----but he never really comes to life.

The Plot: A very good premise but the action of this novel is too dependant on the main characters doing totally inexplicable things just to move the story along.

Lady Gillian of Westerbrook has taken refuge along the coast of Cornwall in this novel set in early thirteenth century England. Her father conspired to murder King John and was afraid that the King would choose to harm his children. Before he took his own life, Gillian's father, Ellis of Westerbrook, ordered his children, Gillian and Clifton, into separate places of hiding.

While walking along the beach one day with her trusted friend Brother Baldric, Gillian discovers the bodies of men washed along the shore after a shipwreck. One man is miraculously alive, and she takes him back to her cottage to nurse him back to health.

Though he is finally able to recall his name, Gareth is unable to remember anything of his past life when at first rescued by Gillian. She cares for him with utmost tenderness and kindness, as bits and pieces of his memory return. Sensing that Gillian is in danger from King John, Gareth, Lord Sommerfield, takes her back to Sommerfield to protect her. Can Gillian really trust this man to save her from the wrath of the King, and will she lose her heart in the process?

Samantha James has written a poignant love story that leaves the reader questing for more. The tension between hero and heroine is apparent as it is clear that neither truly trusts the other. Murder and mystery add substance to this plot as Gareth and Gillian discover the meaning of unconditional love.

In 1215 England, King John needed to break his prisoner Gilbert of Lincoln, who refused to divulge the identity of his ally in an attempt to assassinate His Highness. However, before John can force the identify of Gilbert's associate, the noble kills himself, much to the monarch's consternation. John decides treason must not go unpunished. He orders Westerbrook burned to the ground and Gilbert's son and daughter killed. He orders Gareth of Sommerfield to perform the deed, using the man's son as hostage.

Gilbert's daughter Lady Gillian hides in a poor cottage on the Cornwall coast where she rescues a shipwrecked stranger claiming amnesia. Gillian helps the stranger recover and as his memory begins to return, Gareth knows that his hostess is in danger, but soon realizes the danger comes from him. The Widower Gareth marries Gillian and claims she carries his child to keep her from John's wrath. However, besides the intrigue of the King, their relationship lacks trust leaving their love standing on a shaky base.

THE TRUEST HEART is an enjoyable medieval romance that focuses on the intrigue and machinations of the times. King John comes across as a vengeful manipulator who uses anyone as a pawn to achieve his desires. Gareth is an honorable person while Gillian has good reason for her shrewish behavior, which leaves the audience to wonder how love can survive. Samantha James provides readers with a wonderful historical romance that shows why she is a fan favorite.

Harriet Klausner

I liked the premise behind the story; that a person's inner morals and beliefs can override a king's command and yet still work out in the end. However, both the hero and the heroine are lacking in almost all other virtues. Lady Gillian's father died to protect someone else, also to keep her and her brother safe. Even so, this doesn't keep her from blabbing the entire situation to the first stranger she meets. Gareth's behavior toward Gillian once he regains his memory is horrid; I would rather face the consequences than be bound to someone like that my entire life! Even towards the end he just barely redeems himself. Not my idea of a hero. It's not really a bad book, just not one I would recommend to the discriminating reader.

Lady Gillian of Westerbrook's father made an attempt on King John's life. Her father killed himself without confessing the name of the other man who was in on the plot. King John is furious and has declared forfeit the lives of his children. Gillian and her younger brother go separately into hiding. Gillian is in Cornwall with Brother Baldric when a ship is wrecked on the beach. One man survives. He is badly wounded, and Gillian takes him in to nurse him back to health. He claims his name is Gareth but remembers nothing else of his life. Distrustful of everyone, Gillian tries to hide her identity, but Gareth finds her out. When he is well enough to travel, he takes her to Sommerfield, his home. There, he remembers the horrible truth-- the king has charged him with the duty of killing Gillian! Gillian and Gareth's story makes for an absorbing, well-researched medieval.

THE TRUEST HEART is a pleasant, but not great, read. It's the story of Gillian and Gareth, two people who meet in the most unusual and almost unbelievable circumstances. Gillian is of the purest heart and cannot tell a lie even to save her own life. Gareth is of the truest heart and would even give his own life to save Gillian's.

This tale covers a death sentence, amnesia, mystery, love, sensuality and a very good, unforeseeable ending. All of these are very good ingredients for a love story.

Whether it be that I read far too many romances of late or that this book didn't impress me, I don't know. Maybe I am just wearing out the genre. This was a good book, not particularly memorable, but it certainly wasn't bad. It has all the heroines requist tears and blushes, she was beautiful, and he was handsome with the personal obstacles to love.

I don't know what it is that made this book good but unmemorable but if I had to guess I think it was the timing. Things went from unconsciousness to make out in just a few pages. I suppose my other problem is that if your going to mention a complicated scene, such as the scene when the hero must lift a large ill man by himself when he supposedly an equally injured man, it must be difficult, one sentence will not do. It is distracting to read the next sentence that went something like : "then later this happened and all was well." It destroys an opportunity to bond on a human level with the characters otherwise they are just plastic dolls. Without detailed descriptions of other events, the overly detailed, multi-paged, sexual descriptions seem out of place.

While reading the escapade of Lady Gillian and Gareth, the Lord of Sommerfield, I encountered two conflicting images. Samantha James fills the story's launch with tenderness, and the reader sees trust and friendship taking shape.

Regrettably, the book's setting changes and we move to Castle Sommerfield. When Gillian realizes her new friend is her assigned assassin, the tenderness shatters. The author now dips into the familiar writing technique -- distrust -- and what is distrust without fighting. Now Lady Gillian moves through her days with extensive unhappiness.

Still the story is entertaining, mysterious, and passionate. The writer has great fun with Gareth's son, Robbie. His charming little life captivates the reader.

In the final pages, the author ties and neatly disposes all the nagging problems. Even Gillian's guardian comes back from the clutches of death; extraordinarily, Gillian's lost brother returns with him. One disappointment, when Gareth declares his love, I wished both wives could have had equality - there is no reason Gillian should dominate his heart more.

Grace Atkinson, Ontario - Canada.

This is a wonderfully written book full of interesting characters. Gillen and Gareth definitely should be together, however, with the threat to Gillian's life and Gareth's son from the King James, things are bound to go wrong. Samantha James is a wonderful author I enjoy her books

Gillian and Gareth are truly wonderful protagonists. I loved them both. Gillian is the heroine with the heart of gold and Gareth is truly the hero with the TRUEST HEART. This is a fun, entertaining book. I read it in one sitting because I was thoroughly entrenched in the story and what would happen next. Any book that can do that for me, is a FIVE STAR book.