Customer Reviews

From This Moment On (De Piaget Family)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

If you're familiar with Lynn Kurland's book, you may have feeling that this one is not her best. This book is actually a sequal to "This is all I ask". However, it can stand alone. The story is about a "bride quest" of Sir Colin of Berkamshire, a character from the previous book. After fleeing her marriage to the scariest man on earth, Colin of Berkamshire, Alinore of Solonge disguised as a knight and found herself accompanied Colin's latest future bride to her wedding. She ended up at the same place where she ran away from two years ago. Not only she had to face The butcher of Berkamshire again, Alinore also ended up being a knight in Colin's garrison and was trained by Colin himself. As for Colin, while trying to train his new sweet-looking soldier to be a 'real' knight, he couldn't help having some good feeling towards his new soldier which, of course, turned up to be a lovely lady at the end. In this book, you also have a chance to read about other adorable characters from 'This is all I ask' again. However, in my opinion, Colin character in this book is a bit less charming. Although Lynn Kurland's writing is still very cute and fun, there's something missing about this book. Alinore is a mixture of an adorable heroine and a not-so-smart character which can be annoying from time to time. There's also some redundant, boring scenes specially when the book telling about Colin's effort to train Alinore (again and again) and when Alinore was so scared of Colin to reveal her true self (again) while others already knew who she really was. I admit that I laughed a lot while reading but didn't have a really good impression towards the book at the end. So If you're Lynn Kurland's fan, I know, although it's not the best but you can't help yourself to buy this book (just like me). But if you're not that familiar with Kurland's books, try her other excellent masterpieces such as 'Stardust of Yesterday' or 'This is all I ask' before coming back to this one. Although not superb, I still love Lynn Kurland's work...

On a positive note, I found the characters of Alienore and Colin to be amusing and somewhat endearing. Colin was a total slob who never took baths, wore a years worth of meals on his cloths, and like to use the sleeve of his shirt to blow his nose (yuck), but he was also very kind and sweet in a bumbling, thickheaded way. Alienore, who also had an aversion to baths, might be classified as an amusing wimp who eventually stops squeaking and sniffling and develops a little spunk.

On the negative side, I found the pace of the book to be very slow, compounded by the fact that it was way too long. It probably could have been cut in half without loosing any of the important stuff. There was also NO romance or sexual tension between Alienore and Colin. In fact, for most of the book Colin is not even aware that his squire Henri (Alienore in disguise) is a woman. Did I mention that Colin is not very bright? Another pet peeve I had was the way the sentences were constructed. I guess the author was trying to create an "old English" feel to the text, but I just found it cumbersome to follow.

This book made me laugh so many times - Colin is hilarious! This is one of her best stories yet and makes me very sorry that Jason's story was only a novella (he figures prominently in this story). Her cast of characters is wide but not overwhelming and her recurring characters from past stories (Christopher, Gillian, Jason, the three witches, etc...) add to the story well without trying to take over the telling. If you've never read Kurland, and I have read them all, this book will give you an excellent taste of what you've been missing and send you straight back to Amazon.com to buy all of her previous works.

When Lynn Kurland is at her best--she is is an unstoppable force. She blows you over with her words, stops your heart and suspends time, and finally once the book is over just the thought of putting it down is wrenching. "If I had you" is a prime example of her shining gift as a writer. But when she creates a bad one--they are really, really, horrific. This book should not even be listed under the romance genre because the main focus of the plot is how to be a knight. The love story is nonexistant, and the chemistry is below zero. But I kept reading in hopes that the end would rectify the beginning. If 300 pages into a 400 page book there's not even some kind of spark (however paltry it may be)you have done something terribly wrong. The couple's first kiss--the leading lady's nose is broken by her SMELLY hero's head. Not a stellar romace! It is a constant miss the entire way through. I was left feeling cheated. However, I have not given up. Lynn will write another book as equally remarkable as this book was disasterous!

"From This Moment On," by Lynn Kurland is a delighful book. I enjoy stories created around this time period. Bestselling author Lynn Kurland transports the reader back to the thirteenth century with all the spark and passion of medieval England. An engaging story with colorful characters, fun dialogue, and a plot second to none!

John Savoy
Savoy International
Motion Pictures Inc.

Two years ago warrior Colin of Berkhamshire and Lady Alienore of Solgne were to marry. However, the bride decides not to wed the infamous "Butcher of Berkhamshire instead fleeing into the night. No one has seen Alienore since she vanished. Except for his father's machinations of finding potential wives for Colin to marry and sire an heir, the Butcher is very happy to remain single. Meanwhile Ali hides in plain sight by donning knight armor and going about as Sir Henri though she worries that her malfeasance stepmother will uncover her identity and foster her on Colin.

Ali currently escorts Colin's latest intended, but when she ends up in his garrison, he takes a liking to the disguised woman. As he starts training her in the art of warfare, she begins falling in love with her host as she finds him to be kind hearted and not the harsh Butcher she expected. Colin wonders why Ali is in every dream and thought he has since he always loved the women.

FROM THIS MOMENT ON could have been a poorly crafted homophobic tale, but Lynn Kurland insures that this medieval romance never falls into any stereotyping traps. Instead readers obtain a wonderful, often amusing historical romance starring two characters whose personalities are so complete that the Butcher shows his "feminist" side and the gentle rose shows her warrior thorns. Fans will relish Lynn Kurland's latest entry that is all a reader can ask of an author.

Harriet Klausner

Okay the hero wasn't the norm Alpha male who beds everything in sight, but that's the great part about this alpha, okay he has a 'few' personal cleanliness issues, and so does the heroine. But I loved it, I loved the way he wanted to change for the heroine, I loved it how she loved him, how she looked at him and made him feel, which in turn he wanted her to always look like that at him so he kept thinking of things he could do to keep her looking with love at him. Just a look, that's all it needed for him to try to change for her, do anything to keep the love. Romance, oh thank you to Lynn Kurland for giving me a wonderful romance to read and a wonderful Hero (oh so tired of all the adulterous hero's) he may not be handsome, smart, cultured, but he loved our heroine and he wanted to love,protect her and be happy and content with her, you just know that they will have a HEA. Okay he said he wasn't a great lover, but he was definatley working on that with our heroine and she was happy to work on it with him, I'm sure she and every other heroine out there would prefer their hero to be like Colin and work on it with them and learn together, rather than the hero having slept with half the country, and having nothing special to learn to experience together because he's done everything with everyone before. Yes I definatley love this Hero so much better, thanks.

other readers have written more detailed descriptions of the plot. I just want to recommend this one as one of my favorites from this author.
Colin our hero is one of my favorites so far. His gruff manly exterior encases a very tender and sweet heart. He is so perfect with his faults that I doubted the heroine would deserve him. But surprisingly enough, she did. She sometimes sounds weak, but we slowly realize she is doing her best.
The three witches are hylarious.

Some complained about the lenght of the book, but I for one enjoy a good reading with the proper character development and no rushing through a predictable plot and an even more predictable end.

I highly recommend this book.

I'm a bit disappointed, too. She didn't write Colin near as complexly as she hinted at in This Is All I Ask. He could have been so much better and she copped out. I have to admit that My Heart Stood Still was a bit of a let-down, too, though they both pick toward the end. Overall, I'd have to say that Robin and Ann were sweeter (If I Had You), Chris and Gillian were more heart-rending (This Is All I Ask) and Rhys and Gwen were far funnier (Another Chance To Dream). Let's hope the next are better than the last.

This has to actually be the WORST of Kurland's full-length novels. It's so poor, I can't even remember what I didn't like about it without having the book in front of me! I love Lynn Kurland books - I buy every one as soon as I can find it - but her quality seems to be suffering as of late. These characters were rather unbelievable, poorly developed and stereotypical. The plot was draggy and repetitious ... I could go on. I was VERY disappointed. The lone redeeming factor was the momentary flashes of the Kurland talent and humor, but those were few and far between. Please, Lynn - what happened to the splendor of A Dance through Time and the other early books?