The Wombat's Book Blog

If you're looking for a Medieval romance with a hero who is pretty much a puppy (in the best of ways!) then this is probably what you're looking for.

I read this book the first time when I was in primary school, and lost my copy when I lent it to the pastor's daughter (lending bodice rippers to pastors' daughters is a good way to lose your books) so my memory of it was incredibly vague, to the point where when I started I didn't think I'd read it at all, although the name did sound familiar.

Anyway. I love the characters in this book. Leonie is great, although her pride does get in the way of their relationship - she refuses to allow herself to be seen as a jealous wife, so she makes like she doesn't care that Rolfe's mistress is still living in the castle. Which is pretty understandable, imo - what woman would want to expose herself by admitting that she feels threatened by the competition?

Rolfe on the other hand, is an absolute sweetheart, especially for this genre. He makes one fairly big booboo right at the beginning which definitely makes Leonie think the worst of him, and primes her to believe his bitchy former mistress' lies. His main problem, though, is that he's a bit naive about women and tends to believe what Amelia tells him without much question - for example, when his castle suddenly gets cleaned up after Leonie's arrival, he doesn't even question it when Amelia tells him that it was all her own work.

The thing is that you can see why they believe what they believe - Rolfe's big booboo trying to seduce Leonie while not knowing who she is doesn't exactly scream 'faithful husband', and Leonie's cold attitude doesn't exactly say 'loving wife' either.

This is not a Big Drama sort of book. It's a small story about two people learning to trust and believe in each other, and I really enjoyed it quite a lot.