Philip Castillo Castillo itibaren Golubka, Polen
Good to read for parents of girls and boys..funny too
A quick, super-hot paranormal jaunt!
Well-researched and highly detailed depiction of the era of the Crusades at the end of the 12th century. But tough slogging for someone who is more accustomed to (and prefers) a pure romance. This story is a historical novel with a love story as its main plot driver, not a historical romance per se. The violence, lawlessness and politics of the time pretty much preclude a "happily ever after" ending for this story, not to mention the fact that the hero Simon is 30 years older than the heroine Alinor. I didn't really like that aspect of their relationship and found it hard to believe that Alinor would fall in love with a man old enough to be her grandfather (in medieval times this was completely possible). Simon's falling in love with a girl young enough to be his granddaughter is also a little hard to believe, although he does constantly berate himself for being in that situation and takes a very long time to accept that Alinor does actually love him. Some interesting real-life historical personages appear as secondary characters in the book: William Marshal and his wife Isobel of Clare, Eleanor of Aquitaine, dowager queen of England at the time, and king Richard I (known as the Lionheart) of England. Also his younger brother John, who eventually became the "evil King John" of the legend of Robin Hood, and Berengaria, the wife of Richard I, although it is not known if their marriage was ever actually consummated, Richard apparently having homosexual tendencies and Berengaria being completely disgusted at the reality of marriage and sexual intercourse (she eventually became a nun).