Conquer the Night

Hey romance reader fans...don't expect to read medieval romance and not come across the occasional "forced sex". From the 10th-14th centuries, women were right down there with the ox and the sheep. Christianity didn't do us any favors back then, as we were all viewed as "Eve" that could destroy "Adam" if a man allowed us to. It was considered great weakness for a man to follow his emotions/heart too closely. They use to refer to this as "bewitched" the modern version being "whipped." If you took over a castle, and a desirable female was within, she was considered part of the booty you had a right to enjoy (and no one back then thought twice about hearing these stories...sadly not even the women of this time period). In fact, if you had a beautiful wife, and another man decided he wanted her for himself...he simply breeched your castle and took your wife to keep and impregnant with his own offspring. Welcome to medieval romance ladies! As backwards as this causes we modern women to stretch our imagination to the unthinkable, people were essentially barbaric back then. Even men who held great affection for their wives wouldn't hesitate to hit her if he felt the need arise. Believing this was for her own good! If you consider we were still burning witches at the stake not so long ago...appreciate that humans have really evolved in the intelligence of being humane by the 20th century. Some authors like to insert an essence of non-fiction into their fiction. Give them some slack, and respect them for making an effort in keeping it real. In addition, for those of you who really find this offensive, and prefer the fluffy "predictable" romance - I suggest you lean on the side of caution (instead of hammering the author with poor undeserved book reviews) and avoid reading any romance novels that are staged between the 10th and 14th centuries! As romance and courtship back then was of a very different essence. Drake doesn't always write using forced sex as the starting point of growing desire and affection. I personally appreciate Drake's efforts to make her stories as believable and varied as possible.

This was my fourth or fifth Shannon Drake/ Heather Graham book. She is a master story-teller, and I end up loving all of her books, with the exception of Princess of Fire. This particular book is one of my favorites. She balances love and war out wonderfully, so that there isn't too much of one or the other. Her historical details are phenomenal, it's unbelievable how informative her books are! These are romance novels that are not just romance novels.

This book was so good. I really didn't think that I would like the romance between Arryn and Kyra, but as it developed, I fell in love with their relationship. The story itself had alittle of everything you could want. Awesome book!

Once again Shannon Drake strikes gold! The story she weaves will keep you glued to the book. The story of Arryn Granham and Kyra Beniface in my opinion is one of Ms. Drake's best. Ms. Drake weaves a story of two people caught up in turbulent times in Scotland. A time when people like William Wallace, Andrew deMoray fought England's Edward I for freedom. Skillfully she has told a beautiful love story mixed in with true historical facts. Yet not once has this story compromised historical facts nor the purpose of the story of two strong-willed people. You will not be bored with facts, dates and such. Yet the story flows through events; such as, Berwick, Stirling Bridge, yet remains true to the romance novel we want to read. Here is a story of a man, Arryn, hurt, bitter, wanting revenge against Kinsey Darrow, who destroyed his home, his people, killed his wife and his unborn child. Kyra who is to marry Kinsey, is taken prisoner by Arryn and is to be used as a tool for revenge. Yet though all the hurt, bitterness, misunderstandings, a love is born that will survive. This may sound like your typical medieval romance story, and to some degree it is (so what, I love that type of story). However, it is more than typical. It is an excellent written story. I highly recommend this book. Now I have to wait for next year for her third installment of the Granhams.