Sinful Pleasures: The Templar Knights

Since previous reviewers have outlined the story in "Sinful Pleasures", let me just say that Damien de Ashby reminded me of Brad Pitt in "Legends of the Fall". Anyone who saw that movie will most likely remember the strength, force, and emotional vulnerability that Pitt's character embodied. Damien de Ashby seemed to me a mirror image of those wonderful masculine qualities. Strong writing, great characters, a book well worth reading.

Years ago, when she was young and under her family's thumb, Lady Alissande jilted her lover, Sir Damien de Ashby, who was a champion of the tournaments but nevertheless a man of low birth. She married an older man, an earl chosen by her parents, and suffered through a terrible marriage. Now her cousin, an impoverished earl, has caused the death of her husband with the intention of taking Alissande for a wife and thus solving his money woes. He is a brutal unscrupulous man whom Alissande hates and fears. The solution to the threat comes from Father Michael, Alissande's cousin, who is also the brother of the evil earl. He suggests she marry her old flame, Damien, and now her mother is all for it (there was a problem here, but I decided to suspend my disbelief.) Damien, after Alissande jilted him publicly years ago, went and joined the Templar Brotherhood, fought in the Holy Land, and was arrested by the Inquisition along with his brethren when the King of France charged the Templars with heresy (a very interesting period in history that was somewhat overlooked in this book.) He is undergoing torture and is hopeless. But Father Michael arranges Damien's escape, along with a proxy marriage to Alissande and a false Writ of Absolution from the Inquisition. Damien has no idea who helped him, except that it is a lady who needs a husband and protector. He takes a few months to heal somewhere before coming to his bride. When Damien and Alissande finally meet sparks fly. He is still not over her old betrayal. She still loves him. He agrees to become her supposed husband for 6 months and make sure she will never be harassed by her cousin again. (Once again the logic was flawed here. How will Alissande remain safe after the marriage is annulled and Damien leaves for Scotland at the end of the 6 months? They keep talking about her taking a future husband that will be good to her. Okay, how do we know this anonymous future husband will be good to her? Once again, I decided to ignore my disbelief because the premise was very gripping.) Damien and Alissande supposedly get married and now have to live together as husband and wife, including sharing a room and a bed. Damien, because he plans to leave shortly and because he is still angry, makes the decision not to be intimate with Alissande, although we know that she still wants him. I was looking forward to seeing these two sharing a room and a bed with all the tension crackling between them, and at the beginning sparks did fly and I was hooked by the story. But then, maybe because the author didn't know how to keep the tension high without opening the floodgates of desire, she jumped forward two weeks in the story! I was very disappointed at this point. And the "telling" instead of "showing" continued from here to the end of the book. There were really good twists and turns, like when Damien decides to teach her self-defense skills and flirts and caresses her while instructing her, but the author didn't

SINFUL PLEASURES, Mary Reed McCall's second book in her Templar Knights Trilogy is a gloriously romantic story and an outstanding historical drama; based in part on true events. In this exceptionally talented author's skillful hands ~ all the adventure, excitement, political intrigue and rich pageantry of the Medieval Era, as well as, the hardships, conflicts and, life and death struggles faced by the people of that time; are seamlessly woven into the storyline and vividly brought to life for the enjoyment of the reader. Although Ms. McCall's thorough research of the medieval era is clearly reflected in the meticulous attention she pays to historical detail; the author never lets the setting overshadow the beauty of a love story that can be only described as ~ a lush, emotionally charged, sensual delight. Traditionally, the Holy Order of the Poor Knights of the Temple of Solomon was made up of proud, noble, strong and highly trained knights who had committed their lives to service and had taken vows of poverty, chastity, piety, and obedience. These valiant warrior-monks or Templar Knights, known for never surrendering in battle, were a fearsome and elite fighting force in medieval times, until ...a fateful Friday the 13th, in October of 1307. On this day King Philip the Fair of France ordered the immediate arrest and imprisonment of all Templar Knights on charges of heresy; allegations many believed was to allow the devious king to officially seize the Templar's vast wealth and assets. Thereafter, began a vile and corrupt inquisition that used horrific and despicable forms of torture to force innocent men to make false confessions of heresy; or perish by their righteous denial. Few men were able to survive hellish "questioning" by the French Inquisition... The story begins about 6 months after the start of the Inquisition in a chateau in France; where Lady Alissende of Surry has gone to seek refuge. Lady Alissende, a lovely and wealthy young widow is being pressured by her well-meaning mother and Cousin Michael to accept a proxy marriage in order to save herself from being taken by force by her ruthless and unscrupulous Cousin Hugh, the Earl of Harwick ~ whose suit has the Kings support. After suffering in a loveless marriage for four years, Alissende would rather not marry at all, but like most women of her times, she knows she really has no way of protecting herself from the schemes, intrigues and whims of powerful men like the King or Hugh. Michael tells her she needs a strong man to defeat Hugh but it also must appear be a `reason of the heart' to pacify the King. He thinks the best choice for her husband is none other than Damien de Ashby; the man she had so foolishly and publicly rejected five years earlier ~ the man she truly never stopped loving. Our hero, Damien de Ashby ~ fought hard to rise above his common blood and humble beginnings to become a strong, proud, and honorable knight. Once a well respected and nearly unbeatable