The Fire and the Fury

This is my favourite book and I have read it at least ten times, but not in the last year. The imagary at the beginning is so compelling with Giles riding with his brother and other mercenaries to retake the keep wrongfully taken from him. The feeling of worth and of being cherished that he restores to Elizabeth after the horror of her first marriage. This book evoke strong emotions each time I read it and the others in the series pale in commparison.

I love Anita Mills' heroes. They are always the strong, noble leaders that are bigger than life yet find themselves passionately in love with the heroine. Every woman's dream. Mills' writing flows beautifully. Her characters are vivid and her dialogue is unequaled, never syrupy or boring. Her portrayal of medieval England, while not always entirely accurate, gives a feeling of pageantry and chivalry and brutality that was very much part of the era. And every bit of minutia doesn't matter. This is fiction, not history, and that's why we read it. I am constantly impressed by her ability to make her characters real, make the story believable and maintain the consistency of the character from beginning to end. This is a great read if you like a story about powerful and strong people who love passionately and face great odds, mostly as a result of their own strong personalities coming into conflict.