The Penwyth Curse

Having loved the first four books in this series I was eager to read this one, until I read the other reviews, which were less than flattering. I am glad I ignored those reviews and read it anyway! I loved the weaving of past and present. The plot was fun, the characters had wit and charm, and there was balance between the good and evil. I am always a sucker for a good magic story anyway. I can't wait to read the next series!

When I first got this book I was reluctant to read it because I had just finished Rosehaven, which i disliked very much, but once I started I was plensently surprised. The characters are much more likeable and romance is much more probable. This is a very good story that blends medieval life and fantasy perfectly. Although the two romances had to be shorter, they were both very well develped and sweet. I loved trying to figure out how they were related and how the mystery would end.

I LOVED THE PENWYTH CURSE. IT WAS MY FIRST CATHERINE COULTER BOOK AND FOR THAT MATTER A FIRST IN HISTORICAL ROMANCE. IT CAPTIVATED ME FROM THE START. I LIKED ALL THE CHARACTERS AND ENJOYED THE "OTHER TIME" WITH THE WITCH A THE WIZARD AND THEIR STORY. I THOUGHT IT WAS WELL PACED WITH ANSWERS TO THE MYSTERY OF THE CURSE AT THE END.

After reading the other reviews of The Penwyth Curse, I feel like I may be missing something. I absolutely loved this book! Perhaps because I read it as a fairy tale. A wonderfully romantic fairy tale. With magic, good over evil, and living happily ever after. I can understand one of the criticisms. The characters in the story did seem a bit flat. It felt to me that we weren?t given much time in the character?s heads; how they thought about things etc. But the relationships, within the context of the story, still seemed totally believable and endearing to me. Another criticism in the reviews I read was that the two story lines seemed disjointed. I have to disagree. I will admit, the first time the story switched to ?Sometime Else?, I found it distracting and didn?t know what was going on. But then as the story progressed, the stories were drawn closer and closer together, and more relevant to each other, to the point of a complete connection at the end. And the story of The Prince and Brecia was WONDERFUL! I would LOVE to see an entire book dedicated just to them! This is a unique and fun story. I?ve read over 200 romance novels and consider this to be one of my favorites.

I can't believe there are negative reviews. This was a joy to read and hard to put down. Both stories center around Penwyth with very enjoyable characters and much humor. I love the conversations between Coulter's characters. While the two stories don't seem to mesh at first, they blend by the end of the book. If you think of this more as two short stories along a common thread, then this is a 5-star book. Both stories are wonderful, sensual, witty and fun to read.