A Knight's Captive

Customer Reviews

• Heroine lacks consisitency  Apr 10, 2009 (4 of 4 found this helpful)

  A Knight's Captive is a rather misleading title, there was no fair maiden held captive by a Knight (unless it is her heart, which I questioned throughout the novel). There is also a lack of authenticity with most of the characters, the major players being too, too accommodating, or too villainous.
  
  What does work well in this novel is the setting, right before William conquers England and on the road to a pilgrimage site. Breton Knight Marc de Sens is with his three young nieces on a pilgrimage to Northern England. It is uncertain as to why he needs to visit this site and quite frankly it is not revealed until much later in the novel, so late that I had forgotten there were reasons he was searching for the holy site. Marc is his niece's guardian and he is the perfect uncle, kind, caring, thoughtful, playful and loving.
  
  Sunniva is traveling with her three hard headed brothers and mean father. She is an early Cinderella, taking care of her brothers, and receiving no thanks for her care but plenty of abusive comments and vicious shoves and an occasional smack for her efforts. She puts on her happy face to her family never complaining. Sunniva is very beautiful and a pawn for her father who is on the constant lookout for a rich husband for her.
  
  Marc is quite taken with the beauty and notices the lack of regard she receives from her ungrateful family. He rescues her from would be slavers and tries to help her out as much as possible without getting too involved. This changes when he rescues her from an almost rape by her half brothers. Now he feels he must be her protector and for some reason Sunniva pushes him away believing her brother's words that Marc is a woman killer. I don't know why she even believed this when she has seen how devoted he is to his nieces and he has rescued her twice. She also lies and says she is betrothed.
  
  Her brothers and father never reach the pilgrimage site because they are off to war. She is alone and Marc promises her he will escort her to her keep. She is uncertain of this and wants to run away on her own but Marc finally talks some sense into the woman. She has apparently forgotten her almost abduction just weeks earlier.
  
  Sunniva genuinely likes Marc but she has lied and she still harbors some belief in the lies about him. They declare their love but she knows he is from across the channel and fears that her people will not accept him. She also has dreams about what her father would say about their union, as if that should matter after the way her father and brothers have treated her but it does.
  
  By the end of this novel, Sunniva finally believes Marc is not a killer and she has to be rescued yet again, although her last escapade is not of her own doing. Marc seemed a reasonable guy but secretive and Sunniva was so passive with her family that she was a doormat yet she argues quite vehemently with Marc. Her character was just not believable because her behavior changed so drastically.
  
  
  

• Love a good historical romance! Reviewed by Romance Junkies!  May 11, 2009 (1 of 1 found this helpful)

  Marc de Sens is traveling on a pilgrimage to St. Cuthbert in Northern England with his three nieces. He has been given their guardianship and takes his responsibilities serious. He wants all three of the girls to be able to be safe and laugh and have joy in their lives. On the way to the shrine, Marc can't help but notice the beautiful girl accompanying her rude father and disrespectful brothers to the same place. His heart is instantly transfixed on the beauty of this woman and when he finds out she is betrothed, his sadness if real. However, her engagement is not. Sunniva made up an engagement after learning about Marc from her brothers.
  
  Sunniva can't help but notice the knight that is so gentle and soft spoken with his three charges. Her experience with men has not left her thinking very highly of them. When her brothers and father leave her to go off to war and in turn get killed, Sunniva is now alone in the world. Marc promises her he will help her continue her journey and he does. He just wishes she didn't believe the worst in him.
  
  Sunniva and Marc fall in love but the path to their happiness is paved with big huge boulders. Every single step forward almost certainty guarantees a step backwards. The biggest hurdle is Sunniva's belief that Marc is an abuser of women. I watched this loyal and trustworthy knight and my heart went out to him because I knew he was good and kind. However, Lindsay Townsend and her wonderful characters didn't let me down. The love that Marc and Sunniva had for each other finally culminated in a relationship that was almost blessed. A KNIGHT'S VOW by Lindsay Townsend is a keeper in my book. I can't wait to read it again.
  
  Natalie S.

• Great Medieval Romance Read  Apr 12, 2009 

  I love a story with a truly heroic hero and a heroine strong enough to match him. I also like high stakes adventure interwoven with the romance, as well as a wealth of authentic details that transport me to another time. Ms. Townsend has succeeded on all counts.