Wednesday, July 6, 2011

By His Majesty’s Grace-Jennifer Blake

By His Majesty’s Grace
Jennifer Blake
Mira, Jul 26 2011, $7.99
ISBN: 9780778312437

In 1486 England King Henry VII orders heiress Lady Isabel Milton to marry farmer Rand Braesford. Isabel is taken aback on two fronts. First four suitors have died while courting her so many believe she is a curse so why the royal decree; second she finds it difficult to accept the monarch would choose someone outside of his inner aristocratic circle.

She soon realizes her mistake re her fiancé as he is a veteran soldier loyal to the king and given Braesford and her as his reward. Isabel feels rather good about her marital status when Braesford is arrested on a murder charge. However, she quickly reconsiders her position of once a warrior always a warrior as she looks back at his kindness towards everyone. Isabel investigates the homicide in order to liberate her betrothed from the Tower and rid herself of the curse by marrying her intended.

The oldest sister of the cursed Three Graces of Graydon, Isabel is a fascinating protagonist who changes her mind about her intended as he may be the one to overcome her “affliction” with the cure of love. The story line is action-packed yet makes the early Tudor era come alive. Although the two lead characters are too perfect (Candide would have said they belong in Eldorado as the “best of all possible worlds”), fans will enjoy their duet as the heroine believes Rand is innocent of the crime and risks her life to prove it when she could have let him be executed.

Harriet Klausner

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