Must Love Chainmail by Angela Quarles
Publisher & Release Date: Self-published, July 14, 2015
Time
and setting: Present day and 1294, Wales
Genre:
Paranormal Romance/Medieval
Length:
280 pages
Heat
Level: 2 Flames
Rating: 3.5 Gold Crowns
Book Description:
Trapped in the wrong time, she needs a knight
in shining armor, but this damsel in distress might be the real savior.
A damsel in distress...
With a day planner attached to her hip, the
last thing Katy Tolson wants is a romance that threatens her well-ordered life.
She's set to marry the safe--but bland--guy, but something's not quite...right.
A careless wish thrusts her through time into medieval Wales and into the arms
of...
A knight in somewhat shining armor...
Sir Robert Beucol, half-Norman and
half-Welsh, lives with the shame of his father's treason and vows to reclaim
his family's holdings and thereby his honor. To prove himself to his king, he
must be more Norman than a full-blooded Norman. What better way to show loyalty
than to fight his mother's people? He has no desire to be sidetracked by the
mysterious wench with pink toenails, peculiar habits, and passion smoldering
behind her cool, collected exterior.
A rebellion that challenges both...
The Welsh uprising fits perfectly into Robert’s
plans. Katy’s on the other hand? That’s a no. As they embark on a perilous
journey through the heart of Wales, each passionate encounter pulls them closer
together, but farther from their goals. When everything they value is at stake,
can they save each other and their love?
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Vikki’s Musings
Must Love Chainmail has earned 1st place in the 2016
Rita Awards for the paranormal category. In case some readers do not know, the
Rita is the contest run by Romance Writers of America and is the most prestigious
contest a writer can win. I looked forward to reading it with great
anticipation. I love time-travel romances and have read them for many years. The
story started out well, and I enjoyed the hero and the heroine, but it slowed
for me. I can't even put my finger on what exactly stopped working for me.
I do want to mention I listened to the audio version
performed by Mary Jane Wells, and she does a credible job. She reads with just
the right amount of emotion without taking it too far, and she gives each
character a distinct voice. I would listen to her again.
Nonetheless, it does end up having a great ending, which did
help redeem this book for me. On further contemplation as I write this review,
I'm thinking what kept taking me out of the story was the modern feel to the
writing. I absolutely love historical romances, and what I like most about them
is being swept back to a different time. I was constantly reminded of the
present, and not because the heroine came from the present and traveled back in
time.
Perhaps this will not bother other readers, and the author
does include a note letting the reader know she has written Must Love Chainmail
in this manner. Obviously, this aspect of the book did not bother the Rita
judges, or the majority of readers as it did me. Happy reading!
