Misfit's Reviews > Keeper of the Dream

Arianna is the daughter of the Prince of Gwyenedd, who has some power of sight, and who for political reasons is wed to the forbidding knight Raine, the Black Dragon, the illegitimate son of the Earl of Chester. Of course our heroine is stubborn to a fault and of course she hates the Normans who have invaded and plundered Wales, and of course she most especially hates the man she's to marry. While this story contains many of your standard HR plot twists, i.e. stubborn beautiful noblewoman forced into marriage for the sake of peace with a man she hates, although strongly attracted to at the same time, hero with the black hearted evil brother, etc., what brings this story out of the three star category is the wonderful addition of the "magical" and mysterious squire, Taliesin. His antics kept me thoroughly entertained throughout, and I especially loved the epilogue with Taliesin.

All in all a highly enjoyable romance for a rainy Sunday afternoon. Not the best in this genre, but certainly far above many others I've come across. My only quibble is a couple of the sex scenes between Arianna and Raine were a little bit too, well, ahem, detailed for my tastes and I would definitely not recommend this book for a younger reader because of that. But, if you're in the mood for a medieval romance light on the history and heavy on the bodice ripping this would probably be right up your alley. Four stars.