A Warrior's Promise
By
Grade : C+

I am not a stickler for the time period of a book – I don’t need exact dates - but it is nice to know a general time period as a reference. Throughout A Warrior’s Promise it really bugged me that I had no idea when in time this book took place.

Bryce is a Highlander fighting for the freedom of Scotland. He is fighting to overthrow King Kenneth and to replace him with the “true king." Now, I have a degree in history and taught it for many years, yet I had no idea when King Kenneth ruled Scotland. Unfortunately, the book gave me no hints to help along the way in terms of dress, speech, or customs (as it seemed a mix of Braveheart and Outlander in all three areas) and about half way through the book I had to look it up. If I didn’t recognize it, I would imagine the average reader wouldn’t have a clue when this book takes place either and to me, that was aggravating.

When Bryce saves Charlie from soldiers in a marketplace, he never expected that the lad would take up Bryce’s quest to find and rescue a spy. Nor did he expect to take up the lad’s quest for his father. But least of all did Bryce suspect that Charlie was Charlotte and that she was the most unusual and fascinating woman he could ever imagine. Charlotte is a learned and determined young woman who just wants to find her father and save him from the king’s soldier before they torture him. She quickly trusts Bryce to help her in this task and the two start a rather rambling journey through the highlands of Scotland.

What's amazing to me is just about everyone the couple encountered knew she was a woman, except when the plot needed them not to. First, Bryce was completely clueless til a bad guy tells him. Then, though everyone else has known it on the spot (except Bryce), the couple is able to keep it a secret when they visit a Clan’s keep and the plot works better with everyone thinking she is a lad. After a while, this instant knowing vs. completely clueless became a little too convenient to be believable, but the growing relationship between Bryce and Charlotte, their laughing banter ,and their pleasant responses to their burgeoning attraction kept the plot devices from completely ruining the book.

The logistics of the book are a little off. Bryce is constantly giving “valuable trinkets” to people to pay for information and supplies, but as far as I could tell, he was pulling them from some magical pack that must have held all his wealth, but been the size of a thimble, because the trinkets never ran out. With the amount he gave out, he should have been hauling a pack like Santa Claus at the beginning of the tale. Every time Bryce and Charlotte met someone along their journey, that person was sent to Bryce’s home – to the point that it became ridiculously predictable that the couple would meet another young, newly impoverished family, get a clue about their quest, send the family to Bryce’s home, and move along. By the end of the book, this pattern was down to a science taking only two or three pages to complete the formula. And formula in a book is never good.

Now, it may not sound like it, but I am struggling not to be too hard on this book. While the book definitely had flaws, I can’t deny that Bryce and Charlotte are a fun couple to read about. Bryce was constantly flummoxed by Charlotte as she spouted words of wisdom one minute and then flew thoughtlessly into trouble the next. Though it took a little longer than I would have liked for the two to accept what fate had in store for them, the dialogue was cute and sassy and I usually had a smile on my face while reading it. The couple and their relationship is definitely the strength of the book.

This book is part of a series (I believe it is the third of four) that traces four brothers who will overthrow King Kenneth, but I had no trouble reading this one without reading the others. It is pretty clear what is happening and it is easy to get a sense of what has happened. I have no desire to go back and read the others in the series and I am not sure that the next book will be able to carve itself a spot in my mile high TBR pile, but I give the author credit for looking into a time period not often explored and finding a couple that entertained me.

Reviewed by Louise VanderVliet
Grade : C+

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : May 23, 2012

Publication Date: 2012/05

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Louise VanderVliet

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