AAR

[Elizabeth Rolls]

Isolde Martyn - The Lady and the Unicorn, The Knight and the Rose, The Silver Bride. These pretty much fit your publishing time frame.

You might also consider Laura Kinsale's Shadowheart. This is the sequel to For My Lady's Heart. Be warned; very dark, a bit of s&m and a scene that some consider rape. I loved it. She really goes to the edge with this one. Allegretto is the ultimate tortured hero.

I'll second (third) the Jo Beverley recs, and the Anya Seton.

I haven't read too many mediaevals recently. Too hard to find ones that I don't find wallpapery. Or should I say tapestryish??

Elizabeth

[graceC]

I second, or third, Madeline Hunter's 'By' series (all titles start with 'By'). Her medieval stories were so vividly and beautifully written with multi-layered characters, I am still mourning her switch to regency to this day.

Some of my other medieval favorites:

* Judith McNaught's A Kingdom of Dreams (her only medieval, but IMO her best historical ever)
* Betina Krahn's The Wife Test (the heroine is a cook, an occupation not much explored in medieval novels)
* Jill Barnett's Wonderful (very funny and witty)

If you don't mind storylines with Witches and a bit of paranormals with a timeline set in 16th century France, please check out Susan Carroll's The Dark Queen, The Courtesan, and The Silver Rose. They're really, really, good.

[SweetOne]

I don't have any medievals to recommend, but this one is a real keeper...

"Kiss Me While I Sleep" by Linda Howard. This is the best book I've read all year.
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Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most.

[LisaW]

[Schola]

[NoirFemme]

Teresa Medeiros' Shadows and Lace, Marsha Canham's Robin Hood trilogy, and Betina Krahn's "Test" series.

[NoirFemme]

[Yuri]

2007 - Mary Reed McCall: Templar's Seduction - a bit uneven at the end but well worth while. There are some prequels but i haven't read them yet.

2006 - Kathleen Givens: On a highland shore - a little more historical than romance but very good. About the last of the Viking raids

2002 - Madeline Hunter: Lord of a Thousand Nights - I like Ms Hunter's other works too, but this one is often overlooked and I think it is rather nice.

I would second a lot of the other reccommendations, but these are the only strict medievals within the timeframe that I remembered.

Happy reading!

[francescafromitaly]

GRAZIE RAGAZZE!

I'd like to thank you all for the good recs you gave me.
Some books I already know but some others I've never heard about . I'm sure I'll find something to suit my needs.

Well, I don't know you, but me I have been reading romance books for a long time and I don't seem to appreciate now as many books as I did in the past. Is it something to be expected after reading so many books which have similar plots or might it be that new books aren't as good as the ones I used to read ten years ago? I've gotten much pickier. Once I used to keep three times more books than I do now. The books I find real keepers are just a few a year, but I think I've come to appreciate things in a book that I didn't care much in the past. Now the author's writing style is often as important as the story itself. If the style is sloppy a good story doesn't save the book in my view.

Thanks again.
Francesca

Ps: sorry I'm a bit late with my reply to your kind suggestions but, you know , we're more or less seven hours ahead in Italy...when you were replying to my post I was probably sleeping!
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One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.

[francescafromitaly]

[NoirFemme]

[Natalie]

My favorite medieval is Uncommon Vows by Mary Jo Putney.

Others I enjoyed are

My Beloved by Karen Ranney
a series of 14th century medievals by Madeleine Hunter (starting with By Posession)
For My Lady's Heart

From Tudor/Renaissance period:
Lady Gallant by Suzanne Robinson (England under Mary Tudor)
The Notorious Woman and a Sinful Alliance by Amanda McCabe (Italy and England during Henry VII's reign, another sequel is coming out soon).

[Yulie]

Francesca, it wasn't until after I'd posted that I realized most of the 16th century set books that I've enjoyed are either historical fiction or mysteries - sorry . But I see that Natalie and Noirfemme have some ideas (which I may look at myself, so thanks!).

It's more historical fiction than romance, but I can recommend The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory. Marsha Canham's Across a Moonlit Sea, which is definitely a romance, is supposed to be very good (though much of it, I think, actually takes place at sea). A sequel, The Iron Rose, is set around 1610 and is really fun - both of these are OOP, but I'm sure used copies can be found on Amazon or eBay. Rumor has it that Canham is finally writing another book in that series. Green Darkness by Anya Seton wasn't a DIK for me but it's unusual and well-written. Parts of A Knight in Shining Armor take place in the 16th century, but I really hated that book.

AAR reviews for these books:
The Iron Rose
The Queen's Fool
A Knight in Shining Armor
Green Darkness

[cheri]

A great keeper book is A WHISPER OF ROSES by Teresa Mederios. One of my all time favorites. cheri

[Elizabeth Rolls]

Francesca, you might enjoy the Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters if you haven't yet read them. They are murder mysteries, but she nearly always includes a romance between secondary characters. Cadfael is a monk at Shrewsbury Abbey in Shropshire and the setting is 12th century, largely during the period that Stephen and Matilda were squabbling over the English throne. Wonderfully realised settings, very likeable characters and altogether very readable.

Elizabeth