I was intensely craving a medieval romance over the weekend and realized with some dismay that there wasn’t one in my TBR basket currently. That will definitely have to be corrected but, in the meantime, I gave my bookshelves and good long scrutiny and came up with this favorite reread of mine by Donna Fletcher. I tend to pick books more for plot than anything else and this one combines two favorites of mine – the oft-used romance device of the arranged marriage with just a hint of a mating challenge, although to be honest I’m not sure who is the seducer here. Then again, with the best mating challenges, it tends to be both anyway, so that’s okay, too.
The Irish Devil is set in Cork, Ireland, in the 1100s. He is Eric, the half-Viking/half-Irish devil, er, lord who is ordered to choose a daughter from another lord’s family as his wife as a reward for his services in battle. She is Faith, the daughter of that noble family who, though thought unfit for marriage by her own family, ends up married off to the Irish Devil anyway. Together they learn that love chooses its own path even when they think they’re the ones doing the choosing.
Sort of. 😀
The thing that’s always puzzled me about this story is the reason she’s thought unfit for marriage. I’ve never been able to figure out if I just can’t follow the logic because it’s not modern logic or if I’m missing something else completely. OTOH, this is one of Fletcher’s stories that really works for me on a comfort zone level and solidified her in my mind as on of those buried treasures that never gets the credit they deserve.