Genre: Fantasy, Romance
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay, Bisexual, Poly MMF
Reviewer: Tony
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About The Book
Two knights are better than one…
Lady Grace never expected to be kidnapped. Why would she? She’s a duke’s daughter and about to marry her beloved white knight, Prince Isaac. Although Grace manages to escape the bandits… she doesn’t do it alone. A masked man sweeps her off her feet, and from their first encounter, she knows he’s something special. Thankfully, her betrothed is of a similar mind to her own.
Prince Isaac is equal parts delighted to be reunited with his bride and intrigued by her rescuer, a courteous, quiet man named Samuel. He and Grace always wanted a special third on their wedding night—and in their marriage bed—and Samuel might be the one they’ve been looking for. They simply need to seduce him into believing it as well.
Samuel can’t help but be enraptured by Grace’s beauty and spirit and Isaac’s strength and charm. Hiding behind a mask, he knows they will reject him if they see his devastating scars, but their playful coaxing and suggestive smiles force him to wonder if they are as sincere as they seem.
Convincing Samuel to join them might prove to be their greatest challenge yet. Good thing Grace is a woman who gets what she wants, and Isaac has a royal’s stubbornness.
Samuel doesn’t stand a chance.
The Review
Lady Grace and Her Knights is set in an alternative Medieval world only slightly different from our own, if knights and chivalry were a real thing. Okay it was real, or at least real-ish, as were the blood, mud, and danger from every side. What should have been real is the acceptance for all relationships in whatever combination works – that’s a gift and a given in this book.
The main characters and their friends are great, and are so alive that they seem to breathe on the pages. They are not perfect – they have their insecurities and life damage – but they are also strong and faithful.
Samuel is damaged, with a terribly scarred face and a heart of gold. When he meets Grace and Prince Isaac, his life improves in more than one way. He becomes their black knight, a shade which matches his armor, and provides a counterpoint to Prince Isaac, Grace’s white knight.
Isaac is the “spare” – not the heir to the throne – and a strong man with desires to match, taking both men and women to his bed. Well, maybe not that many women, as he made a promise to save that side of his ‘life’ for Grace.
Grace, for her part, made a similar promise and kept her honor for him to take, not that he will have it easy – she is just as likely take him first.
Samuel completes the gap in their relationship, a gap they had already recognized but had not found the right candidate to fill. Of course, nothing is that simple – they have to prove themselves to their families and their subjects. This means overcoming a lot of problems, not least a threat to their very existence.
A good, joyful story of love and acceptance in a world as full of love as it is of danger and mistrust.
The Reviewer
Tony is an Englishman living amongst the Welsh and the Other Folk in the mountains of Wales. He lives with his partner of thirty-six years, four dogs, two ponies, various birds, and his bees. He is a retired lecturer and a writer of no renown but that doesn’t stop him enjoying what he used to think of as ‘sensible’ fantasy and sf. He’s surprised to find that if the story is well written and has likeable characters undergoing the trails of life, i.e. falling in love, falling out of love, having a bit of nooky (but not all the time), fending off foes, aliens and monsters, etc., he’ll be happy as a sandperson who has just offloaded a wagon of sand at the going market price. As long as there’s a story, he’s in. He aims to write fair and honest reviews. If he finds he is not the target reader he’ll move on.