Spellbound [Paperback]

I only recently discovered Nadine Crenshaw and am very impressed. Her stories are original, her plots complex and well woven. Her characters are multifaceted and so believable. Her heroes are drool worthy and her heroines are strong. That may not sound unique in the realm of romance (good romance) but I find her unique. Crenshaw weaves a story that will keep you reading late into the night. She is a master storyteller and takes care with historical detail and descriptions of places. I first read VIKING GOLD and loved it, so I bought her earlier Viking romance, EDIN'S EMBRACE and I loved it, too. So with SPELLBOUND, I am now ordering her backlist of novels (see below). I've not been able to find CITY OF DREAMS, but the rest seem available on Amazon.

SPELLBOUND is set in 12th century England when Henry II reigned. He was married to the famous Eleanor of Aquitaine and both are featured characters in the story at the time when Henry was still a young king. Norah of Ramsay, a girl of 15, has been betrothed to the neighboring lord, Jervais Le Strand, since she was a young child though she has never met him. Jervais has become a knight and a friend of King Henry. Somewhere in his battles in the Holy Land, he fell in love with Eleanor when she was married to the King of France. Though their relationship can never be consummated, Jervais harbors this love for Eleanor in his heart. All other women are just bed mates to him. When she is 15, Norah's father decides, as he is dying, to give her to the church as penance. So Norah ends up in a cloister that is more like a prison. Her only dream had been to marry Jervais and she hates the cloistered life. Norah is special, one of those people uniquely gifted with extra sensory powers. She sees visions of things to come, shadows of the future. On the day she is to take her vows, her 16th birthday, she plans to escape over the wall having seen it in a vision. Meanwhile, Jervais wants her lands and is angry that her father would thwart his plans to use the Ramsey wealth to fortify his castle. So, he breaks into the convent to steal his bride and captures her as she is running away. When she realizes who it is, she gladly marries him and soon falls in love with the handsome knight. But he sees her only as a mission accomplished; he doesn't even remember her eye color. When his squire tells Norah that Jervais is in love with another, very beautiful woman, Norah (who sees herself as plain) flees. The story gets even more interesting then. With the help of a witch, Norah takes on another life, a disguise--one of amazing beauty.

I highly recommend this one to you. I think Nadine Crenshaw was one of the early great romance authors and I, for one, intend to read all she put out. See my reviews of VIKING GOLD and EDIN'S EMBRACE which are already posted to Amazon.


Her backlist:

MOUNTAIN MISTRESS (Golden Heart Winner; 1987)
CAPTIVE MELODY (1988)
EDIN'S EMBRACE (1989)
SPELLBOUND (1990)
DESTINY AND DESIRE (1992)
CITY OF DREAMS (1992)
THE HIGHWAYMAN (1993)
VIKING GOLD (1995)
CELTIC TALES: BALOR OF THE EVIL EYE (1995)
FIELDS OF THE SUN (1997)

› Go to Amazon U.S. to see the review  5.0 out of 5 stars