The Rogue (Mass Market Paperback)

The next day she is informed that Merlyn has been murdered and she is his heiress, inheriting Ravensmuir which she promptly moves her family into. Her first night in her solar and she dreams of making quite passionate love to Merlyn, only to discover the next morning that it wasn't a dream but reality. Merlyn is alive, having survived an ambush, and he asks Ysabella to continue to play a grieving widow to help him discover his assailant.

The intrigue and mystery of the book is very clever with a couple of surprises, though somewhat predictable. The reader should find the historical aspect of this novel very interesting highlighting the illicit religious artifact trade that was prevalent in that period. Ysabella's illiteracy, figuring prominently and another source of conflict in the marriage, was also an interesting historical aspect to discover in how it was dealt with during that period. Of course, Ysabella's continued obstinacy did begin to grate on my nerves as I found Merlyn to be quite charming and most deserving of a second chance and her 'secret' was really quite easy to figure out. All in all, I would definitely recommend this first book in the Ravensmuir saga, and though I was introduced to the series by reading the third book first, they both stand alone and are engrossing and fabulously exciting reads by this very talented and gifted author.

Ysabella inherits her husband's estate, Ravensmuir. During her first night in the keep, Ysabella dreams of making love with Meryln. When she awakens with proof of their passion, Ysabella seeks answers. Merlyn confesses to staging his demise because someone seeks to kill him. He hopes to flush out his aggressor by giving Ysabella his property. Merlyn demands her trust even while withholding all the information she demands. Somewhere within the keep lies a treasure men will kill for.

Clair Delacroix pens an intriguing medieval romance with THE ROUGUE. Delacroix demonstrates a remarkable creative flair with THE ROGUE as it vividly creates a marvelous fourteenth century tale. Her vividly realized characters create a fabulous world of fierce loyalty and dangerous betrayal. Ysabella's five years of struggle to provide for her family, thereby clinging to her moral and ethical values despite starvation and deprivation proves her a powerful heroine. Her common background and lack of education and breeding sharply contrasts the laird of Ravensmuir, even as they are spiritually matched. While the choice of a first person narrative distances readers from the roguish hero, it also adds a beguiling sense of immediacy. THE ROGUE comes highly recommended.

There also seemed to be some glaring inconsistencies in the plot. Some of these were explained to a limited extent in the end, but they did not ring true to me. Without giving away too many spoilers to the story, Ysabelle relates the story as a peasant girl growing up in a village devastated by plague and war. No one seems to remember much of their over lords or what it means to live in a feudal society, and everyone else on the outside seems to have forgotten this area of Scotland. The reader sees that this is not true in the end, and that there are "outsiders" who care about this area, but this interest seems contrived to me, to make sure the plot continues. I guess if Ms. Delacroix was trying to show a lawless, dark time, filled with uncertainty or I would even call it apathy, then she succeeded. I just was not comfortable with the climate/atmosphere she built.

I know that I am now getting nit-picky, but the name of Meryln also bothered me. It was explained in this book that his surname was a predatory bird. Although spelled differently, why was his first name also related to a predatory bird? It seemed a bit redundant to me. Overall, I am giving this book 3 stars because I thought the quality of the writing very good; I just could not get into the story itself to enjoy the writing.