The Warlord (ISBN 0553569104)

This Book Convinced Me.....:
I was sold on Elizabeth Elliott after reading this book and had to go out and find the other two that were continuations of this one. I was fortunate to find them. I would recommend this book to anyone as it is a book that you will find hard to put down. I am writing this after reading all three and wish there were more. Find it hard to believe that she has not written any more. If she did I would buy them and read them without pause. Kenric and Tess are hero and heroine to die for. You get truly brought into their lives and hearaches and passion. All I can say is if you have not read them yet, please give yourself a treat and read them.

There's Better Books to Read:
Enticed by the many great reviews for "The Warlord" and always looking for good writers, I bought the book. What a disappointment. Although the characters had their moments, overall they were poorly written, with so many conflicting qualities it undermined their presence as full fleshed people. The story lines were interesting, but so many scenes were either underwritten or over written and you were left with little sense of cohesiveness. The book could have used a tighter edit. I've read (happliy) far better books, and can only imagine that most of the reviewers for this book have not read the emotionally satisfying "The Princess & the Barbarian" by Betina Krahn, or " Susan Carroll's "Dark Queen Trilogy" - book 1 - "The Dark Queen" - book 2 "The Courtesan" and book 3 "The Silver Rose", or "Once a Warrior" by Karyn Monk, or "The Prize" by Julie Garwood", or "The Lily and The Sword" by Sara Bennett", or Judith Mc Naught's "A Kingdom of Dream's" (the only book by J. McNaught that I enjoyed though).

My favorite medeival romance:
Kenric of Montague has held the place of my favorite romantic hero for over 10 years.I read this book as a teenager in high school and have always remembered it.Finally ordered it on Amazon so I could read it as many times as I wanted. To me Kenric was the perfect warrior as he is described in the novel.On Crusade in the Holy Land even the Saracens had a prize on his head because of his prowess in battle.While there is "father"sends assassins to kill him to prevent him from inheriting his holdings.The assassins fail and Kenric returns to England many years later to marry Tess of Remington at the king's command.When her beauty is revealed to him he is dumbstruck and determined to have her but she wants no part of him as he has been dubbed the butcher by his enemies and she fears him.They marry however and he takes her to his castle.I liked Kenric because he had a sensitive vulnerable side where he worried that Tess would be revolted by his face and his body because he had many battle scars and that she would never love him because he was a bastard.He didn't get soft in the end and allow his enemies to live or to have easy deaths,this rang true for me as he was a fierce warlord.I hate books where the hero allows his enemy who has hurt the heroine to live or to have an easy death.They were living in a feudal society where the strong ruled by the might of their swords.I liked the heroine Tess too,but Kenric was great as a hero.The only part of the book I didn't like was when he locked her in the solar,I thought that was a bit extreme.He was arrogant without being overbearing about it.His second in command Fitzwilliam was very enganging also.Great book.The warlord indeed!

Predictable but also beautifully written:
Edward, King of England, forces Kenric of Montague to marry Lady Tess of Remmington. The marriage has a dual purpose: To protect Tess from her violent stepfather and stepbrother and also to keep Remmington from falling into their hands. The stepbrother, Gordon, had planned to marry Tess and then murder her once she produced an heir until Tess ran away and married Kenric. Now Tess and Kenric must struggle to make their marriage work and also keep outside forces from tearing them apart. I thought the plot was a bit predictable and formulaic. But what I liked about this book was the characters. Each character is rich in detail. Their backgrounds, the emotional scars from childhood, their warring passion, almost allows them to step right out of the pages of the book. Tess' and Kenric's struggle with trusting each other, for example, was heart-wrenching and real but fear kept them apart until almost the very end. They're so flawed and broken it's not funny, but both also possess the desire to love each other and be together. I'd have to say it's not one of the best love stories I've ever read but nonetheless, it's highly entertaining.

Medieval Storyline:
Medieval romance lovers will enjoy this for the feel of it's time period. A few (could be more) interesting historical tidbits There's little drama other than a couple exciting parts. The book is mostly all the day-to-day life that readers will recognize in the running of the castle. Refreshingly the author did NOT add to the conflict by extending it to a rivalary with the sis-in-law, bravo! Conflict = Lady want's an annulment to prevent war & death / he distrusts her and his own lust for her. Also, there was no mistress, with the way this story read I just expected some wench to pop up. Again, bravo! I enjoyed it more without those typical frustrations. A good medieval romance - where I could feel the 'medieval' throughout. AND Kendric, an excellent alpha male hero. Don't hold out for more love scenes after the initial 'getting to know you' period. Though it was good. - I get irritated waiting, with plenty of book left, for the next IN DETAIL love scene; that never comes.