Silver Wind

Rating:
Summary: Silver Wind
Review: ... When a book like this one comes
my way, I like to warn others against voluntarily purchasing something
that they very well might put down in disgust, or like me, trudge
through the first half of the book and force myself to finish it. Why
do I say that? Very simple, this book is one of those that looks good
on the cover, but the storytelling is terrible. I could not even get
into it from the beginning. The author is talking about Normans and
Welsh and French and English and you can't even remember who doesn't
like whom. And the very strange circumstances of Simon Taillebroc,
the hero, is very confusing. I still can't figure out that if he was
convicted of killing a priest, how in the world would he then be put
in charge of "watching out" for her father's possible
raiding habits by the Marshall? And then, when Adeline comes home to
her father after being away for years, he treats her very mean and
cold and obviously she must be deeply hurt and distressed, yet the
author doesn't go into much detail about it at all. You almost forget
that Adeline has a jerk of a father because the situation is just
about ignored when the author could have really played it out and
played upon the reader's emotions to make us "feel" what
Adeline feels. She engages herself to Simon and all the sudden they
are in bed together, they don't make love, but she has no apprehension
or nervousness, like it is nothing to be in bed with a naked man.
Again, you don't "feel" anything for the characters because
the author doesn't clue you in. I think this is about the worst book
I have read in the last 6 months. Don't buy it. Also the romance
between the two leaves much to be desired.


Rating:
Summary: Silver Wind
Review: ... When a book like this one comes
my way, I like to warn others against voluntarily purchasing something
that they very well might put down in disgust, or like me, trudge
through the first half of the book and force myself to finish it. Why
do I say that? Very simple, this book is one of those that looks good
on the cover, but the storytelling is terrible. I could not even get
into it from the beginning. The author is talking about Normans and
Welsh and French and English and you can't even remember who doesn't
like whom. And the very strange circumstances of Simon Taillebroc,
the hero, is very confusing. I still can't figure out that if he was
convicted of killing a priest, how in the world would he then be put
in charge of "watching out" for her father's possible
raiding habits by the Marshall? And then, when Adeline comes home to
her father after being away for years, he treats her very mean and
cold and obviously she must be deeply hurt and distressed, yet the
author doesn't go into much detail about it at all. You almost forget
that Adeline has a jerk of a father because the situation is just
about ignored when the author could have really played it out and
played upon the reader's emotions to make us "feel" what
Adeline feels. She engages herself to Simon and all the sudden they
are in bed together, they don't make love, but she has no apprehension
or nervousness, like it is nothing to be in bed with a naked man.
Again, you don't "feel" anything for the characters because
the author doesn't clue you in. I think this is about the worst book
I have read in the last 6 months. Don't buy it. Also the romance
between the two leaves much to be desired.


Rating:
Summary: The perfect mood
Review: After five years as hostage in Normandy, Adeline may return into her father's keep, but on the condition of spying on Simon, a Norman knight suspected of treason. Nothing about her homecoming is easy: suspicions, secrets, caution, and tension abound all around her. Her own task is distasteful to her, but she has the wit and courage to take matters into her own hands. Simon, the Knight, has to prove himself, and he does so with Adeline's help. Sensitive to her situation and needs, he appreciates her as his intellectual equal, protects and cherishes her...a true knight. Linda Cook sets the perfect mood with this medieval tale of treachery, redemption, and love...I saw the golden sunsets, the frosty landscape, and the swirls of the Silver Wind.

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended
Review: When William Longchamp suddenly wishes to see her, Adeline of Caerdoc feared bad tidings or even death. Longchamp holds the roles of bishop of Ely and chancellor to the King. He has the power of life and death over those in his care. Knowing of Longchamp's ruthless ambition, and her own father's views, Adeline has good reason to fear him. Adeline was kidnapped five long years ago to insure her father's loyalty to the King. Now Longchamp intends to send Adeline home, and in return she must spy on the Norman traitor Simon Taillebroc the priestkiller. If Adeline fails, her father will hang alongside the priestkiller.

Adeline feels like a foreigner among her own people. Her mother was Norman, and she's been held in Normandy these five years. Now she's again among her father's people, the Welsh. They treat her not as a stranger, but as though they are afraid. They conceal many secrets and do not wish to reveal themselves before this woman of questionable loyalties. When her father threatens to send Adeline to safety with a cousin, she proposes that she marry Simon instead. She must spy upon Simon, and remain in the valley, if she is to save her family's lives.

When Simon watches Adeline's hair in the firelight, he forgets that he is a priestkiller. He forgets the secrets, the politics, and the dangers that separate their worlds. When her father proposes they marry, Simon cannot resist this secretive beauty. Simon has lost everything, including his lands, his wealth and his honor. Now he's loosing his heart to this bewitching woman, even as he suspects her loyalties.

Linda Cook's understanding of the medieval period with questionable loyalties and harsh conditions shines throughout SILVER WIND. Independent heroines would not survive long in a medieval world without a deep understanding of this period. Cook surmounts such challenges gracefully. For example, the scenes when Adeline guesses her father's new marriage, and enlists his new wife to help convince her father to allow her to wed, reveal not only a well structured plot, but an understand of how the people of this time truly lived. Cook's prose shimmers with the fierce spirit of those who would survive the danger of divided loyalties. Highly recommended.