Defy Not the Heart

Defy Not the Heart (Shefford's Knights #1) By: Johanna Lindsey
"Reina seethes with rage over her fate: taken captive by the knight Ranulf -- a golden giant of a man -- who has pledged to deliver her to the nuptial bed of the despised Lord Rothwell. She will never accept such bondage -- and Reina offers herself to her kidnapper instead, offering to make Ranulf a great lord...if he agrees to wed her.But the brave knight desires much more than a marriage of convenience from this proud, headstrong lady who treats him with scorn yet makes his blood run hotter than liquid fire. She must come to him of her own free will -- or Ranulf will take her. For the passion that consumes them both cannot long be denied -- even though gravest peril surely awaits them on the heart's trail to a destines and turbulent love" --Description from Goodreads
Another Johanna Lindsey novel! This one much, much better than the last I read, Let Love Find You. This book was really refreshing for many reasons, starting with the fact that it's set in 1192. It was so nice to read a historical romance novel without any talk of a season or the ton. Once in a while it might be nice, but most of the time it's just like, We get it. The young lady about to come out into society needs an awesome set of new clothes, a sponsor, chaperons  and to avoid scandal at all costs. Gets pretty boring. This book has none of that. Yes, Reina needs a husband. Not because she doesn't want end up an old maid, but to stop people from trying to take Clydon. So when Ranulf (a super hot Knight) kidnaps her to take her to someone just like that, Reina chooses him to marry instead. Ranulf has money and the man power to offer Clydon the protection it needs. Something else that was refreshing about this book was the love scenes. I hate when a couple hates each other, or is just totally indifferent, and then they have sex and it's like "You're the love of my life! I knew it all along!" In this book Reina and Ranulf don't do that. At all. They have sex to consummate the marriage, yeah, but it doesn't change the way they feel about each other instantly. It's awkward and realistic. Probably exactly what you would expect from two random people having sex for the first time. It only starts to get good when they start to actually care about each other. I think that's awesome. While all of this is great, my absolute favorite part of this book is the way Ranulf's character matures so well. The way he changes in response to the way Reina makes him feel is adorable. I felt like a total weirdo reading this book between classes, because I was just sitting their with this huge grin on my face when he would do something so caring. The only problem (and really, It's minor) is the way Reina's supposed to be punished by Ranulf when she disobeys him. But the book was set 821 years ago, so I guess that's what you get. So I TOTALLY recommend this book. Try it out and let me know what you think! Or maybe leave a comment with a book recommendation :) My Rating: