The second novel in Catherine Kean’s Knight series, A Knight’s Reward was a good divergence from my normal paranormal read.
Assaulted and injured by her abusive husband Ryle, Gisela Anne Balewyne flees with her small son, Ewan. Hiding from Ryle and working as a tailor in the town of Clovebury, Gisela struggles to save enough money to move north and start a new life. All goes well until Dominic de Terre, back several years from the Crusade, accepts his lord de Lanceau’s mission to find out who has stolen de Lanceau’s cloth shipment, worth a fortune. Dominic discovers not only that Gisela has lied to him about the stolen silks concealed in her shop, but he learns Ewan is his illegitimate son. She has betrayed his trust not once, but twice, and Gisela expects him to arrest her and take Ewan away. French merchant Crenardiue’s thugs, however, reach Dominic first, and Gisela realizes there is only one way to save his life. She must go to de Lanceau, admit her crimes, and convince him to let her help him save Dominic.
When I say this was a good divergence, I really mean that too. We’re given a great love story in A Knight’s Reward, yet we really don’t see a lot of the standard romance genres elements. I’m not saying they aren’t there, but I was really able to get sucked into this story and I never once felt like the plot was stretched thin or the characters didn’t have any development. I used to be a HUGE romance junkie, but after awhile, everything started reading like the book I just put down. I really can’t say that with Catherine Kean so far. Her novels have a way of drawing you into a story and before you know it, you’re at the end wanting more.
Both Gisela and Dominic were truly developed well. They had a history together and found each other again after a few years and they didn’t pick up right where they left off. Kean was honestly true with her characters in the fact that they didn’t automatically trust each other since they had known each other, they had to earn the others trust. Having to watch these two people learn about each other again was fun and quite enjoyable.
I also have to say that I liked the plot. Everything wasn’t simple and both Dominic and Gisela didn’t think they could take on the world by themselves. Their actions regarding the villain and the events seemed real to me. Like it was something that would have been done instead of expecting the hero or heroine to magically be able to conqueror the world. That’s the one thing I am enjoying about this series. All the events seem real and completely plausible.
Overall, I thought this was an excellent addition to the romance genre and would recommend it to anyone who likes a good story. Even for someone who’s not big into romance, A Knight’s Reward is definitely worth a read.
Read Order:
A Knight’s Vengeance
A Knight’s Reward
A Knight’s Temptation
