Scale of 1 – 5: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Knight’s Desire is set in medieval times. Arian has a pitiful existence: Her stepfather has relegated her to living in her father’s house designed to eat the floor food scraps that the dogs consume. Wishing for happier days when she was loved by her parents, Arian is determined to find a way to restore Creswell castle, her family home, to its rightful owner: HER. She does not know exactly how she is going to do that, but she seems very optimistic that she is going to be able to find a way.

Judson arrives, sent by Arian’s great grandmother to confirm the Arian is indeed dead as Arian stepfather claims. If this is the case, Judson will become the owner of Creswell Castle. Judson is a night without property and desires to have his own land since land equals power and wealth.

Therein lays the problem for Arian.

• How much does Judson want the land?
• To what end would he go to obtain it?
• Her great-grandmother sent him on a quest to find Arian, but does he care enough about her to report the truth?
• Or would he kill Arian in order to take possession of her family’s land?

Not knowing if she can trust Judson, Arian decides that it is in her best interest to deceive him from knowing her true identity and try to figure out a way to get him out of the picture.

Her evil, malevolent, worse than devil incarnate, stepfather conceals her identity because of his own selfish reasons. <Grrr I hated him so much> He knows that if Judson finds Arian, he is out of a home. He has his own sinister plan to ensure the land becomes his property.

Amidst all the lusting after property, Judson thinks Arian is a servant girl named Jane. Even in her dirty state, he has some unexplained couple attraction to her. Suspicious of the viciousness with which her stepfather wants to treat her, Judson says that he would like for her to be his servant, attending to him in his sleeping quarters. This gives them both the opportunity to get to know one another.

Spending so much time with Judson creates inner conflict for Arian. He is considerate and kind to such an extent, she could almost forget the intense desire he has for her land. Fortunately for her, Judson knows just what to say to snap her out of any romantic mood – calling Creswell Castle his own. Talking about one day owning his property has the opposite effect since the woman he is talking is reminded that he is, yet another, interloper. Meanwhile, he is confused trying to figure out what he said incorrectly. Heh heh 🙂 I like irony in a story.

The novel for the most part involves lack of communication between the two main characters. I understand that Arian did this mainly out of self-preservation. Her stepfather, his wife, and son were evil, horrible people that were content to take what did not belong to them and do it by any means necessary. Since she was living on her own for so long without anyone who loved or care for her, it is difficult for her to decide if she can trust him with her life by confessing the truth. She knows that if he is not a truly honorable person, he will likely kill her for her family’s land.

Arian had some good ideas to help her cope with her bleak situation. She tried to protect herself as best she could. Although she was not trusting until the end, she loved Judson and that was good enough for me. The author created a strong female character that suffered a great deal of wrongs, but never gave up hope that everything was going to turn out okay. She knew that failure was not an option if she was going to devise a plan to survive and be victorious in the end.

I enjoyed reading the transition of Judson from a knight whose only desire was to have land to a man in love questioning his need for land. As the reader, I could visualize his change in priorities as he developed his relationship with Arian.

I would definitely recommend Knight’s Desire to anyone, especially those that like romance set in medieval times. There is nothing better than a story about a knight coming to the rescue of a woman who is the victim of many injustices. By the end of the story I was very satisfied with the way that everything turned out. Arian and Judson belong to each other. Justice was served and I trust the couple will live happily ever after.

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