≡ PDF Knowing Yourself A Medieval Romance The Sword of Glastonbury Series Book 1 eBook Lisa Shea

Knowing Yourself A Medieval Romance The Sword of Glastonbury Series Book 1 eBook Lisa Shea

Download As PDF : Knowing Yourself A Medieval Romance The Sword of Glastonbury Series Book 1 eBook Lisa Shea

Knowing Yourself A Medieval Romance The Sword of Glastonbury Series Book 1 eBook Lisa Shea

I just wanted a light romance, and the reviews stated that though it is a youth orientated book, it still had some good parts in it. unfortunately, I found it to be one dimensional characters, and lacking plot. the idea is that this young woman gets to choose between 5 young knights; which might have been fun, but she made the young men so predictable and lacking any character. One can easily see in the first introduction of them who she will choose. having to read about it for the next whatever pages is beyond me. she might appeal to young women, but its boring as heck for those of us with age and life experience. this book could have been much improved if she had made them men with qualities of both good and bad, mixed those up a bit, showed some depth to them! ah. youth.


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Knowing Yourself A Medieval Romance The Sword of Glastonbury Series Book 1 eBook Lisa Shea Reviews

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In the first book of the Sword of Glastonbury series, Kay has to marry in order to have a husband help her protect her home. Because she isn't thrilled with the idea, her father allows her to choose one from a selection of men. Her sister is already married and lives elsewhere, but agrees to pretend to be Kay in order to interview five potential suitors that stay at the castle. Kay then pretends to be her maidservant in order to get to know the five potential suitors, and choose the one she wants to marry. She loves her home, a keep near the sea, and wants to choose a husband that will help her take care of it if neighboring clans attack, and appreciate the beauty in its isolated location. Her sister Em is a wonderful confidante and diplomat and manages to send away the men that Kay refuses in such a way that they think it's their idea. Once down to the final suitors, a traitor is revealed, and Kay is able to outwit the villain and save her people without sacrificing the ones she loves.

The book is written in a more contemporary language, making it a very easy and quick read. History purists might not like that, but they would also be able to tell if the swordsmanship (or swordswomanship?) displayed by the sisters is accurate to the medieval period. I did enjoy that part of Kay's characterization, and that it also was a way to showcase her determination, ability to persevere through difficult situations and that she cared more for others' safety.

The romance was believable and chaste, so those who don't like explicit reads will enjoy this. The villainous characters are a bit cliche in their motivations, and that when offered mercy refuse to take it. The epilogue feels a bit rushed compared to how the rest of the book progressed but neatly ties up the story for all of our main characters.

The sword of the series title doesn't figure prominently in the story itself but is a linking mechanism between the books of the series. The sword is presented to a young woman in a time of trouble, and once she is safe and meets a woman in need of it, she should pass it along to the next woman.
I was very hesitant to read this book after reading a few of the reviews, but I am glad that I gave it a chance. Yes, the phrases and speaking doesn't exactly line up with the medieval era, so if you can get passed that give it a shot. It isn't near as bad as some of the harsher reviews express. It was mostly a pleasant read, and though I figured it would be predictable, there was a twist or two I didn't see coming.

It's a cute story, and I enjoyed the growing relationship between the hero and heroine. Though the heroine seemed a bit unrealistic in a few instances (injury and all she was able to accomplish with it), it still provides an entertaining read. I liked it overall, and may read it again in the distant future.
I had some difficulty getting through this story. On the one hand, it was free, so I can't be that hard on it. On the other hand, there were long stretches of the book that were frustrating and made finishing more of an effort than I was looking for. I'll break things down into the good and the bad below. Some spoilers ahead.

***SPOILERS***

The pros

- Positive female relationships! There's not much that annoys me more than when authors arbitrarily throw in ~the other woman~ to create conflict. Jealousy in its own right just isn't interesting, and it's way overdone in the genre. Also it's sexist, but fortunately that is not a problem here! Kay's relationship with her sister is lovely and sweet, and she has (mostly) positive relationships with the other serving women in the castle. Queen Boudica even makes an appearance, which is nice.
- The romance is built off of mutual trust and respect. So great! So refreshing! Probably handled a bit explicitly,in the sense that it's more tell than show, but that's more of a nitpick than anything.
- A different kind of bad guy who isn't mustache-twirlingly evil and therefore visible from a mile away. There's also a decent secondary/decoy bad guy that makes good use of the marriage game premise from the beginning of the book.
- Kay has skills and strength that she uses throughout the story. Don't get me wrong, I love a protective and heroic leading man - it gets me every time - but I don't think that's mutually exclusive with a protagonist who is capable in her own right. And this author clearly doesn't either! Which is awesome. I truly don't understand the point of starting a novel off with a girl who has powers or a sword and then we never get to see her use either again throughout the entirety of her own story. Kay is not only capable of defending herself, she's smart and deploys her mental strength as well as her physical strength in more than one instance.

The cons

- Borderline rape apologia. One of the contenders for Kay's hand is a literal rapist and the word 'rape' isn't even used until the final 20% of the novel. Uther, one of the dudes who's come to Serenor to vie for Keren aka Kay's hand, assaults both serving ladies Anne (sometimes Anna?) and Jessica, and Kay witnesses them both seek counsel in the chapel for their respective attacks. This is bewildering for a couple of reasons, least of which being the timing of it all is remarkably orchestral. When did Uther have the time, first of all? Second of all, that Anne and Jessica would take turns in the chapel while Kay was hiding out there was super considerate of them in the service of plot convenience. But nevermind that Kay has heard two independent and nearly identical reports of Uther's violence, she has to get to the truth of the matter for HERSELF (hence the 'mostly' qualification from the pros list above). I get that the point of all of this is to maneuver Kay into a position that would trigger Reese's jealousy, but why not just have Kay confront Uther? What reasons would Anne or Jessica have to lie when they thought they were on their own, speaking to God? And then the author adds insult to injury later in the book by trying to pawn responsibility for Uther's behavior off on the Big Bad Guy's Evil Plan ™. The handling of this issue was just...incredibly bad. 'Historical accuracy' isn't a justification, either.
- I started running out of energy for the narrative at about the 50% mark, when the marriage game is beginning to wind down. This section read like a technical misstep, because the plot pinch indicated that more HAD to happen if half the book remained, and at that point there were only two husband-contenders left. One was clearly the good guy favorite, so by necessity the other had to be the bad guy. This really sucked a lot of the punch out of the 'surprise betrayal.'
- So much gratuitous falling into the hero's arms. I'm not even being critical of this from a feminist perspective! It just got to the point where it was so overdone it became unremarkable. Overusing romantic elements dilutes them. In this case it made me suspicious of the author's motives for inflicting Kay's most significant injuries in the book on her legs. Were you trying to kneecap your own character? For the sake of a swooning scene (or twelve)? That's cold as ice.
- "Fiber of her being," "Core of her being," "Core of her soul," "fiber of her body," etc etc etc. My dear author, I came here from the audience to tell you you need to stop. It's too much.
- We got this cool sword from Queen Boudica and it essentially spends the novel as a fun prop with no plot significance whatsoever? Until the author remembers at the very end where it's passed off to another fun heroine like so much sourdough starter.
- Describing Big Bad's mind as a 'machine going haywire' near the end of the book seemed super anachronistic. Haywire wasn't in use until the 1920s and machine until the 16th century. Kind of an odd combo there. But now I'm just being nitpicky again, whoops.

All in all this was a nice read. I absolutely recommend it if you just need something to page through on the beach or a lazy Sunday or something - you could definitely do a lot worse as far as free books go. Would I pay money for it though? Ehhhh. Probably not.

ETA Also, what on earth did the title have to do with anything?
I just wanted a light romance, and the reviews stated that though it is a youth orientated book, it still had some good parts in it. unfortunately, I found it to be one dimensional characters, and lacking plot. the idea is that this young woman gets to choose between 5 young knights; which might have been fun, but she made the young men so predictable and lacking any character. One can easily see in the first introduction of them who she will choose. having to read about it for the next whatever pages is beyond me. she might appeal to young women, but its boring as heck for those of us with age and life experience. this book could have been much improved if she had made them men with qualities of both good and bad, mixed those up a bit, showed some depth to them! ah. youth.