A Knight In Shining Armor

 

By Jude Deveraux

Dougless (the female main character) has traveled to England with her boyfriend and his teen daughter to get to know the daughter better. But it has not been going well and after an angry confrontation, boyfriend and daughter have left and abandoned her in the graveyard of an ancient church. 

Feeling like an absolute failure at life, her tears call forth a knight in shining armor, Sir Nicholas Stafford, Earl of Thornwyck, who died back in the 1500s. Apparently he was buried in his armor, along with jewel encrusted weapons, he is a walking fortune in gold and gems. Which is a good thing, it turns out, because boyfriend's teen daughter has stolen Doug's purse. (What a strange name Dougless is for a heroine in a romance novel.)

Nick is a bit upset that some witch has called him forth from his grave and wants to be released from her summons. But Doug has no clue how she did it nor how to undo it. So together the two must figure out how to survive in modern day Britain, Doug with no money and no ID and Nick lost in a time 180 degrees different from what he knows. Good thing Nick was buried with a small bag of coins from his time that are worth so much the coin expert they visit eye's probably nearly bug out of his head.

The first part of the book is the best, I think, with Doug helping Nick live in the modern world. The second part has Doug back in Nick's time. Unfortunately, that Nick has forgotten all the time they spent together in the future, leaving Doug in a rather precarious position and existing on the good graces of his very mercenary mother. Doug's mission in the past is to save Nick's life. He will become the victim of the insidious plot of an dangerously ambitious woman and an angry cuckolded husband. 

I didn't find the second part as interesting as the first. Mainly I think because Doug found herself quite at home and happy in the past, coping well without all the modern comforts and conveniences. When I think about the state of medical care back then and of women's rights, I find it nearly impossible to believe any modern woman would be happy to be back in those primitive times. Which is why I really liked the ending of the story, it made a lot of sense to me, well, as much as a ridiculous fantasy love story can make sense.

Here is a review of the novel from the website Dear Author by contributor The Fallen Professor.