Recent Read

Wonderful by Jill Barnett

Why this one: I read all her books before she started writing more Women’s Fiction and loved them. When I saw this one at Kobo ebooks, I couldn’t resist either it or the price. I confess I didn’t remember it from before. It’s been years since I read this book.

Steam Level: While not a lot of steamy scenes, there is definite chemistry

Blurb: For six years Lady Clio has waited for Merrick and once the news arrives that he is returning Cleo makes for Camrose and awaits her husband determined to make up for the years she languished in the convent. Cleo leads the legendary knight a merry chase as she quests for the secrets of -heather ale- a magical beer first made by the Picts. Surrounded by the enchanted mists that circle Camrose Castle the two find themselves involved in an often hilarious battle of wills and passion

My Thoughts: This book is most aptly named as I indeed found it Wonderful. I love a good Medieval (and Western and Time Travel and SciFi/Futuristic and RS and so on and so on) and this makes for a great Medieval. Ms. Barnett writes a good feel for the time and the place and I had a most wonderful time picturing it. Of course the fact that I am totally hooked on Game of Thrones, the series on HBO Sunday nights at 9:00 helps both in picturing it and my desire to read Medievals.

I adore Clio. She’s been waiting longer than she should have for Merrick to show up and she’s pissed and she is going to make him pay for his tardiness. She’s a strong heroine and I got quite the kick out of her “wonderful” plans she comes up with. A lot of readers are fond of Julie Garwood Medievals. I was in the day too, but I can’t read her anymore as her heroines strike me as stupid twits – sorry to Garwood fans, but they do! Clio reminds me of a Garwood heroine but thankfully (really – I’m very thankful) without the twittiness that drives me bonkers about Garwood heroines. Clio does drive Merrick crazy, but in a way I found most amusing. There were more than a few times when I was reading this on my break when I broke out in a snort of laughter and quickly looked around to see if anyone was looking at me strangely. Clio is naïve and innocent, yet she isn’t stupid. She makes Merrick pay for his neglect and you have to love that in a heroine.

Merrrick is also quite a hoot of a character. He is a warrior without a clue as to anything other than battle and battle defenses. But he does have it bad for Clio, though being clueless, he doesn’t figure on letting her know. There is one hilarious scene where he tells her the king should be arriving the next day for their wedding. Not only did he not tell her the king would be there in 24 hours, he neglected to tell her they would be wed soon. When Clio rightly goes ballistic, he is genuinely puzzled as to that the big deal is. I mean the walls were fortified to his specifications, the moat had been filled with poisonous water; he didn’t see what the problem was. The whole scene was very funny and cute and indicative of how clueless Merrick is.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I see it’s gone up in price since I got my copy, but still, if you are a fan of Julie Garwood, Game of Thrones, clueless heroes, adorable not annoyingly adorable, one eyed cats, witches with puffs of dandelion hair, Medievals and oh so many other things, I think you will enjoy this one. Now I’m wanting to reread Wicked and Wild, the next two books in this series.

Grade: 4.50 out of 5