Desire's Prize Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B00IO2GRJO | Format: EPUB
Desire's Prize Description
1347: Calais has finally fallen and Alaun de Montisfryth, first Earl of Montisfryn, powerful lord and companion of Edward III, is dispatched back to England with orders to secure the Welsh border. Halfway home, pride tempts Montisfryn to attend a tournament held by his family's old foes at Versallet Castle.
Eloise de Versallet, the widowed Lady de Cannar, rules her father's castle with a tongue sharper than any sword. She has no great opinion of men in general and of knights in particular.
Montisfryn and Eloise meet and sparks fly. He is intrigued. She is irritated.
He is under royal edict to wed. An experienced lady, well-born, still young, and exceedingly well-endowed with both wealth and beauty, Eloise is a matrimonial prize beyond compare - and has vowed to remain unwed.
Potent and powerful, will Montisfryn be able to breach her walls, storm her castle, and succeed where all others have failed? Or will Eloise, haughty and defiant to the last, prevail? The gauntlet is flung, the challenge accepted. And desire enters the fray.
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 15 hours and 26 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Savdek Management Pty Limited
- Audible.com Release Date: March 15, 2014
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00IO2GRJO
This isn't quite what I expected from Stephanie Laurens, even under a different name, but for the most part I really enjoyed it. She has a writing style that appeals to me and I always enjoy her strong female characters - Eloise is definitely one of those! While she's been running her father's household for years, she knows she's meant to be something more yet she's absolutely unwilling to put herself under a man's rule again after the way her previous husband treated her. Then comes Alaun, a very alpha and very attractive knight who wagers for her - not in the way you're might thinking; he wagers to have her "in his care," which during that time period meant that he would take responsibility for her safety. In his mind, he'd chosen her for his wife and he just needed the time to convince her - as a widow it was for her to say yea or nay, unlike with her first marriage when she'd been given over to a cruel man (not that her family realized he was).
The first third of the book was definitely my favorite, as Alaun strives to win the right to take Eloise into his care and also to win her regard. He doesn't do so well with the latter, but he's got plenty of time to continue that once she's in his care. Laurens fans who thrive on danger and tension in her books might be disappointed by the fact that there's not a whole lot of that. While there are some elements of it, it doesn't drive the story line. That's something I'm okay with, I enjoyed the descriptions of every day life and seeing Eloise work her way into the heart of Alaun's household and village, seeing the way the household worked and how she began to make it her own, as well as seeing both of them come to terms with their emotions.
Desire's Prize is a medieval rather than Stephanie Lauren's normal Regencies. Thus, the pseudonym M.S. Laurens. The main characters in the story Alaun and Eloise are strong, confident characters.
The reader is first introduced to Alaun and Eloise at Eloise's marriage at the age of 15. Alaun is one of the wedding guests. During Eloise's short marriage, she is tormented, abused and degraded by her husband. After her husband's death, she spends the next nine years first living at a convent and then serving as chatelaine for her father's castle.
At a tournament that her father hosts, she meets Alaun, the Earl of Montisfryn. Alaun is instantly attracted to Eloise and quickly comes to admire her intelligence, strength and skills as a chatelaine. Being under the edict of the king to marry soon, Alaun decides that Eloise will do nicely as a wife. Eloise, haunted the her short marriage, has decided to never again marry and has rejected many suitors brought to her by her father. Alaun, determined to have Eloise, engages in a wager with her father over her person. If he wins the tournament, Eloise will be placed in his care as his chatelaine and run his castle.
That is where the story starts. I found the story very engaging. Until the last portion of the book there is not much action, but I found that I loved the slow courtship that Alaun and Eloise engage in. Laurens allows the characters to build up trust and caring between them. It makes the relationship more realistic and interesting.
The drama of the story mostly comes from Eloise's history and her fears. Alaun is a confident, caring man from the start. He respects Eloise and is not threatened by her intelligence, her sharp tongue or her strength.
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