When Isabelle de Piaget receives a mysterious message
telling her to go to France or else her family will die, she
immediately sets out to leave, dressed as a lad.
Unfortunately, after an accident along the way, she loses
her memories and is saved by a lord whose politeness seems
to have left him long ago. The lord, Gervase de Seger, tries
to put her to work, thinking she is a boy, but when he finds
out exactly who she is, a woman and a lady nonetheless, he
has to decide if he should confront her or see if any other
secrets come up. As more mysterious threats arise towards
them both, they will have to put aside their distrust and
band together to find out who is behind the threats.
DREAMS OF LILACS by Lynn Kurland is part of a long series
(that I hadn't read previously), but can easily be read as a
stand-alone. I did find myself confused at times over some
background details, but overall, everything that you need to
know is explained. The main character, Isabelle, is the
youngest from a large family, and ready to find her own
excitement. With her sense of adventure and bright
personality, she makes for a wonderful main character. Her
relationship with Gervase is wonderfully slow and never
overpowers the story line. Kurland gives them plenty of time
to get to know each other before their feelings get very
strong, and because of that slowness, they come alive
brilliantly as a couple that knows the moods of the other
(if not all the facts) and have a caring relationship. Their
romance is also very clean, and though I would've liked some
slightly steamier scenes, it fits very well with the tone of
the story.
With a smooth voice, Kurland clearly knows how to tell a
good romance story. I didn't feel an especially strong
connection to the characters (I prefer first person
narration instead of third), but I still found DREAMS OF
LILACS to be an enjoyable and quick read, perfect for any
fans of adult historical romance.
Isabelle de Piaget is determined to elude her overprotective
family by means of a hasty escape to France. But instead of
making a surprise visit to her brother there, she winds up
shipwrecked on the French coast with no memory of who she is
or how she came to awaken in the dark and forbidding castle
of an equally brooding lord.
Gervase de Seger rescues—very reluctantly—the bedraggled
urchin he finds on the road and puts her to work where he
can ignore her. Unfortunately, he soon realizes that her
brother is an intimidating lord who is going to be
absolutely furious when he learns that his beloved sister
has been laboring as a scullery maid. Yet Isabelle may be
the one who holds the key to solving Gervase’s most pressing
problem: that someone has been trying to finish the task of
separating him from his title and his lands.
Finding the truth propels Gervase and Isabelle from the
buried secrets of half-ruined keeps to the glittering French
court, and to the realization that love can blossom in the
most perilous circumstances—and in the most unexpected
places of the heart . . .
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