Knight of Desire by Margaret Mallory is sizzling must have summer read. Delicious from page one to the very end, this is one love story you won't soon forget. A Debut book by this author that will leave you hungering for more.

William FitzAlan is a Knight of renown and high on the King's list of best of the best. A man with no title, lands nor wife, he is surprised when the King hands him all this on a platter for being who he is, a devoted Kings man to the death.

Catherine is Lady of Ross Castle and a close friend of the Prince. She is also the battered wife of a sniveling coward who rules this Castle and a man that has little to no scruples. When Catherine is trust into a plot to overthrow the King and Prince she knows where her allegiance falls and betrays her husband.

The story starts really quickly with the death of Catherine's husband and William's acquirement of lands, title and wife if he will have her. The king has given William two choices as to what he may do with the Lady of Ross Castle and he wonders if he will regret his choice for quite some time.

This is a delicious romance that flows smoothly from beginning to end, action packed throughout and sit on the edge of your seat fascinating that you won't be able to put it down. Even now with having finished this book I am craving more, ever so much more that I read the excerpt for the next book which is due out in December and wonder if I can indeed wait that long without going stark raving mad.

Our Author is new and this is a Debut book and one that surely make you come back for more. She has included all the best of deceit, love, pain, doubt, intrigue and so many more emotions that you will constantly be driven to go from one page to the next and wish you could read this in all one day. It will be very hard to put this one down even for the must have potty break.

On the night before her wedding Lady Catherine secretly decides to go on one last ride before she is to marry the man her King has chosen to be her husband. There she meets a young knight (William FitzAlan) who accompanies her on this ride and returns her safely to the stables, but not before leaving them with memories that they think back upon over the years.

Five years later, Lady Catherine betrays her husband in order to protect her king. Her husband was violent and abusive and she has no remorse in betraying him for the traitor that he was. On the day of her husband's death, she learns that his/her lands and castle are forfeit to William FitzAlan. The King has left her with no choice but to either be taken to the Tower or to marry FitzAlan. Reluctantly she chooses to marry William - as for William, he recognizes Catherine as the young girl he still thinks of and immediately marries her despite his doubts as to what type of woman can betray her husband.

Although the main threat to Catherine is easily resolved with their marriage, there are still many other issues that they have to deal with. For one, Catherine has only been to the marriage bed with her late husband and it was not something pleasant for her. So she is none too thrilled about consummating her marriage. Secondly, William has issues trusting her - he is constantly questioning her actions not to mention his closest friend keeps reminding him of the outcome of her previous marriage. As passion ignites and danger closes in, Catherine and William must learn to trust in each other to save their marriage, their land, and their very lives.

I love historical romances - and this one has just the right amount of romance, witty banter and likeable characters. Ms. Mallory definitely did her research when describing the Welsh rebellion of the 15th century as well as Medieval England. This is a well-written story and you will see that the pages fly by with ease. It is riddled with love, lust and betrayal... what more could you want out of a romance novel? I can definitely recommend this to fans of the romance genre and congratulate Ms. Mallory on a very enjoyable debut.

I love that this book takes place in an under-studied time period. Although I read it for the love story, the political backdrop provided an interesting and compelling context for the author's plot. Catherine and William are easy to like and satisfactorily steam up the pages throughout. Hopefully this is the start of an exciting slew of books from a promising author.

I loved this book. I received it yesterday and have already finished, so that gives you a clue how much I loved it. This isn't my usual reading material, and so I had the same issues with it that I have with all romance novels, but that aside, it is much better than any of the other novels I've read. The plot was engaging, the characters gratifying, and the writing style was superb.

I found Knight of Desire to be an excellent debut book. Margaret Mallory writes a strong heroine who manages to keep her hero just a little off kilter at all times. Yet he exhibits significant strength of his own. Her characterization adds significant depth to the story. As well, the historical information embedded throughout makes the setting come alive. I felt like I was there. I couldn't put the book down and greatly look forward to Margaret Mallory's next novel.

Synopsis:
As a young heiress, Lady Catherine has little choice but to accept her king's choice of husband. But the night before her wedding, Catherine sneaks into the stables for one last taste of freedom and runs into William. William is a young knight in the service of the Earl of Northumberland. He accompanies her on this late night ride and they leave each other with memories that each return to over the years.

Lady Catherine betrays her husband to protect her king. On the day of her husband's death, her relief at her escape disappears as she learns that his lands and castle are forfeit to William FitzAlan and that she must choose to marry FitzAlan or be taken to the Tower. Not surprisingly, Lady Catherine chooses marriage.

William FitzAlan had wondered what sort of wife would betray her husband to the king and whether he could trust her enough to marry. William recognizes Catherine immediately and marries her despite his misgivings.

As political unrest and war invade their castle, Catherine and William slowly learn to trust and love each other.

Review:
I admit that I have a weakness for historical romances. Just reading about the book, I suspected that Knight of Desire would be a fun and satisfying read. Indeed, it has the elements of the best historical romances: interesting romantic leads, action filled plot during tumultuous times, and snappy dialogue.

I particularly enjoy romances with (a) the leading men who have had difficult lives but because of a strong sense of honor they remain brave and true and (b) although they're cynical or wary of love, they can't help but become besotted with the plucky heroines. Though I'd suspected that Knight of Desire would fulfill these expectations, I enjoyed the plot twists and the witty banter even more than I'd expected. This would qualify as a guilty pleasure - and a book that I'll reread several times until Margaret Mallory's next book comes out.