A Knight Well Spent
Jackie Ivie
Zebra, Oct 2008, $5.99
ISBN: 9781420101652

In 1141, King David continues with his plan to unite the Scots, Picts and Normans under his rule. He especially needs a strong supporter to deal with the outrageous Highland clans. Thus he bestows on his favorite Norman knightly vassal Rhoenne Guy de Ramhurst a special gift, a fiefdom in the middle of the Highlanders who simply loath Normans. Rhoenne assumes he must have fallen out of favor to be gifted with this herculean task and a betrothal by his highness to David's daughter when he does not want to marry anyone.

His greeting to his new home is an arrow in the leg that leaves him fevered. The Lady of the Brook finds and heals him, but she vanishes afterward into the woods. At the castle, his so called allies are loyal to his half-brother Sir Harold and want Rhoenne to leave or die. However, it is Aisling the healer he wants, but she is his greatest challenge.

Readers will believe they are in the middle of the twelfth century amidst the feuding Highland clans (and the two siblings) as Jackie Ivie provides a vivid picture of the era. The storyline is filled with action from the healing onset and never slows down yet the cast is solid and there is plenty of wry humor; especially the asides that bring the unique freshness to the historical. 'Knight Well Spent' is a night (or two) well spent reading.

Harriet Klausner