An utter horny romantic soufflé of a tale. The 11th century would blush if it were remotely plausible. ( )

I’ve had My Lady's Champion on my TBR pile for a really long time, since I belonged to the Harlequin Historicals subscription service over two decades ago. I’m glad to finally be reading some of these books and getting them off the pile. This one started out great. The first two-thirds of the book was awesome and definitely on track to make it a keeper. The heroine was a little prickly, but I felt like I understood why and she seemed to be softening as the story went along. That being the case, I couldn’t quite figure out why the book has such a low rating on GoodReads. Well, I found out when I hit the final third or so of the book, because that’s when it all started to fall apart for me. From that point on, the story was nothing but a series of misunderstandings, miscommunications, TSTL moments, and sheer stubbornness on the part of both the hero and heroine, as well as a couple of secondary characters. So, while My Lady's Champion started off with a great deal of promise, it ended on a very frustrating note for me.

Melissande is a fiery beauty who has been administering her ancestral seat of Annossy ever since her parents died. She has worked hard to make the estate prosperous and she hopes that one day her liege lord will see fit to invest the seal of the estate upon her, even though she’s a woman. That’s why when he instead makes a demand that she immediately wed the recently returned son of her former mortal enemy, she’s spitting mad. Melissande doesn’t want to like the knight, thinking he’ll be just like his cruel father, but she can’t deny his attractiveness and as he shows her some unexpected consideration, she begins to soften toward him. But ultimately, she doesn’t trust him, and runs back to Annossy to make sure her legacy is protected.

Initially I wondered if Melissande would be too much of a spitfire for my taste, as she has a very sharp tongue and isn’t afraid to use it. However, I was surprised to find that I understood her independent spirit and how hard it would be for a woman in her position. She was hoping for full control of her family’s estate only to have it yanked away from her and then be forced into marriage with a man she’d barely met. Consequently my opinion started to change somewhat as the story went along, especially as she seemed to be coming around to the idea of being married to Quinn. But then she completely lost my respect when she stole away in the middle of the night, after deciding that Quinn’s estate of Sayerne was a lost cause and that she didn’t want to be a part of helping him rebuild it. Not only was it a TSTL move for a lady to be traveling alone at night, but she cruelly left right after Quinn had opened himself up and made himself vulnerable by telling her about his time in the Crusades, a story he’d never shared with anyone else. I felt like Melissande had absolutely no trust in her husband at all, even though he’d been nothing but kind and patient with her up to that point. I couldn’t help feeling like she was acting rather spoiled and entitled. And to make matters worse, she never apologized for her actions even after she and Quinn reunited. Then in yet another TSTL move, she ran off into the night again after a misunderstanding, leaving herself open to the machinations of the villain. I just never developed much respect for Melissande and what little I did was pretty much destroyed and never recovered after her actions late in the story.

In contrast, I was actually very invested in Quinn’s character. He’s a knight who’d just returned from the Crusades upon hearing that his father had passed. He and his father had never seen eye-to-eye, which is why Quinn left in the first place, but he’s very excited to finally be coming home to his family’s estate. Even though Sayerne is run down, Quinn is a dreamer and a fighter who is ready to rebuild it even if he has to do it stone-by-stone with his own hands. Unfortunately his liege lord doesn’t see fit to invest him with the seal of what should be his inheritance, unless he marries Melissande. Wanting Sayerne badly and seeing no other option, he reluctantly agrees. After being the recipient of several of her tongue-lashings, Quinn thinks it’s going to be a hellish marriage, but as the lady slowly begins to soften toward him, he has hope that it will be a real marriage that blossoms into a love match. That all changes when Melissande sneaks away in the middle of the night. At that point Quinn feels understandably betrayed and isn’t inclined to go after her until he hears that Annossy has been attacked by marauders again. Then he goes to pledge his sword as her champion, but circumstances change when he learns information that makes him distrust her motives.

I really liked Quinn for most of the story. He has the patience of a saint in dealing with Melissande’s fears and distrust. He’s kind and considerate of her feelings, never forces himself into her bed, and even when she’s being something of a shrew, he always takes the high road. He’s also a brave and skilled knight who isn’t afraid to defend what’s his. Quinn would have had a place among my all-time favorite heroes if not for him getting a personality transplant during the last fifty pages or so. At that point, he and Melissande suddenly and inexplicably switch roles with him believing things about her that aren’t true and refusing to let her explain her side of the story. He also did a runner in the middle of the night just like she did. At that point, I basically lost respect for both of them, because they were acting so childish.

I’m giving My Lady's Champion 3.5 stars, because I genuinely enjoyed the first two-thirds of the story. I just couldn’t help feeling like the contrived misunderstandings got way out of control during the home stretch of the book when it really should have been gearing up for a tense, engaging climax that never really materialized. During that time, the characters’ twisted way of thinking was tying my brain up in knots, and I got to the point where I wasn’t really rooting for their HEA anymore. Even when they finally reconciled, it didn’t leave me with great amounts of confidence that they were going to make it for the long haul. They’d simply spent far too much page time arguing, mistrusting, and believing things about each other that weren’t true, as well as communicating very badly. I just couldn’t see how they could be happy when they couldn’t trust one another. I also felt like the villain’s role should have been drawn into the story more to give it a greater sense of suspense. Instead, he doesn’t show up until near the end, is dispatched pretty easily, and his confession of all his evil plans to the heroine as though he honesty things she’s going to go along with it felt unnatural. If the author had come up with a more organic and engaging ending rather than one that was weak and artificial, My Lady's Champion would have been a great read. It’s the first in her Sayerne series that was first published by Harlequin, although it appears that she’s now reworking and reprinting many of her older medieval titles (possibly including these) into a new series called Rogues & Angels. It appears that the heroine of Enchanted, the next book in the original Sayerne trilogy is somehow related to Quinn, although I’m not entirely certain how as she didn’t appear in this book. Since I have the other two books of this trilogy on my TBR pile, I’m sure I’ll give Claire Delacroix another chance. I just hope that she finds a different way to build conflict and reader engagement in her other stories. ( )

This story is about the war of wills between two strong characters. The hero desperately wants his inheritance at all costs and the heroine desperately wants her inheritance at all costs; much to each others chagrin.

Quinn de Sayerne returns home after a traumatic experience battling in the crusades. The only thing that has kept him alive was the thought of claiming Sayerne, his ancestral home. Quinn left his home years earlier because of a disagreement with his father Jerome and was not surprised to find that his recently deceased father had left Sayerne decimated and deserted. The ruthless Jerome de Sayerne had also been a bitter problem for those at nearby Annossy.

Melissande d'Annossy has been running her ancestral home Annossy by herself for a number of years, although as a women she could not be granted ownership. Her administration of the estate had been successful until recently when bandits started sabotaging the holding. The new problems at Annossy, which she can not fully handle by herself, put Melissande's freedom and her term as Annossy's leader in jeopardy.

Lord de Tully is the liege lord of the Sayerne and Annosy estates among others. He brilliantly manipulates Quinn & Melissande in an effort to solve several of his own problems. He brings the two strangers together and presents them with offers they can not refuse. They must marry and they must produce an heir within a year in order to be invested with the seal of their respective estates. It is certainly not what either had expected. Melissande is outraged for several reasons. Not only does she fear the loss of her independence, she can't abide marriage to Jerome de Sayerne's son and she had once pledged herself to another man. Quinn is no more thrilled than Melissande at the prospect of a loveless marriage but tries to make the best of the situation and continue his own plans to rebuild Sayerne. Melissande fights him all the way. This is where the story goes down hill for me.

I did not like Melissande and her haughty attitude. Her habit of wagging her finger at Quinn was annoying as were her silly drunken episodes. Her constant bickering was pointless. I found Melissande to be unreasonable most of the time. For someone who claimed to be so upset at having to break her vow; mind you, a vow made to a man she hadn't seen in 10 years, she was pretty heartless towards Quinn. All he wanted was a chance to fix up his home and try to build something out of their forced, but budding relationship. No matter what he did to appease her, Melissande cut him down. Of course she seemed surprised when he would get upset with her antics. The fact that Quinn was "enchanted" by Melissande seemed far-fetched. As a team though, they complimented each other; he for his warfare skills and she for her estate management skills. Still, it's rather difficult to enjoy a book while having no empathy for a main character. Maybe a prologue about earlier events would have been helpful in understanding Melissande and for that matter, Quinn as well.

The mystery of the attacks on Annossy was rather lackluster too. Luckily, there was great comic relief and romance with Bayard and Berthe. By the end of the book, Melissande finally came to her senses but by then I could have cared less. I was also disappointed to find that the epilogue was lacking vital information to the premise of the story. The reader is left to wonder if Quinn achieved his goal in rebuilding Sayerne to it's former glory. ( )