The lady saves herself in this one... ( )

Well, that was painfully stupid, and it didn't even have the benefit of being short. I don't demand much from these silly novels, but Shadows and Lace was unpleasant, unromantic, confusing and a little creepy. Gareth and Rowena both seemed to be of below-average intelligence, I kept hoping they wouldn't end up together and produce offspring. You expect a certain amount of absurdity in the plot but this one made so little sense that I can't even summarize it.

I think there is a maximum number of times per novel (one) that you can use the " beautiful heroine is about to be raped but at the last minute the unusually large and muscular and handsome hero comes out of nowhere and rescues her" plot device. ln this novel it happens twice. I'm so annoyed that I wasted precious hours of my life on this.

I think I have read others by this author and thought they were above average, but maybe I am confusing her with someone else. ( )

1.5 stars

Storyline:
Gareth's stepmother seduced him when he was a teenager, his father died, he caught stepmother in arms with another knight, got jealous, stepmother found on bedroom floor run through with a sword. Her newborn and knight go missing, everyone blames Gareth for their deaths.

14yrs later
Gareth wins Rowena from her father in a dice game. Neither Rowena's father, her brothers (except for the youngest), or her betrothed cousin fight for her. Gareth takes her to his castle where Gareth's sister Marlys hates on her, his knightly friend sort of makes plays for her, and Gareth himself sort of falls in love with her.

This is where I'm going to step in and save you all from the endless filler and get to the gist, Rowena was the stepmother's baby but no born of Gareth's father but the knight that escaped that night. Gareth knew this and was going to punish Rowena's father by raping her and sending her back pregnant. She was too good, he fell in love, blah, blah. Turns out Gareth's sister Marlys killed the stepmother letting Gareth take the blame. Gareth and sister have confrontation, Marlys disappears into the night. Gareth and Rowena live happily ever after.

Seriously, that is all of the storyline.

This book was broken up into three parts and for you visual learners out there, here you go,

Part One:


Again, let me save you all endless filler, nothing happens in this part besides Gareth and Rowena meeting and him taking her to his castle.


No really, NOTHING happens.

I start to get moody


Part Two:

Rowena runs away...



for a bit before Gareth catches her and he decides,


Wink, wink.

and Rowena decides,



Translation: They be hitting the sheets hard but Gareth still maintains he doesn't want to marry her.

A whole lot of this,


Part Three:

Rowena's brothers, her betrothed cousin, and her father sort of come to rescue her. First off, Rowena is like dude, we're cousins, no.


One down. Then Gareth agrees to squire her youngest brother and they all become friends. How/Why? No idea. 4 down. Rowena steals Gareth's horse to sprint her father away.


Gareth not happy. However, with her savvy 19yr old deduction and intuition she explains to Gareth that it was not her father who killed the stepmother but Marlys!



Marlys tries to kill Rowena...sort of.....Gareth rescues her.....sort of......Marlys rides away.......sort of.....and then our happily ever after......sort of.

And I'm sort of sitting here like,



THE ENDLESS NOTHINGNESS AND FILLER.

Save yourselves and read Thief of Hearts. ( )

Lindsey Fordyce gambled until he lost all he had and then gambled some more. His debt was to be paid with one of his 8 children to be in service to Sir Gareth of Caerleon for a year. Right when he tells Gareth to pick a son (from his 7 boys), his beautiful and only daughter Rowena walks in and Gareth promptly picks her. Her brothers, father, and cousin (her betrothed) try and say nay but the only one to try and physically stop Sir Gareth is her youngest brother Freddie. Despite their rocky beginning he does not rape her or be cruel to her. He takes care of her and although he doesn't always say the nicest things he is clearly a kind man.
Rowena starts to believe he cares but when he acts on his plan for revenge he deliberately treats her like a whore in front of her family and she flees with 2 of her brothers and her cousin. Rowena is not welcome in her father's home and they are forced to live in the wild and it is not at all easy. They becoming starving and desperate.
Gareth won't let her go that easy and after a month hunts her down which is actually wonderful timing. He brings her back home and love starts to bloom but Gareth has not given up his revenge plan.
I really enjoyed this book! It was my first Teresa Medeiros and I fully intend to read more of her books. ( )