The Deed

Unbelievably ignorant Emma and strong and brave but lightly slow-witted Amaury are a breath of fresh air among the nearly perfect yet tortured heroes and heroines of romance genre - and so is the plot, packed with action. It's a wonder how well the romance worked squished between action and comedy. The latter, by the way, worked exceptionally well. In fact the book was so hilarious I forgave all historical inaccuracies without a second thought.

Admittedly I'm only a few chapters into this book, but it's irritating me to no end. Other reviews for this book are all glowing, promising a "hilarious" read, but from the start the author fails to demonstrate that she knows anything about life in 14th century England; not the clothing, not the customs, not how people were educated or how a castle and it's inhabitants functioned day to day. If you're not going to do any research on the chosen period, why would you date the story to a particular year with a particular known historical figure (a King)? I'm not laughing.
But let me give the author the benefit of the doubt for the time being, let me completely suspend all knowledge of actual history and just let the story unfold as if it show more were a fairy tale. A fairy tale in which the heroine is ...quite possibly the stupidest woman in Christendom. Seriously, anyone who'd been raised in the vicinity of animals would know more about reproduction and anatomy than the heroine apparently doesn't. For a young woman raised in a bustling household full of men and women (servants), you would think that she'd have figured out what a penis is, or at the very least her maid would have pulled her aside to explain it. I'm still not laughing.
But, again, let me suspend all the realities of human nature and natural curiosity; perhaps she's learning disabled or autistic and unable to recognize social cues. That might explain why everyone one around her seems to humor her absurd quirks and jumps to her beck and call without raising any questions. And then there's the "hero" who seems to have some bi-polar personality disorder that swings from tender and logical to raging, inarticulate neanderthal.
If the author continues to insist on bending these 1 trick-pony characters like chewing gum around her plot, then I suspect I'm not going to stick it out to the end, but end up throwing the book across the room. show less

I read this book awhile ago, and quite enjoyed it. It is so well written and so enjoyable, that it's easy to disregard the innocent ignorance of our married leading lady, Lady Emmalene Eberhart. One would expect a woman living in those times, who has been allowed to learn the bow and arrow, and who has had the freedom of her father's castle, who has been running her husband's castle and even seeing to the training of his men in his absence, to be less ignorant of the ways between a man and a woman, but therein lies the crux of the problem.

How Lady Emmalene approaches becoming a good wife and mother, which is after all what any good wife should aspire to, makes for an interesting twist in the story. Throw in a feudal struggle for the show more property and dowry that come with her, and a ruggedly handsome, landless knight, and you have the makings for a wonderfully medieval who-dun-it/romance.

For sheer enjoyment and a love of romances set in medieval times, this book is a great read! If you're looking for more history and weight to your reading, tho, I'd give this a pass. show less

Ms. Sands is known for her paranormal books, which I've read and enjoyed. This is one of her first forays into writing, a historical romance set in the time of Richard II. It's not particularly accurate, and it's not a great romance, either. The story tries to be cheeky and fun, but most of the time, it fails.
Emmeline first goes to the king because her husband, a duke, hasn't consummated the marriage after some years. Then the husband dies, so the king sends Aumary, one of his knights, to marry her before Bertrand forces her into marriage. Hijinks ensue - not.
Predictably, Bertrand tries to kill Aumary several times, etcetera etcetera until the damsel rescues herself. I don't know, I just found the story a mess. I love Ms. Sands's show more vampire books, but this one was not for me. show less

Not a bad medieval romance by a new author for me. Funny at moments, but the heroine was borderline TSTL and the hero could be as dense as pea soup at times. Still, I enjoyed it!

http://ktleyed.blogspot.com/2009/09/deed-by-lynsay-sands.html

If you are into the hilarity of an arranged marriage this book will surly entertain you to no end. This book was beautifully well written and I could not be more pleased by it. Thank you Mrs. Sands for an amazing read!

Teally liked this book

Fun read had me laughing out loud in many places. Love Lynsay Sands.