A Knight in Shining Armor

A woman gets ditched by her shitty boyfriend while on vacation in England, and while she’s crying over him in an old church, a nobleman from 400 years in the past is pulled through time by her tears. She helps him find out who betrayed him to the queen all those years ago and caused his wrongful execution. They fall in love. He gets sucked back in time. She cries a lot. Again. Then *she* gets zapped back in time to save him because he’d still been executed even after discovering at least part of the truth in the future. They fall in love again. She gets pulled back to the future. She cries a lot. Again.

Ugh. This 80s romance novel has not aged well, although, to be honest, bad writing is pretty much always bad writing. Plot holes and show more contradictions don’t breed in the pages over time. It’s just…not good. However, if you squint, tilt your head just right, and replace the two MCs with Nandor and Guillermo from What We Do in the Shadows, it almost kind of works. show less

When I was around 10 or so, I discovered romance novels, and luckily, quickly discovered Jude Deveraux. It was the nineties, and my main source of romance novels was battered copies purchased at garage sales and from my library resaler, so most of what I was able to get my hands on was at least 5-10 years old. So if you can imagine, in a landscape of enslaved heroines learning to love their rapists (boy did they love those tropes in the 80s!), I found a woman writing stories about women lusting after super hot men with lots of muscles and long eyelashes that they eventually had hot consensual sex with until finally getting their HEA. Boy was it disappointing when I started dating, but I thank Jude because eventually I was able to get my show more head out of my ass and start asking for what I wanted from a relationship because some part of me thought that there must be a world in which I got to be happy. Not to mention her books were always entertaining, and there was something special about getting to know the Montgomerys and the Taggerts better than I even knew my own family. Although I must say, it is very lonely to be 13 and want nothing better than to talk over a fictional family tree except the only people who might know what you're talking about are 30 years older than you. ;)

But this particular book! I just reread it because I needed a comfort read and I'm glad, because it's just as lovely as it always was. Yeah, it's cheesy, and sometimes a bit hokey, but if you're afraid of a little cheese you probably shouldn't be reading romance. And listen, I'm sorry for you if you end up hating this because it doesn't end the way you wanted it to. Never watch Roman Holiday, I guess! show less

Ok...so for years I have been told to read this book because it was fabulous. I always replied with..."Ugh...a time travel book...I _hate_ time travel books."
Guess what? I read it...and loved it. It changed my assumption that all TT books paint a romanticized outlook on the places the traveler ends up. This book had a man from the 16th century traveling to 1988. Then it had a modern woman traveling back to the 16th century. His experience and her experience were, of course, very different but despite this being a TT woo woo storyline it felt extremely realistic. Her experiences in the 16th century seemed spot on with history. Visiting the local town and experiencing the filth and stench of poverty for example. Never have I read such an show more accurate portrayal of what common people lived like. Despite the harsh realities the book told about it still was a beautiful love story that was bittersweet. I was so engrossed with Nicholas and Dougless's story that I found myself tearing up several times. Ok...honestly it was a two hanky read for me. show less

Dougless is on a trip to England with her partner, Robert, and his spoilt-brat daughter, Gloria. When, after a fight, Robert and Gloria drive away and leave Dougless behind at a church without even her purse, she breaks down in tears on top of a tomb – the tomb of 16th century “rake” Nicholas Stafford. When a man appears, she refuses to believe he is from the 16th century – he says he IS Nicholas. She just thinks he’s crazy! Even still, she agrees to help him, as he is obviously confused about everything going on around him (or he’s acting so, anyway). They decide to do some research to find out more about what happened to him (he appeared to Dougless only 3 days before he was scheduled to be executed) – that is, who show more accused him of the crime he is to be executed for.

I quite enjoyed this. I’m not a big romance fan, but I do like time travel. This one got even better with an unexpected turn of events in the middle of the book. Although, I did find Dougless to be a bit – I can’t think of a good word, but “flakey” maybe? I have no idea what she ever saw in Robert! I do feel like this was a tough one to find a good ending for, but I thought she did a good job with that. There is an afterword in the edition I read, which was apparently slightly rewritten from the original. The author said she tried to make the reader see a bit better why Dougless might have wanted so badly to marry Robert, but I still didn’t get that part of it. Despite that, however, I did love the time travel aspect of the book! show less

If I were the kind of person who could quit reading a book once I've started, I'd have thrown A Knight in Shining Armor against the wall somewhere during the first chapter. I loathed the heroine. I didn't just dislike her or think she was a wimp, and I certainly didn't feel sympathetic for her.

Dougless... and okay, let me get the name rant off my chest first. It's explained later on that she's named after a historical figure, and that fits with her father being a history scholar, but mostly it just seems like an excuse to indulge in the odd 1980s habit of giving romance heroines masculine names. And poorly spelled ones, at that--is she less of a Doug? lacking a Doug? Argh. I'm over it. I'll try again.

Dougless Montgomery is on vacation show more in England with her live-in boyfriend and his 13-year-old daughter. I'm not going to bother describing them because they're not even as complex as 2-dimensional caricatures of The Most Obnoxious Boyfriend Ever and The Most Bratty Girl Ever. She's taken advantage of horribly, but there's no point in being angry with cardboard cut-outs. Instead, I think she's a complete idiot. Their actions are so over-the-top that only a fool would have put up with a fraction of it. At the end of the book, there's a half-assed apology and explanation, but I ignored it--it made no sense anyway.

Once she's been abandoned at a church, things start to look up for the story. She's sobbing her heart out next to a knight's tomb, wishing for "a knight in shining armor," and poof! There's one standing next to her.

He's Nicholas Stafford, Earl of Thornwyck, and seconds earlier, he'd been in 1564, writing a letter to his mother while awaiting his execution.

It takes Dougless a long time to believe him, but she feels responsible for the apparently confused man, and she helps him out. Eventually they decide the purpose of the time travel is to clear his name and prevent his execution. And while they're working on that, they fall in love.

I'm not going to go into any further details, because the plot twists, and I don't want to spoil the surprises (surely, I can't be the only one who hasn't read this--though sometimes it's seemed like I was). Suffice it to say that the time travel aspect of this book is the most convincing I've read, and I've read quite a few time travel romances. Not the mechanics of how the time travel was accomplished, but the reactions of the characters.

Dougless's inability to believe, and the things that surprised Nicholas, were absolutely real, as were their outlooks on life and love. I've read so many historical romance characters who are very untrue to their times--nearly all of them are against slavery, strangely addicted to bathing, and would never consider marrying for other than true love. Nicholas is not like that. He's a man of the 16th century, and he acts and thinks like it.

Then add to that the emotional punch of the star-crossed lovers, and I was hooked. There are no easy answers for these two, and they know it.

There are also some very funny moments that stick in my head--Dougless showing Nicholas modern conveniences--a calculator, the TV--to distract him, and Nicholas's reaction on reading Romeo and Juliet (they were disobedient children).

The ending is very typical for time travel romances, but it's satisfying, and somehow more true to the spirit of the story than alternatives might have been. It's a hopeful, rather than a happy ending.

So many, many people have cited this as their favorite romance novel ever. I can't say I agree, but I'd put it up there among my favorite time travel romances. show less

How many books do you remember a week after you've finished reading it?

I read this book when it was first released, and I read it again when it was re-released. Dougless is such a charming underdog, the youngest child trying not to be the family clown. She feels like she can't do anything right, and in spite of landing a doctor (who is going to propose "any day") she discovers he isn't her best choice in husband material, but he's her chance to appear to have done the right thing with her family. Until she meets her knight in shining armor, and he shows her how a man should treat a lady.

One of the first time travel romance novels, this story stuck with me for all these years, and even in re-reading it (I must have been mixing up two show more books, they don't BOTH travel through time, do they?), I still loved the way Dougless uses a waterfall as a shower, and I remembered Nicholas's trip to the dentist. I love the way Nicholas is fascinated by modern-day inventions. Particularly endearing is the ending... Because love endures the test of time. show less

This is the very first romance book, which made me smile, laugh and cry. Read it three times and decided that I had to have it for myself. So now, it is sitting very nicely in my book cabinet, beckoning me to read it again for I-don't-know-how-many times.

I must say, this is best book of all by Jude Deveraux. About time-travel romance, finding and recognizing true love even if its separated by decades of time. So, you will get to read about Nicholas realising his true love in Douglass's modern time and when he was returned to his medieval time (with no memory of their love), Douglass was 'transported' and determined to safe him from danger and once again, the strength of their love was proven. The scene nearing the end was heart show more wrenching when they were separated by time yet again, but their souls found each other, and they were 'reunited'. Like all romance novel, the book ended with a happily-ever-after though not in a typical way.

Best read with the 'dont disturb sign' outside your door. show less