Nord D'Rae 1: Not Quite Camelot
Jennifer DunneFantasy romance
Available from Cerridwen Press
ISBN: 1-4199-0167-2
May 2005
| Angelique falls asleep in her parents' car on the way home from visiting a
college, with thoughts of Camelot in her mind. She wakes in Nord D'Rae,
hunted by a mage and the soldiers he can command. Prince Reynart saves her,
hides her, and plans on smuggling her out of the castle with the help of his
mage sister. Reynart is the kind of man Angie could see as her knight in
shining armor, and even though she's still young, she knows she's attracted
to him. And she can't help but hurt when she finds out that his family is in
a constant state of war with itself.
Reynart, the eldest and the bastard of the King and a maid, stands to inherit. His stepmother, the Queen, wants her own son, Alaric, to inherit and constantly drives a wedge between him and Reynart, as well as manipulating situations against Reynart's favor. And the King is the worst of the lot, often beating and torturing Reynart and even Alaric for the smallest slight. Reynart, at first, mistakes Anjeli for a noblewoman visiting, but little things about her soon make him question that assumption. He has no idea why the mage, Gervaise, wants her, but he can't imagine turning Anjeli over to the man. Nord D'Rae 1: Not Quite Camelot started off pretty well. I was left with the impression that Angelique had somehow been drawn to Reynart's world by the mage, but without any clue as to why. I wasn't given any information the characters didn't have, which preserved the mystery of Angelique's circumstances, and any possible conclusions I may have made. This story actually had quite a bit of sex, though not as much as an erotic romance. Even with the sometimes humorous terms Reynart used, the sensuality in this story was very good because it occured naturally between the characters and, as implied, was very sensual. The best part of this book was the writing. Once I started to read Nord D'Rae 1: Not Quite Camelot, it was difficult to stop. The pace was fairly quick, and the ease with which the story progressed was great. The characters were likeable, and Reynart's vulnerability after years of being forced to be alone and independent of others deeply endeared him to me. Cerridwen Press with this story, and another, has quite impressed me, and I may have to resort to hounding Ms. Dunne to get the rest of this series. In fact, the ending was my ONLY complaint about Nord D'Rae 1: Not Quite Camelot; I don't want to wait for the rest of the series!
Overall rating:
Reviewer: Tara Black |
