Lavender Vows
Author: Colleen Gleason
Reviewer: Sophia Rose
Rating: B
What I’m Talking About:
His father is pushing him to marry, but the only woman who has caught his attention is married to an abusive brute. I thought Colleen Gleason was a new to me author, but lo and behold, I’ve already read and enjoyed two of her historical cozy mystery series under a different pen name, Colleen Cambridge. No surprise, I enjoyed this first in the quick-read novellas of the Medieval Herb Garden series updated to The Castle Garden series.
Because this is a short novella, the description of setting, characters, and the plot get underway quickly and move along at a clipping pace. Lavender Vows opens at the scene of a wedding hosted at a lord’s castle. Lord Bernard is attending with his father who insists Bernard find a wife at the event or he’ll find one for him.
Bernard encounters a drunken brawler who is also a guest and also manages to slip away from his father’s latest matchmaking effort. He ends up in the stables and encounters a sweet, gorgeous woman inspecting a new batch of kittens. She’s all he could want, but he soon learns she’s married to the brute and she carries the scars to show the man isn’t all bluster. Bernard can’t leave Joanna to go home with the man.
The conflict comes swiftly to a head and this sweet romance was the quintessential castles, knights, and ladies with the knight to the rescue. It didn’t try to do more than it should and works great for an afternoon idyll. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.
My Rating: B Liked It — Recommend
Sophia Rose
About the Book:
A short novel in NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Colleen Gleason’s lush, romantic Medieval Herb Garden Romance Series… A compelling, sweet romance… A story of passion and love in Medieval England.
Gruff, brooding Lord Bernard of Derkland needs to find a wife, if for no other reason than to satisfy his father and his incessant badgering. He has no interest in marrying, but when he meets the beautiful and gentle Joanna of Swerthmore, he immediately knows she is the one.
The only problem is: she’s already wed…to a monster.
Readers who like Roberta Gellis, Catherine Coulter, Tina St. John, and Paula Quinn will enjoy this book of romance about ladies, lords, knights and castles.
Release Date: April 15, 2011
Publisher: Avid Press
Series: Medieval Herb Garden #1; The Castle Garden #1
Genre: Historical Romance
Format(s): e-book
Book Source: Purchased with my own funds