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A review by sonny
The Warrior Knight and the Widow by Ella Matthews
4.0
Nice to see a debut HQ Historical Author come out the gate with a fairly decent couple and story. Unfortunately, wow, this felt similar to another medieval HQ Romance I read a few months back. When it got down to the eventual closing in on the HEA...I felt like I had read this book before but realized I couldn't have because this just came out for the month of April. But what was similar is how the tables got turned on the female MC, Ellena, at least this time there was no 2nd forced marriage of convenience and the male MC, Braedan, attempting to cow-tie his new, rambunctious wife...after lying to her for over half the book. Same situation here.
Braedan goes to "escort" a King's daughter, Ellena - The King having forced his offspring into marriage with an abusive septuagenarian - her husband dies, making her a Widow. And now her father...The King/the male MC's liege...sends him on a Quest he knows he won't come back empty-handed from. He's forced to escort her back to her father and then from there, the King will, once again, marry her off to an unknown man. She wanted to stay back at her husband's estate/castle because he had been a terrible landowner, rather cutthroat and violent to his own people, but once he was dead, she turned that entire land around and was actually making profits.
The King had already sent two prior envoys with escorts to bring her back home, but she had always managed to finagle a way around and got them to leave without her. But this time Braedan was The King's best soldier...and he was bound and determined to not leave without Ellena in his keeping. He was battle-scarred and weary, exhausted from a general melee of routine life and unsure what to do with himself once he does bring her back. Braedan lied to her face in order to get her to come with him...and it bites him in the ass at the end, toward the HEA.
It was The King's plan all along to, yes, give Ellena's husband's old castle to Sir Braedan, but then to also offer him up to Ellena as her next husband. By the time Ellena learns of the lie, things have gone too far between them, so it's murky whether she can trust he genuinely loves her or is he just complying with His Liege and agreeing to take ownership of the castle and then marry Ellena. There is a decent discussion of truths eventually but not before miscommunication brings around some dramatic moments.
There is a running Villain who seems to have this "need" to not only chase after Ellena throughout the book but kidnap her and force her to marry him. A good majority of the book is simply Braedan and Elleena being a two-person esort...like forced proximity and also pretending to be "husband & wife" whenever they stop at inns and such. This bad guy has lands or a large estate that borders The King so, he keeps popping in and out. Especially when Braedan is simply trying to escort Ellena back to her childhood home.
There is a small trigger warning for much of the marriage Ellena had with her much-older husband. It ranged from sexual assault to abuse...to even locking her in a room without food or water. So, yeah...she will flashback to these terrible moments as it sours her for future relationships with men. Especially huge brutish-looking men like Braedan
For a first novel, it was really decent which is why I gave it the rating I did.
Braedan goes to "escort" a King's daughter, Ellena - The King having forced his offspring into marriage with an abusive septuagenarian - her husband dies, making her a Widow. And now her father...The King/the male MC's liege...sends him on a Quest he knows he won't come back empty-handed from. He's forced to escort her back to her father and then from there, the King will, once again, marry her off to an unknown man. She wanted to stay back at her husband's estate/castle because he had been a terrible landowner, rather cutthroat and violent to his own people, but once he was dead, she turned that entire land around and was actually making profits.
The King had already sent two prior envoys with escorts to bring her back home, but she had always managed to finagle a way around and got them to leave without her. But this time Braedan was The King's best soldier...and he was bound and determined to not leave without Ellena in his keeping. He was battle-scarred and weary, exhausted from a general melee of routine life and unsure what to do with himself once he does bring her back. Braedan lied to her face in order to get her to come with him...and it bites him in the ass at the end, toward the HEA.
It was The King's plan all along to, yes, give Ellena's husband's old castle to Sir Braedan, but then to also offer him up to Ellena as her next husband. By the time Ellena learns of the lie, things have gone too far between them, so it's murky whether she can trust he genuinely loves her or is he just complying with His Liege and agreeing to take ownership of the castle and then marry Ellena. There is a decent discussion of truths eventually but not before miscommunication brings around some dramatic moments.
There is a running Villain who seems to have this "need" to not only chase after Ellena throughout the book but kidnap her and force her to marry him. A good majority of the book is simply Braedan and Elleena being a two-person esort...like forced proximity and also pretending to be "husband & wife" whenever they stop at inns and such. This bad guy has lands or a large estate that borders The King so, he keeps popping in and out. Especially when Braedan is simply trying to escort Ellena back to her childhood home.
There is a small trigger warning for much of the marriage Ellena had with her much-older husband. It ranged from sexual assault to abuse...to even locking her in a room without food or water. So, yeah...she will flashback to these terrible moments as it sours her for future relationships with men. Especially huge brutish-looking men like Braedan
For a first novel, it was really decent which is why I gave it the rating I did.