Mirror Lake Press, $2.99, ISBN 978-1311384966
Historical Romance, 2015
From the copyright notice, it seems like Donna Hatch’s A Winter’s Knight was originally part of the anthology Timeless Romance Anthology, Winter Collection, which came out in 2013. Just so you all know.
This is a pretty simple and somewhat short story – a part of me will always feel that $2.99 is tad overpriced if I were to compare and judge based on current length and pricing in the market – that revolves around some Beauty and the Beast-ish elements. Basically, Clarissa Fairchild and her Great-aunt Tilly are coming home from shopping in the village when a storm breaks out. The coach is forced to stop near Wyckburg Castle, and when the Earl of Wyckburg gallantly arrives at the scene to find out what is happening, our heroine collapses into his arms. He has to give them shelter, of course, until the storm clears, as that’s the least a gentleman can do.
The whole drama and angst revolves around a curse that causes the wives of each past Earl of Wyckburg to die while giving birth, and our hero Christopher Russell himself is a widower. Fully aware of the curse weighing in on his manly shoulders even when it’s attraction at first sight between him and Clarissa, he is of course determined to have her sent home as soon as possible, so that he can brood for the rest of his life. Our heroine naturally is determined to help him break the curse, so that they are free to love one another.
Now, this one is almost a four-oogie read. I know, it’s been so long, I sometimes wondered whether I had forgotten what the number four is like, much less number five. Judging from this story alone, I have a hunch that fans of Amanda Quick and Deborah Simmons may like Donna Hatch’s works, as there is a nice balance of humor and romanticism here. The hero and the heroine are both sensible, likable types, with Christopher’s angst never crossing the line to becoming tedious, self-absorbed, or cruel. Clarissa can be sassy and feisty, but these traits don’t entirely define her character – in many ways, she is a balanced, nuanced character, somewhat like the heroines of Amanda Quick’s early historical romances. Also, there are some lovely declarations of why Christopher can’t love her, why she believes that he can, and why they do love one another after all.
The whole thing occurs over a short period of time, but remarkably enough, the author makes me believe that these two may just make it for the long haul after all. Ms Hatch also has me lapping up the more sentimental moments here without making me cringe or wince even once. The overall tone of the story is sweet and sentimental, but make no mistake – it seems like the author can be quite sneaky; she is certainly capable of getting me to feel what she wants me to feel while I’m reading this story.
So why three oogies? There are two reasons: the clumsily introduced last-minute “Here’s someone with a gun!” scene for the obligatory exciting climactic moment, and the resolution to breaking the curse which can only be described among polite society as “daintily plucked out from the author’s rear end”. In many ways, this is a full-length story – or at the very least, a story that needs to be far longer than it is – clumsily truncated with forced resolutions introduced, maybe because the author has already written her quota of longer novels for that particular moment, and this is her way of earning some extra loose change.
A Winter’s Knight has many charming elements though, all things considered, and I do like it despite the terrible last few pages. In fact, I find myself buying two longer works by this author based on this story alone, which is something jaded old me don’t usually do these days. Mission accomplished, then.
