A great Medieval epic and a love story for the ages.1270 A.D. – An epic story of loss, love and redemption. On the Seventh Crusade, Sir Alec Summerlin makes a horrible mistake that costs him everything. Once the greatest swordsman in the realm, he lays his weapon down and refuses to ever wield a broadsword again. Surrendering his spurs, he retires to his father’s castle in self-imposed exile. His … self-imposed exile. His father, however, has other ideas for his greatest son and betroths him to a local ale heiress.
The Lady Peyton de Fluornoy is as resistant to marriage as Alec is, but she gradually begins to warm to the man who has given up on life. Alec comes to know a lady of spirit, beauty and intelligence. Before their marriage can happen, however, Alec’s father is blackmailed by a neighbor who wants Peyton for his own son. Now deeply in love, Alec elopes with Peyton and an entirely new world of danger and passion opens up for them both.
As the conflict with the neighbor heats up, deep and horrific secrets are revealed, and Peyton ends up in grave danger. Alec must recant his vow and draw his sword again to save the woman that he loves as The Legend is once again reborn.
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This book is such a good read, with strong character relationships and a touching storyline. It is well-deserving of my 5 star review.
loved it
I really just loved this book. But,then, I love all of her books that I have read. I highly recommend everyone to read this book.
Nothing she writes in med.time is not note worthy
An interesting story of two headstrong people. People who will not admit their true feelings. Interesting historical context.
this book was much more developed than I expected. I thought it was going to be an enjoyable but predictable read, however, there were quite a few enjoyable twists without becoming long-winded. the characters were well-developed and entertaining.
A great romance with awesome characters and well written.
A book I couldn’t put down till I finished it!
The Legend is one of LeVeque’s earlier works, first published in 2010, and is the first in the Summerlin series. Unlike her later works, Legend is more romance than historical fiction, but it’s just as good.
The plot isn’t a rare one, but it is truly well developed. Two people “forced” into marriage, hate each other at first, then fall in love, all while battling an enemy family. Every time I hit a crossroads where I thought, “cliffhanger to be resolved in the next book,” LeVeque kept the tale going until she reached a well earned happily ever after.
The character development is absolutely fabulous. The reader sees Alec go from grief stricken former knight of the Crusades, who wants nothing to do with a marriage to a woman he doesn’t know to loving husband and protector more than willing to give up his inheritance to marry the woman, eventually taking up arms against and joining King Edward in his battles to subdue and claim Wales for England. Lady Peyton deFlournoy’s arc is similarly well developed; disguising herself and behaving in a manner so the idea of her marriage to Alec is given up before they meet, stubborn one minute, charming the next, fighting for survival just as hard as Alec fought in the Crusades. Even the secondary characters are robust and delightfully written, from Aunt Jubil, the world’s first cougar, to Nigel and Colin Warrington, two of the most vile characters to grace the written page (who both meet their violent ends, which they deserved).
What I loved the most however, was the diversity in the book. Eleven years ago people were still struggling to acknowledge homosexuality, accept mixed marriages, and defeat racism. LeVeque tackles all three issues deftly, well ahead of her time. I don’t think I’ve read any other SFW author who’s tried to tackle these issues.
This definitely isn’t a quick read, but it’s a good one. If you can get through 100 pages a day, you’ll be able to read this in a week. It’s certainly worth it.
Anything she writes is wonderful
I loved it and couldn’t put it down !
How to avoid being betrothed!
This book actually has some very funny moments, considering there are lots of secrets, threats, schemes and death. A VERY GOOD READ AND A GREAT LOVE STORY!
Loved this book!
Enjoyable read. Edited better than I thought it might be based on earlier reviews. Still a bit to clean up.
Personally, I enjoyed this more for Alec than Peyton. Although, I liked their story, Peyton came across as a spoiled brat on several occasions. Standing up for yourself in a time when women had few rights is one thing, but throwing a temper tantrum is something else entirely. Sometimes I wondered if she wasn’t more 12 than 21. It isn’t until after Alec and Peyton are married that she starts to think before she speaks, and even that isn’t consistent.
Would really have liked to know about the rest of the babies. Did Ivy have a girl or boy? How about Jubil? A few situations/actions didn’t seem true to the time, but overall it is a good read.
Really enjoyed this book and others by this author.
Wonderful page turning book. Unusual twists, romance and plots. Couldn’t put it down
I enjoyed this story, just wish it wasn’t R-rated.
I love Kathryn Leveque books. This one was also very good. It seemed to take me a little longer to really “get into it”. Her characters are the same type – I do get a little tired of the “large as a tree trunk”, “massive”, “huge” descriptions of the knights, though.
I enjoyed this book – it was an easy read and had some twists and turns that were unexpected. Interesting facts about black man fighting with the English and not receiving any compensation for anything…….also how the English looked and felt about the very few black people in their communities.
Complex characters and a good story line make this an enjoyable read.