Mrsfitts's Full Review: A Knight in Shining Armor Books
Love at First Sight!
I first fell in love with Jude Deveraux's A Knight In Shining Armor 10 years ago. Since that time, this book has been loaned out to people in half a dozen counties in California. My decade old copy is dog-earred, cracked binding, even artistically decorated by a young child, but remains my all time favorite book.
A Knight In Shining Armor is a Time Travel Romance novel. We start the story with a prologue in 1564 and then flip over to 1988.
The Beginning
The young heroine Dougless that Jude Deveraux has created, I would swear is the epitome of so many young women. Her one goal is to be loved, wanted, and needed. She wants to be successful in that alone. While I can see clearly what she should do, now that I'm in my 40's, when I was in my late teens and early 20's, I made so many of the same 'mistakes' she is making to achieve that goal.
No matter what sacrifices she's made, no matter how hard she's tried, she's still cruelly dumped, alone in a foreign country, no purse, no ID, no nothing. At the end of her rope, she collapses and cries for all the successes, wants, & desires she has tried for, but never achieved.
I could identify with the despair at this point. There's something in life that lends itself to making stupid mistakes when one is young.
This story brings a character from the 16th century out to her. She's been granted her one wish: A Knight In Shining Armor. But with most wishes granted, no one ever believes that they would be granted, so she tries to get rid of him. Nicholas is a very strong character -not easy to lose.
I liked this tie-in to real life too. Getting what we've always wanted, we don't accept it, because we don't believe that we would ever be so lucky as to get our wish.
My two cents
Not to give anymore of the plot away, I would just like to add my feelings that this Time Travel novel brought up.
I felt that the historical 16th century England was terrifically detailed. The author didn't try to cover up the disease, poverty, filth that was common in an era without plumbing. I enjoyed the 'history lesson' that was woven into the story. She pointed out that the written language of the 16th century wasn't the same as what is written now. It was truly another language back then. So many historical romances would have you believe that a person that can read now can be transported to then and read everything written.
The author also opened my eyes to things I take for granted in these 'modern times' with the Character of Nicholas. Why would a strong man be afraid of a dentist? The dentists of now are not by any stretch of the imagination like the dentists of yore.
I liked the comparisons of the fabrics used then and now. I wear jeans and tee-shirts every day. I think that I would love to be covered in velvet and satin just once. Those women of the 16th century weren't plagued by underpants. No thongs for them! Although you can forget the steel corset! Uh-uh, won't wear one! Give me my Wonder-bra anyday! I don't have a waist, but I do like to breathe!
The medical knowledge then and now was also scary. I'm not a big fan of HMO doctors, but at least the ones in California don't carry leeches around with them. Of course, the 16th century doctors made house calls. The only thing that will come to our house is an ambulance!
Back to The Rest of the Story
The strong Character of Nicholas works wonders on Dougless's lack of self esteem. During the rest of the book, she becomes stronger, more sure of herself. She braves situations that would send most of us to "those nice young men in the clean white coats". She finds out what Love really is, that it is not all "give and give, and hope for a crumb back".
Oh, and while she's back in the 16th century, she works on all that went wrong, changes history, and for some reason the people in the 20th century are affected. Have you ever done something 'mean', but you didn't know why you behaved that way? There was no logical reason? In fixing the errors of one time, the counterparts of another were released from the built-in wrongs, no longer behaving so cruelly.
The story ends with you and Dougless in tears. I won't give away the ending, but I will tell you that there are many kinds of tears.
I'm glad she found her A Knight In Shining Armor, I've got mine too!
When Dougless Montgomery's fiance dumps her in a churchyard, she weeps over the tomb of a 16th-century knight. Roused by her tears, he comes alive to ...More at Alibris
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