New Review: Kathryn Le Veque’s BLACK SWORD – Medieval Irish Bodice Ripper!

Set in Wicklow, Ireland in 1323, this is the story of Lady Emllyn Fitzgerald who disguised herself as a boy to stow away on a boat full of soldiers sailing to Ireland in order to see the knight she loves. The boat is a part of her brother’s, the Earl of Kildare’s English fleet, which is destroyed by the Irish led by Devlin de Bermingham (aka “Black Sword”). Emllyn is captured and is taken as the spoils of war by Devlin, who tells her she will be his “broodmare” concubine.

In the crushing defeat, over a thousand English are slain but thirty soldiers remain. Emllyn agrees to a bargain whereby she will help Devlin spy on an English holding to the south if Devlin will show her the surviving England soldiers. She is hoping to find among them her beloved knight. Meanwhile, Devlin tells her he will never let her return to England and Emllyn knows because she has been ruined, even if she were free, she could never marry.

This book begins with a bodice-ripping scene in the early chapters and a very alpha male hero, but by the middle of the book, he’s softened into a man who is sensitive, thoughtful and very much in love. He becomes less interested in defeating the English and more interested in recovering the woman he wants who, because of his own devious plans, has slipped into the hands of another. The story has lots of twists and turns with treachery and secrets, and an intricate plot that will keep you turning pages.

Emllyn is a strong heroine you will admire and there are some very unusual secondary characters added to make it interesting (a half crazy aunt and a “lady” who isn’t, to name a few).

Because it’s set in Ireland with a red-haired Irish hunk for a hero, it’s going on my Best Irish Historical Romances list, and this is the second of hers that is on my Best Bodice Rippers list.

Coast south of Wicklow, Ireland, home of Black Sword