Avon, Jun 2002, 5.99, 384 pp.
ISBN: 038081787X
In 1177 on the English Wales border, Aidan de Brice and Gwynne ap Moran marry. However, before they consummate their union, warriors with blue paint on their visage arrive. They abduct Gwynne leaving a stunned Aidan to suffer nightmares over the years wondering the fate of his beloved.
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Twelve years later Aidan lays a trap to capture the Dark Legend, a clear threat to English control of Wales. When he faces the myth he sees a real person, but the face leaves him in shock because the Dark Legend is his beloved Gwynne whom he is seeing for the first time since the kidnapping. They still feel the lingering attraction of their once all consuming love, but Gwynne leads the Welsh rebels and the loyal Englishman Aidan wants to end the rebellion.
THE MAIDEN WARRIOR is an exciting medieval romance starring two star-crossed loves whose first chance together was disrupted making a second chance almost impossible. Gwynne is a wonderful Joan of Arc-like heroine whose conflict between her heart and her responsibility tears at her soul and hooks the reader to care what happens to her. The audience will also reach out to Aidan, also struggling with divergent loyalties. Though the ending seems a bit simplistic, fans will cherish this strong tale that provides insight into dangerous times through the respective eyes of the strong lead characters. With novels like this one Mary Reed McCall will not remain a secret to all the historical romance readers much longer.
Harriet Klausner
The review of this Book prepared by Harriet Klausner