Once Upon A Knight is one of those books I wanted to give up on at first, but ended up enjoying. For the first third of the book, I was completely unimpressed by the hero, but as I gradually got to know the character, he grew on me and I enjoyed the interactions between the hero and heroine more and more.
As the lord’s bastard, Sybil has never really had a place or anyone to depend on other than herself. In her precarious position, she’s had to make herself indispensable to the upkeep of the castle with unparalleled success through her visions, talent with herbs and cures, and smooth management. However, her safety is threatened as visions of someone dark and dwarf-like in nature begin to occur regularly. She doesn’t know who the bigger threat is when two unsuitable men turn up at the castle, yet she does know which one makes her weak in the knees.
When they find themselves forced together through unusual circumstances, they have to find their way around an unwanted suitor, his heritage, and a sworn enemy. Plus, Sybil must make her way among his people and help him to reunite with them as well.
While I enjoyed this story immensely once I got into it, it’s not without its faults. Vincent is a physically beautiful hero and he knows it, which makes it hard to find redeeming characteristics in him at first given his goal. He uses his beauty and charm to manipulate the situations he finds himself in and I didn’t like him until he was completely hooked by Sybil. Also, it took me forever to determine the motive behind the revenge on Sybil or even who was pulling the strings. To further confuse things, there are two villains in the story, neither was connected, and I didn’t feel as though the story arc was completed for one of the two. I felt that there was too much left undone within this story that was either dealt with in previous books or to be handled later.
However, there is much to like. I loved Vincent’s utter fascination with Sybil and I enjoyed how the two of them verbally sparred. In the conversations between them, much is left unsaid, leaving the two characters to depend on other clues to determine motives. Sybil made Vincent work and he needed to work. Also, I appreciated their attraction to each other, which brought the sexual tension up a notch. Put simply, I liked Sybil as she’s strong and has learned to take care of herself.
Despite its problems, I enjoyed Once Upon A Knight much better than I thought I would when I first began reading. I followed through and wasn’t disappointed in the end result.
-- Heather Brooks
Order this book from Amazon Books
To comment about any of these reviews on our reviews forum
