It’s been a while since I’ve read a book written over twenty years ago. Desire, first published in 1993, brought me back to my teenage years when all the romance books I read were chalked full of passive voice, purple prose and clever euphemisms for sexual body parts.
Set in Medieval England, Lady Clare needs a husband to help protect her home, the Isle of Desire, and the prosperous perfume business she and the townsfolk run. The man her feudal lord sends her is not the type of man she requested but, alas… What is a noble lady to do? She needs the Hellhound of Wyrcmere’s skill as a successful and dangerous knight to protect her people and the Hellhound, whose given name is Gareth, needs a home and land to call his own.
They strike a bargain that results in marriage, but is love in their future?
The beginning of this was amazing. Fun, fast-paced, beautiful scenery and the reader really gets a feel for both the hero and heroine. We read in alternating POVs, learning more and more about the main characters and the people in their lives, and I found myself doubling over with uncontrollable laughter during the ‘wedding night’ scene.
The middle of the book dragged, however, and became repetitive. For example, we learn something important in the heroine’s POV and then, in the very next scene, we learn the exact same thing from the hero’s POV. The repeating of information wasn’t needed in the least and sometimes I’d already guessed what was going on before the main characters did, so I wasn’t surprised when I read it. Still, the story kept me interested and I kept turning the page.
The ending seemed drawn out and unnecessarily long. I mean, the bad guy is defeated long before the book ends and nothing else of importance happens except for Clare meeting Gareth’s parents which could’ve been done off-page.
I’ve debated on rating this book 3 Stars or 4 but I really did enjoy it despite a few boring scenes and repetition of information. It’s full of emotion, love and intrigue, detailed descriptions of the environment, a feisty heroine and moody hero, and fully-developed secondary characters who added extra flavor to the book.
All in all, it’s a great book and I definitely recommend it.
4 Stars

Disclaimer – I am a reader. I am not paid or compensated in any way, shape or form for this honest review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion.
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This book is so much fun! It starts out very similarly to Quick's novel Mystique. Both feature scholarly and independent heroines who would rather enter a convent than get married. A large, dangerous knight who also has a penchant for reading convinces her to be his wife. A knowledgeable prioress coaches the lovers together. There are murder mysteries at the core of each novel as the villain-whom you never suspect-searches for a priceless treasure that threatens the safety of a castle. Despite all these similarities, Desire is fun to read in its own right.

The heroine, Lady Clare, is very invested in her perfume business and her studies. However, unlike Lady Alice from Mystique, she is so scholarly that she has terrible social skills. Oh, the people of the Isle of Desire love her, but her dialogue can be so stilted and her opinions so obtuse that she is far more frustrating to read about than Lady Alice who needed saving every other chapter. Overall, the characters felt more cookie cutter than Quick's other novel, but it's a formula I like, so I'm not too upset with it.

Things really got going when the murder mystery cropped up. I was genuinely stumped right up until the end, which was so suspenseful that I was on the edge of my seat despite knowing that everything would turn out fine in the end. I'm finding that this is my favorite sub-genre of romance novels!

If you like nerdy heroines and big, masculine heroes with precocious children and murder mysteries, this is the book for you. Even if you don't, it's still a fun and entertaining read. ( )

Not my favourite Amanda Quick novel. I enjoyed the back and forth between Gareth and Clare. There were some funny comments and scenarios but there was something missing from it all that made it just likable rather than lovable. ( )

I have read previous books from Quick and enjoyed them, but this one I did not. It's a little bit awful. The heroine is so spoiled and childish it's ridiculous. She hardly does one smart thing the entire book. It must be an alternate universe as well, because all her citizens who depend on her for their very lives, just find her reckless, irrational behavior amusing, AND she expects to keep ultimate power even after she's married, to the point she expects him to ask her permission for every little thing. That would be a hard sell in *modern* times, much less medieval ones! At every turn she makes these very public power grabs, or throws a tantrum. Ugh. The hero has the tolerance of a saint apparently. ( )

Nice story but not any true meat to it. Lady Clare seemed more childlike than someone who supposedly ran the castle so intelligently. Her knowledge of flowers was clear (liked how it was used at ending), being compassionate was shown, truly naive about love. Gareth, as the knight, was very much real and yet I was amazed at his acceptance and patience of her behaviors. Not near as much humor and continuous action as her other stories. ( )