Lily Reynard
Historical Romance
Published in 2018
H/h - Kit Fitzgeorge/Antonia, Countess of Cranbourne
Setting: England, 1666.
Read in December, 2018.
My rating:
[spoiler alert]
Guarding the Countess
by Lily Reynard was definitely a breath of fresh air. I love me a good
medieval romance so I picked this up totally randomly cause I was bored.
Then I began reading, and found a gem that hooked me pretty much right
from the beginning. I loved the flow of the story, as well as the
historical aspects as went so well with it. The book wasn’t a short read
by any means but I wasn’t bored once. Needless to say but I’m a new
fan!
Guarding the Countess is set around the time of
King Charles II (in 1666) with nicely done descriptions of that era.
Bonus was the incorporation of historical figures such as Charles II
himself and his famous mistress Barbara Palmer. If done well, I really
enjoy it in a historical novel because it lends the story a different
kind of richness. I’d recommend Morgan O’Neill’s Elizabethan Time Travel
series if you’re interested in checking out a few more novels that
takes this direction. But, for me, Guarding the Countess—though
oftimes pretty dark and intense—romance-wise came off very sweet. Kit
and Antonia were simply adorable together. Their journey to HEA was by
no means a smooth sailing but they belonged to one another pretty much
the moment they met. I give the author a round of applause for her knack
for storytelling, her character-building and the way she incorporated
those historical characters into this novel.
Antonia, a widowed
Countess, have been trying to fend off suitors most of the past year and
a half since her husband passed away from small pox. It seemed like
though they had a big difference in age, the marriage was a success, in
the sense that they had affection for one another and the sex life
wasn’t dull either though it didn’t result in any offspring. Antonia is
still grieving her husband’s passing but the majority of those suitors
didn’t care. It’s mainly because now she’s an extremely wealthy widow
and greedy, fortune hunters had no time to wait despite the rumors that
Antonia’s beauty was marred by the pox which she contracted while taking
care of her husband. Unfortunately, it was no rumor because it did
happen. Poor lady’s face was marred, still red from the wounds, though
they’re healing and may fade quite a bit in the coming years. But there
was no doubt she’s scarred for life.
