Romance

The Conquered Heart by Denée Cody

Karen Wheless

I haven’t read a historical like this in years – I used to love these books back when I was in middle school and high school, featuring real people and real history.  Not many of them are as well written as this one, though.

The Conquered Heart by Denée Cody
(1995, Medieval)  7/15/12
Grade: 4

Eve MacMurrough, Princess of Leinster, is forced to marry Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke.  Richard has been sent by King Henry II to conquer Ireland and stop the infighting there, while Eve is determined to protect her homeland and its people.  Despite their different agendas, Richard finds Eve passionate and desirable, and she finds Richard surprisingly honest and honorable.  Can love grow in such an arragment?

Although this book is labeled “historical romance”, it’s really history with a little bit of romance thrown in.  But it’s fascinating history!  I found myself checking Wikipedia to find out more about Eve and Richard (who were real people, although much of their personal relationship is imagined).  I didn’t know much about Irish history and so the story kept me turning the pages to find out what would happen next.  The only flaw was that the book started rushing things in the last few chapters, probably trying to get through huge sections of history and wrap up the story in a satisfying way.  The personal relationship between Eve and Richard also sometimes fell into the background, and when the characters were together there was more emphasis on the love scenes than on their emotional connection.  Still, overall this was a very satisfying and well written book, definitely worth reading.

I wonder what happened to Denée Cody?  She wrote 4 or 5 books and then disappeared.  I hope she’s writing under another name somewhere – although her other books didn’t appeal to me as much as this one, she definitely had a unique voice, although she might not fit in to today’s romance market with its de-emphasis on history. 

Karen Wheless

I've been reading romance since I discovered Kathleen Woodiwiss at age 12. I love all kinds of romances, especially emotional and angsty stories. I finally cut back my TBR pile from 2000 books to only 400, but I still have lots of books left to read!

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