Joyce continues her prowess with sweet medieval romance. Dangerous Favor takes us into a world of knights, castles, customs, clothing, sword fights, tournaments, treachery, lovely clothed women, history and the list goes on. All this serves as a backdrop for the love between Etienne and Mathilde, the hero and heroine.I appreciated the purity of Etienne and Matilde and the value of marriage. The obstacles in their path, preventing them from being together, kept me turning the pages. The passion, yet restraint of Etienne and Mathilde is well done. Characterization is vivid through the use of dialogue, decription of expressions, outward actions, and the use of all five senses. All characters, even the minor ones, are fleshed out for us. The glossary was of great help. I highly recommend this third novel of Joyce's. Probably more like 3.5 stars, but I'm bumping it up to 4 because I'm always so impressed with the research that the author puts into these medieval stories. This book wasn't my favorite of the three I've read -- I just didn't like the main character that well. I also got a bit lost at times with all the characters (who often are called by different names), although having the character reference chart certainly helped. It's interesting to get a bit of political history from the 12th century and a glimpse of what events like tournaments might have been like.
What do You think about Dangerous Favor (2012)?
I was in the mood for a romance, but this one was a tad too silly for me.
—Onioncookie
I like this author's style of historical fiction.
—jemmchorn
