The Lady of the Garter by Marisa Dillon
The Lady of the Garter by Marisa Dillon Series: The Ladies of Lore Series Book #1
on January 26, 2025
Genres: Fiction / Romance / General, FICTION / Romance / Historical / Tudor, Fiction / Romance / Royalty, Fiction / Romance / Second Chances
Pages: 196
Goodreads
When Henry VII takes the throne, not all are loyal to the new king. Garter knight, Sir James, is charged with bringing dissenters to justice. Determined to fulfill his vows, he's unprepared for woman from his past who deceives him to earn his trust.
Lady Elena defies her family and disguises herself as a squire to reunite with the man she's always loved. Determined to thwart the norms of the day, she risks all to learn the secrets of the Garter knights. Although she wields a sword like a man, she must fight with her feminine heart.
Thrust into a world of danger and family rivalry, James and Elena must each choose between personal sacrifice and great consequence as they navigate a second chance at love.
Will Elena find the courage to fight to save James from a dark knight set out for revenge, but loose her chance at knighthood?
Can James avenge his father's death and find passion, or will his Garter oaths hold him to a life of service without love?
The Lady waits to tell her tale.
The Lady of the Garter is book one in The Ladies of Lore Series by Marisa Dillon. I struggled through this story. The writing is quite choppy in spots and the plot gets confusing at times. The idea of a medieval maiden wanting to be a knight felt ludicrous at first. I read the first few chapters with a growing skepticism. And then I remembered a true medieval warrior woman – Joan of Arc. So even though a woman fighting was rare, it’s not unheard of and therefore not as far-fetched a notion as I originally thought. The heroine Elena disguises herself as a squire to a knight she loves. The hero James does seem dense to not recognize the heroine in her “disguise”, especially when he discovers her completely nude. I thought it would have been nice for Dillon to give some back story early on explaining the supposed “love story” between James and Elena. The one person who I feel stole the show was the villain Sir Nicolas. Overall, I would give this first book a 3 flower rating.
