Falcon's Fire (Fairfax Family, #1; Lords of Conquest, #5) by Patricia Ryan

Falcon's Fire (Fairfax Family, #1; Lords of Conquest, #5) Reviews

• 
  Mary

  This book is a five star for me. The plot and setting are so richly detailed and the characters are so incredibly vivid.
  Martine of Rouen (heroine), the illegitimate daughter of a Baron, would have never agreed to marry were it not to help her half-brother and sole protector, Rainulf, whom she adores. Rainulf rescued her from isolation and starvation as small child after Martine’s mother, their father’s mistress, committed suicide. Because of this, she feels she owes him. Martine vows that although she will marry, she will never ever fall in love. She will not experience the torment that her mother did over her father, only to be scorned and turned away.
  
  Rainfulf, a brilliant scholar, priest, and former soldier, is determined to go on a pilgrimage to cleanse his soul – he feels guilty for his role in the Crusades (during which he was held prisoner for many months) and begins to question the authority of the Church. If he is to go on his pilgrimage, however, he must find a suitable marriage for his sister. Rainulf’s best friend, a soldier with whom he was held captive during the Crusade, has the solution.
  
  Sir Thorne Falconer (hero) – an expert in birds of prey – has sworn fealty to the Baron Godfrey. The son of a poor woodsman, Thorne is determined to advance his station in life and gain some land of his own. However, despite being one of the greatest and most respected knights of the realm, he is still just the Baron's falconer.
  
  Then his best friend writes to him that his sister is in need of a husband with land.
  
  Thorne arranges for Martine – a distant cousin of the Queen – to marry Sir Edmond, the son of his overlord. He hopes that the beneficial match will finally earn him the lands he craves.
  But what neither Thorne nor Martine expects is to find one another completely and utterly irresistible. And it is not just a physical attraction; they mesh perfectly in nearly every way: both enjoy books, chess, and intellectual pursuits, and both have tortured pasts that cause each a great deal of pain.
  With Martine’s betrothal to Sir Edmond official, both she and Thorne know that it is impossible to pursue one another, yet they cannot seem to help it, and manage to find ways to come into contact despite the danger of their feelings.
  
  A series of obstacles come into these characters’ paths: Martine is brutalized to near death by her cruel husband, Thorne is injured in battle, and the evil Bernard (the elder son of Lord Godfrey) is a first-class sadomasochist who really has it out for the hero and heroine. Finally due to her extensive knowledge of medicinal herbs, and her tendency to flout religious convention, Martine is accused of sorcery by the evil Bernard and his lapdog laymen, and nearly burnt at the stake.
  These, combined with the internal struggles of the hero and heroine make for a very… VERY difficult path toward their HEA.
  
  Thorne maintains he does not believe in love, although he is unable to explain the powerful emotions and sense of protectiveness Martine stirs in him.
  
  Martine, tortured by her mother’s life and death, believes that all men want from women is to use them and toss them aside. As such, she is angry at herself for falling into Thorne’s ‘trap’ and desperately tries to resist her growing feelings for him. She tries to tell herself that all Thorne cares about is his friendship with her brother and getting land.
  Of course, this is not true, but because Thorne cannot admit his own feelings, he gives her no reason to doubt that presumption. Nonetheless, the heroine is exceedingly stubborn, so much so that despite all evidence to the contrary, she carries on her denial of her own feelings and her refusal to believe in Thorne a bit too long.
  
  
  This book was excellent. I felt like I was truly on a journey with these characters. Patricia Ryan is a master of characterization. But even more, she has a true talent for putting the reader right in the setting. Her excellent descriptions of scenery, objects and clothing involve all of the senses, and give the reader a true sense of being there that is sometimes lacking in other historical novels. The characters in this book, both primary and secondary, were so vivid and real. I felt their pain, understood them, and loved them.
  Thorne is a wonderful hero: one of the best I’ve ever read, and totally swoon-worthy.
  Martine – I adored her, but it bothered me that she continually doubted Thorne’s sincerity even after the countless times he proved himself to her. Of course, I do understand that the character has been badly damaged, but I thought it went on a bit too long. This was probably my ONLY annoyance with this amazing book.
  
  Plus, the love scenes (four total) were scorching hot. One of which includes oral sex in the infirmary of a monastery. Talk about daring!
  
  This book is certainly not an inspirational book, but it does carry a lot of religious themes. The main characters are all religious. But this seemed a natural element of the medieval era in which this book takes place, when the Church was embedded into the fabric of everyday life. And in fact, the book shows the very dark side of the Church and how corruption and politics interacted with the Church leadership.
  
  I am looking forward to reading the follow-up to this book, featuring the heroine's brother, Rainulf. As a priest and sworn celibate, Rainulf's romance should be very interesting to read!
  
• 
  Seon Ji (Dawn)

  Not my kind of read.
  
  Hits to many of my pet peeves. I don't like my heros having sex with other women than the heroine. Even if he is thinking of the h.. not a good excuse IMHO.
  
  I don't enjoy being angry or upset when I read a romance. This one has done so.
  
  
• 
  Ana María

  Leída hace un montón de años pero quería comentar porque es una de las pocas novelas que canjeé por otras porque no me gustó (siempre guardo todas). Y no deseo volver a leerla.
  No sé si es mala solo que, evidentemente, no me gustan las medievales. Tenemos mucho maltrato a la mujer, engaños, violaciones, falsas acusaciones, situaciones angustiantes, etc.
  Repito, por ahí es maravillosa, pero no mi estilo.
• 
  Marilyn

  This was a three star for me until about 50%. After that...it just lost my attention; perhaps, because the writer seemed to have forgotten about some of her secondary characters. There was a lot about the child, Ailith and her mother, and then, poof--gone or forgotten. The sex scences seemed gratuitous, especially the one five days after the hero had been seriously wounded. The trial scene seemed right out of TV's Perry Mason. I dunno. Maybe it was just me being hyper-critical. It does have a HEA.
• 
  Rhomy

  No soy muy fanática de la ficción histórica, me choca la crueldad hacia la mujer y hacia los animales. Pero habiendo quedado varada por la cuarentena fuera de casa y contando solo con unos pocos libros, decidí darle una oportunidad a este.
  
  Por suerte, me sorprendió para bien. Me generó muchísimas emociones, algunas buenas y otras malas y creo que eso es lo que hace un buen libro. No pasar desapercibido, hacer que el lector 'Sienta'. Así que son 4.5 estrellas para mí. Me hubiera gustado saber un poco más de algunos personajes secundarios pero igual lo disfruté.
• 
  babyfishmouth

  Great book. Well written and well researched (I presume since my knowledge of the Middle Ages is woefully lacking and I had to trust the history in the book was accurate).
  
  The hero, Thorne, is fabulous. He's caring, honest, smart, strong, and seemingly invincible. The heroine, Martine, is a bit less fabulous but still likable enough and I can understand why Thorne is captivated by her. The novel spans six or seven months which allows for the build-up of lots of romantic/sexual tension between Thorne and Martine. I like it much better when H/h don't fall in love within the space of three days. And for a book written in 1995, the was quite a nice level of steam in the sex scenes.
  
  The only thing keeping this from getting a five star from me is Martine's inability to trust Thorne's motivations. She's given ample evidence that he's honest and sincere yet she always looks to find fault and ulterior motives that just aren't there. It was a bit maddening and chipped away at my admiration for her (hence the "less fabulous" description from above). Also, there was a lot of violence in this book. I don't normally read medieval romances so maybe this is par for the course but there were several really gross scenes which I'm actively trying to forget. The villains seemed a bit cartoonish and I wouldn't have minded fewer pages devoted to their POVs.
  
  Overall, I really enjoyed reading this and would recommend it to anyone who likes steam with strong sexual/romantic tension.
  
  
• 
  Mireille Duval

  Well, this was a surprise! It was part of a "marriage of convenience" boxed set I bought, and I turned up my nose at it because I'm not that big on historicals. I read it thanks to No Book Buying 2015, because at least it was set in medieval times and it wasn't a same-y Regency romance. And it was awesome! Very different from what I expected. It was so full of twists and turns, and actual plot! At first I got mad that the marriage of convenience trope wasn't between the two love interests, but the book went on for much longer than I would have thought (like, the point I would have figured would be the end ended up being square in the middle), and all was right. I guess it could be classified as a romance, but there's a lot more to it than that. It reminded me of Outlander a bit (though without time travel!). I mean, it's pretty brainless, with very villainous villains, but it grabbed me and I really wanted to know what happened.
  
  I'd recommend it more if you want an exciting page-turner than a wonderful romance - some parts of the romance were pretty dumb, like Martine's unwillingness to trust Thorne until basically the end of the book. I guess that's why it lost a star.
  
  I probably won't read the next one in 2015, because after working for this author, No Book Buying 2015 works against her, but hopefully I'll remember to check it out next year.
• 
  Jane Geltzer

  One of the best romance novels I have read in a long time. The characters were well defined and the language was terrific. Emotionally I was swept away with the many horrors that Martine was subjected to and Ioved the bits of humor that surrounded her plight at times. I did miss a reconnection with her brother but I guess Ms Ryan was saving something for a next novel.
• 
  Maddy

  While parts of this were slow it was still a great story! I wish there had been an epilogue. I loved both main characters and loved how this progressed.
• 
  Cindy Woods

  Well.....
  
  Well....It is hard to decide how much I liked this book and how much I didn't.I
  
  There was much to like in this 12th century era story regarding a young woman hiding her bastard birth after an arranged marriage to a young lord. Her priest half-brother relies on his close friendship with the falconer knight of the estate in which her betrothed resides. Thorne Falconer has made this match in order to be rewarded with a manor and lands, and having come from obscure poverty this is of extreme importance to him. But mutual sparks fly when he meets, for the first time, his priest friend's sister Martine.
  
  The growing infatuation between Thorne and Martine was done very well, I thought. I especially enjoyed the part when Thorne basically chases down the serving wench in the great hall in an attempt to relieve his lust after having dined across the table from Martine and in hopes of erasing his desire for her by the act. This was rather humorous.
  
  On the other hand, I found the whole story about Thorne's shrine to his long deceased little sister kind of creepy and a lot sappy. It was a totally unnecessary left turn in the story and really ruined what up until then was a decent story. In other words, it added nothing to the plot and actually detracted from it.
  
  The trial was well done. But the end of the book comes to an abrupt end. Too abrupt!
  
  So I give three stars and give a middling recommendation to historical fiction romance readers...emphasis on the romance and much less on any historical basis.
• 
  Sonia189

  More a 1.5
  It wasn't fun to read this book. When I say fun it isn't because I expected this to be a comedy but I do like to be immersed in reading and I want to feel happy I'm reading something, especially if it's a romance.
  There were too many scenes I disliked in this book. Too much focus on the more negative aspects of life during the medieval times and the main characters weren't captivating enough for me to "save" the book as a whole.
  
  I can't tell if it was simply this book, or this author's writing style or me having a bad day but I feel like I've gone out of love for medieval romances. I suppose I'll need to be fair and try another book by the author one day but I don't foresee it being too soon.
• 
  Stacey

  This had some interesting historical elements, but not sure how accurate they are. The characters were ok. Plot was nothing special. It did have some preachy elements about how evil religion is, and at this time in history it was, so it's not too bad. I didn't enjoy this one, but it wasn't as bad as some romances I have read. It was the historical elements that I liked most.
• 
  Viper Spaulding

  Outstanding medieval romance!
  
  Thorne is everything we want in a swashbuckling hero, and Martine is his perfect match. This adventure romance kept me glued to my kindle as they worked through all the obstacles to their HEA. I was completely engrossed in this story, with its amazing worldbuilding and vibrant characters. It's a superb story, start to finish.
• 
  Chris

  I don't do rape... I have no desire to read it in any format, even if a woman tricks a man. When I realized I had only read 28% of the book, there still wasn't any romance, and I'd already been unhappy with some of the other actions of the characters, I'd figured it was time to call it quits.
• 
  Shannon

  The heroine is particularly loathsome. I tend to form emotional attachments to the characters in novels, but I couldn't even muster up a smudge when she was on the brink of disaster.u
• 
  Kathy Brickert

  Wonderful
  
  What an exciting story! I couldn't put it down! A new author to me, but definitely one I will be checking out in the future! Fantastic read!
• 
  Elizabeth

  I really enjoyed this book. Medieval romance has always been a favorite of mine. Martine and Thorne are great together!
• 
  DeAnna

  Started out pretty good, but by the middle too much was tied up in a Big Misunderstanding (tm) and the end was rushed. Would not recommend,
• 
  Fred

  Good book, lovely story, heart warming romance. Didn't like the explicit description of the sexual scenes and so I stopped reading the book. Not sure how the story ends
• 
  Andrea AKA Catsos Person

  NTS: Publ in 1995. Contact author.
• 
  Debbie Dodd

  I enjoyed reading.
• 
  cheryl doerr

  Heart warming
  
  I loved this book it was souch a geart warming book. I recomnend this book whole heartly. Its so awesome.
• 
  Erika Tellez

  Me gusta las historias medievales! Así que lo disfruté mucho 🌸🌿
• 
  Barb VanderWel

  I love this book.
  I can't wait for more.
  I will be leaving reviews on AMAZON & GOODREADS!
  And letting everyone know about it.
  So I gave it FIVE STARS!
• 
  Fran Alsaud

  En verdad que fue entretenida.