WARNING BOOK REPORT:

"The Captive Heart" by Bertrice Small. This is the latest historical set in 15th century Scotland. No time travel is involved at any point.

I quote directly from the blurb on the back cover:

The year is 1461, and the winds of war rage across England, uprooting Henry VI's court - including Alix Givet, the daughter of Queen Margaret's physician. Alix's plight becomes bleaker still when a Northumbrian baron gains her hand for his cruel son. Duty to her queen and to her sickly widowed father forces Alix into a loveless marriage. But when her husband unexpectedly dies, Alix once again flees -- this time to save herself. Escaping over the border into Scotland, she throws herself at the mercy of a dark and brooding laird, who -- if she can warm his cold heart - might provide the ever lasting love of her dreams.

Ms Small knows her history and weaves it well in her tales. There are always lush descriptions of clothing, food usually involving eggs coddled in Marsala and cream and a wheel of hard cheese. Don't forget the Ale. And there are sex scenes; but not in your face, relentless heaving, over done sex,this is, after all 1461. There are plenty of twists and turns in this book. My only gripe was the rather unecessary elimination of the one of the more charming characters. Really... couldn't there have been a less disastrous result from falling off a cliff held captive on a horse, couldn't the victim have bounced off the horse? And harking back to Mrs. Brownfield, my fifth grade teacher, I have identified the title of the book on page 190 (quickly rechecking, shoot it's NOT page 190 but it's around there somewhere). That was one of her criteria when doing a book report for both written and oral.