Rating:
Published: 1980
Illustrator: George Ziel
Book Series: Montgomery Family Saga #1
Published by: Avon
Genres: Historical Romance, Bodice Ripper, Medieval Romance
Pages: 276
Format: eBook, Paperback
Buy on: Amazon, AbeBooks
Reviewed by: Introvert Reader
MILD SPOILERS 😉
The Book
The Black Lyon was my first Jude Deveraux read. Being a medieval, I was was already inclined to like this book and it did no disappoint.
The Plot
To be fair, I loved the first half, of The Black Lyon. But the second half faltered a bit as a devious woman’s scheming separates the two protagonists.
Lady Lyonene is young, free-spirited, and really quite charming, while Ranulf de Warbrooke is a powerful and gruff knight. They meet and Lyonene instantly falls for the much older Ranulf.
Lyonene has no idea what she’s getting herself into when she agrees to marry him so impetuously. A cruel monster of a man soon replaces the gentle man he seemed to be when they first met.
I loved how Lyonene makes her home on Ranulf’s fortress island, Malvoisin (it means “bad neighbor”), charming his retinue of black-haired knights while Ranulf is his grumpy self. He and Lyonene struggle to make their marriage work due to Ranulf’s turbulent nature.
However, when the two are separated due to Amicia, a jealous evil Frankish woman who tries to come between them, the story takes a bit of a downturn.
We do get to find out how the Montgomery family started, as Ranulf & Lyonene’s son is named Montgomery. Montgomery later shows up in Jude Deveraux’s The Maiden as a squire to that book’s hero, Rowan.
Final Analysis of The Black Lyon
The Black Lyon was a great read with tumultuous highs and lows.
It was Ranulf’s needless cruelty and the other woman’s antics made it one fall short of perfection.
4.5 Stars
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| Overall: | 4.4 |
Synopsis
Darkly handsome and rich beyond imagining, the bold English conqueror was called Lyon for his-lion like fierceness. He had no match among enemies, or women … until he met Lyonene, the green-eyed beauty whose fiery spirit matched his own. Through a whirlwind romance and stormy marriage, she endured every peril to be by his side… until jealousy and vicious lies drove her across the Irish Sea and into grave danger.
One man could save her — only the fierce Black Lyon had the courage to destroy the ruthless plot that had driven them apart and threatened the bond of love they had vowed could never be broken.
The Black Lyon by Jude Deveraux
