It’s fair to compare So Speaks the Heart (which should be subtitled: Medieval Norman Psychopath Falls for French Co-Dependent and Fellow Anger Management Classmate) to another of Johanna Lindsey’s works, A Pirate’s Love, which had a similar captor/captive trope. 4 stars
Sea Jewel by Penelope Neri is a bodice-ripper Viking romance with a resilient heroine. While it also has some troubling problematic plot elements, it ultimately deserves a five-star rating. 5 Stars
Siren Song, is the first in Roberta Gellis’ Medieval Song trilogy. Lady Elizabeth is heiress to vast lands and married to Mauger, a cruel, murderous lord. Elizabeth’s heart is for Sir William of Marlowe, her former love. 4 stars
Told through alternating first-person perspectives, Roberta Gellis’s Fires of Winter starts with a bang but ends with a whimper. 3 stars
The action-packed and romantic medieval Lady of Fire by Anita Mills features one of the greatest villains ever in a historical romance novel. 5 stars
Highland Velvet by Jude Deveraux is the second in the Montgomery brothers series featuring a Highland lass forced to wed Stephen Montgomery. 5 stars
Despite some crazy scenes, the Bertrice Small Medieval Romance, Enchantress Mine, suffers from a too-perfect heroine and a dull hero. 2 1 /2 stars
Mary Gilgannon’s Storm Maiden is a Viking historical romance novel about a captor and his captive set in medieval Ireland and Norway. It features a strong heroine, but the injured hero is too beta for my tastes. 2.5 Stars
To Touch the Sun is a Harlequin Historical by Barbara Leigh. This unique tale is about a woman in Medieval England raised alongside her brother as a boy and eventually becomes a knight. 4 Stars
Tara’s Song by Barbara Ferry Johnson is yet another middling Viking romance that disappoints. Written in the late ’70s at the height of the bodice ripper era, you’d expect this Viking romance to rapacious and fun, but I found it rather ho-hum. 2 stars
