Uncommon Vows
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Encountering the ice-blond warrior Earl of Shropshire, Meriel de Vere knows his dangerous reputation--and hides her identity to protect her brother's estate from the enemy earl. She does not expect to be arrested. Still less does she expect such a great lord to want her as his mistress.
Her passionate need for freedom clashes disastrously with his obsession with his enchanting captive. Given a second chance to properly woo Meriel, can Adrian learn tenderness? Will the two of them claim lasting happiness--or will they lose all to a brutal sworn enemy?
REVIEWS:
"...a wondrous tale, brimming with adventure, intrigue, and memorable romance."" ~Romantic Times
"A triumph!" ~Laura Kinsale
"Uncommon Vows... is some of (Putney's) strongest and most inspired writing... A romance that definite qualifies as uncommon." ~All About Romance
Mary Jo Putney
Mary Jo Putney is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than sixty novels and novellas. A ten-time finalist for the Romance Writers of America RITA® award, she has won the honor twice and is on the RWA Honor Roll for bestselling authors. In 2013 she was awarded the RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award. Though most of her books have been historical romance, she has also published contemporary romances, historical fantasy, and young adult paranormal historicals. She lives in Maryland with her nearest and dearest, both two- and four-footed. Visit her at MaryJoPutney.com.
Read more from Mary Jo Putney
Songs of Love and Darkness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mischief and Mistletoe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Christmas Roses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bargain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Black Beast of Belleterre: A Victorian Christmas Novella Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Chance Christmas Ball Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Uncommon Vows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dragon and the Dark Knight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Best Husband Money Can Buy: A Holiday Novella Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Christmas Candles: Two Novellas Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Christmas Tart: A Regency Christmas Novella Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Christmas Cuckoo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Weddings of the Century: A Pair of Wedding Novellas Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Related to Uncommon Vows
Related ebooks
Uncommon Vows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Grey Room Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCruel as the Grave Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Queen of Trial and Sorrow Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDevereux — Complete Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNever Deceive a Duke Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover, Volume 2 (Barnes & Noble Digital Library) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Darker Side Of Henry VIII: By His Queens Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Vow for an Heiress Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Governess Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5To Tame the Unruly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bridal of Carrigvarah Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMagna Carta Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Reunited at the King's Court Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ordeal of Richard Feverel — Complete Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lion and the Rose, Book One: William Rising Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe King's Curse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Apparent Heirs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSprig of Broom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Henry II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Prisoner's Dilemma Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Roan Rose Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Jungle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNorthern Knight Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Ordeal of Richard Feverel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Betrothed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Devil Claims a Wife Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The Mirror of Naples Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArthur of Avalon: A Legendary Tale of King Arthur Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Historical Romance For You
A Kingdom of Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cold-Hearted Rake: The Ravenels, Book 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kent Family Chronicles Volumes One Through Three: The Bastard, The Rebels, and The Seekers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Other Queen: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Pride and Prejudice Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Memory Keeper of Kyiv: A powerful, important historical novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bred By The King In Public: Dominant King Erotic History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Whitney, My Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Seven Years to Sin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slave Girl Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Versions of Us Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dragonwyck: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When I Come Home Again: 'A page-turning literary gem' THE TIMES, BEST BOOKS OF 2020 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Dweller on Two Planets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSomething Wonderful Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Accidental Empress: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Tudor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Green Darkness: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Once Upon A Time: A Collection of Folktales, Fairytales and Legends Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Visitors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dancing at Midnight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ugly Duchess Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Companion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ransom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Barbarian's Concubine Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Forgotten Home Child Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bastard Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Garden in England Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Bit of Rough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Uncommon Vows
36 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My favorite of Putney’s books. And really, really, I should be ashamed. Yup, we’ve got kidnapping and the whole whatnot. Except, she doesn’t fall in love with the kidnapper. She rejects any curtailment of freedom in the most medieval Christian way possible.And for every moment he pushes, there is this sure knowledge that what he is doing is wrong. That moment when he goes to pray, and he can’t. When he imagines his soul as a chalice and it is tarnished. Empty. And all he has to do is let her go. And he can’t. And then he has to.It’s all very, if you love something let it go, except, you know, good and well written and tragic and transformative.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5** spoiler alert ** Usually with a Mary Jo Putney novel I can't put it down. It's one of those books that you think you're going to read a few chapters of before bed and then it's morning and it's time to get up and the couple chapters had turned into the whole novel. Unfortunately with this book that was not the case.If was was religious it probably wouldn't have been that bad for me, but since I'm not it felt like I was kind of reading a warped version of the bible. However her portrayal of the A...more Usually with a Mary Jo Putney novel I can't put it down. It's one of those books that you think you're going to read a few chapters of before bed and then it's morning and it's time to get up and the couple chapters had turned into the whole novel. Unfortunately with this book that was not the case.If was was religious it probably wouldn't have been that bad for me, but since I'm not it felt like I was kind of reading a warped version of the bible. However her portrayal of the Adrian, the male lead in this novel, proves my persistent opinion that many upstanding members of the church are some of the most hypocritical there are and many devout religious church goers seem to think they can behave however they want and all will be forgiven. While it reinforces my jaded opinion of religion I doubt it will go over well with those who are devoutly religious.Adrian was one the youngest son of a baron who was taking his vows in the monastery when his family was massacred by a neighboring baron seeking control of the same land. Now the air to the barony he forgoes taking his final vows to take up his father sword and avenge the deaths of his family.Meriel is the youngest daughter of a poor Norman Baron and is initially living in a convent studying to become a nun, when the day approaches for her to take her vows she realizes she can't do it. She can't lock herself away in the convent for the rest of her life.The years pass and Adrian becomes one of the most powerful barons in England, fighting for the Empress Matilda in the great civil war, he is granted the Earldom of Shropshire and permission to hunt in the Royal Forest. Meriel is taken in by her youngest brother who is enfeoffed by Lord Theobald, a baron fighting for King Stephen in the great civil war. She is the Mistress of Avonleigh as her brother is an unmarried knight. Still yearning for Freedom she goes alone with her hawk hunting and is befallen by the worst sort of bad luck. First the hawk flies off into the Royal Forrest where she doesn't have permission to hunt. Then she and her horse are attacked by a boar where she is thrown and the horse escaped, then covered in mud she is surrounded by armed men, including the Earl of Shropshire fighting got the opposite side of the war. Worried about endangering her people she lies to the earl about her identity and is taken prisoner when she is thought to be a peasant girl on royal land with a hawk she doesn't that the station to own.The ultra religious Earl has an obsession with the girl and is unwilling to set her free though her crimes are minor and he can't really prove she did anything wrong. He offers her a position as his mistress and when she refuses he continues to keep her captive. He tries every method possible to win her and then in desperation almost rapes her. His way of trying to make it right is to then propose to her. When he refuses to set her free and her only options seem to be death or rape Meriel attempts suicide by jumping out a window. The Earl desperate to save her jumps in behind her.Though she shouldn't have lived she does survive, but has amnesia. It is during this time that the Earl convinces her to fall in love with him and marries her. He neglects to tell her what happened before she woke up. During a tempest she's almost struck by lightening and in the fall regains her memory of everything except the months during which she married. When she tries again to escape she is captured by a rival baron, almost raped again and the heroic male lead save her and murders the man who massacred his family.I'm all about character growth but I can't get over the fact that I'm somehow supposed to like and feel for a man who tried to rape the girl. Whether he stopped himself eventually or not, he ripped her clothes, and caged her torturing her like an animal and this sis supposed to be the good guy. Add to this the man refuses to allow Jews to settle on his land until after they tried to help his wife. It's like I owe you one so I'll let you stay but if you hadn't done for me I'm not going to let you live here because you don't believe the same thing as me.What was really creepy to me is that they were quoting bible verses during sex. That just seems somehow wrong. And of course at the end they somehow end up happy and together the captive and the captor who tortured her.The book has some exciting scenes and a lot of historical information about at time period that isn't often covered well in historical romance, but it's lacking a lot everywhere else.
1 person found this helpful