The Conquest

Title: The Conquest

Author: Jude Deveraux

Summary: The Peregrine and Howard families have been feuding for over three generations when Tearle Howard comes back home from France. Raised apart from the feud by his mother, he doesn't feel the animosity everyone else does. He also seems to be the only person who immediately knows that Zared Peregrine, the youngest Peregrine in the family, is not really the boy that they pass her off as for her safety. Tearle is immediately taken with her and follows the Peregrines to a tournament and manages to trick Zared's brother into thinking that Tearle has been sent by his sister-in-law. He tries to get close to Zared, but she knows he's really a Howard and keeps watch on him so that he won't hurt her family or do something that will start an all-out war between the two families who have been fighting over property and inheritance for ages.

Recommendation: I actually liked this one better than most. I liked the plot and the problems that it presents, and the idea that a woman needs courting more than the sex rampant in most romances. I was surprised by how long the book kept going after what seemed like a natural conclusion, but I didn't like the very ending. I thought there could have been a better resolution than the way they discover the answer.

Hearts: 3