Silversword (de Lohr Dynasty #8)

MEDIEVAL:  Sir Chadwick (Chad) De Lohr is to save a distant cousin through marriage from being captured by King Henry.  The cousin, Alessadria (Aless) De Shera has been separated from family while living with nuns.  Chad has taken on the duty of protecting Aless from the King's revenge against her family. Through their travels Chad begins to see the beauty in Aless’ heart and changes his purpose from returning her to her family to wanting to win her heart. 

“Silversword” can be read alone, although it is the eighth installment in Kathryn Le Veque's de Lohr Dynasty series.  It is written with several intertwined noble families and how these families play a political role in allegiance to the King.  These families provide many sub-plots within the main story of Chad and Aless and show the struggle of loyalty to blood relations versus the loyalty to the monarchy.  The sub-plots of the families' interconnections are hard to follow when trying to recall how or why that family is connected to Chad and Aless. The technical aspect for the time period is allegiance to the King which can overshadow the love story of the main characters. The love story intertwines through the medieval battles, and has the Knight Chad saving Aless and Aless saving the Knight Chad right back. Kathryn Le Veque does a beautiful job by the end of the book of bringing all the families together, showing how loyalty of blood becomes a force to be reckoned with. 

Laura Dinsdale