Review: Good, but not as good as previous book
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 6, 2012
On the day of her sister's funeral, Lady Alexa Barnett, a proud and unusual Saxon lady knows that she must marry her sister betrothed, whom she believes to be a landless Norman knight. She hasn't seen him yet but his reputation precedes him - he is the Dark Axe.King William has ordered his faithful follower Rourke Thorsson, Lord of Westlan,  to secure a geopolitically important  northern shire for his kingdom by marrying one of the daughters of the recently deceased local lord. Upon his arrival the war hardened Lord who is well known as Dark Axe,  finds out that his intended has died and that her sister will take her place instead. Fine with him, since he only needs an heir from her and nothing else.  He expects to meet a submissive noble woman, aware of her role. Instead he meets a sharp-tongued, stubborn and independent woman who contradicts him continuously, putting his worst instincts on display.Although nothing unusual for this genre, the plot was nice enough  and kept me focused.Alexa was a likeable heroine. I had a lot of understanding for her pent-up anger which led her more than once to spontaneous and imprudent reactions.Having been accused of spoiling in my review of the previous book of the same author, I'll try to express following point of criticism more delicately: Rourke was a more complex main character, whom  I would've expected to be hardened by the experience he made on the battle field, facing death, pain and all the horrible things that are related to war. However, the author accredited all the cruelty he displayed towards women to an incident that took place in his personal life. Generally, for me his behavior towards a certain person was very "unbalanced" and repulsive, his reactions in no relation to the mostly minor attacks he suffered - even for the Middle Ages and how women were treated back then.Anyway, Dane managed to pull this climate around and succeeded in writing a love story involving two troubled souls who found redemption through their love.