Desire Lines was not exactly what I expected in this type of novel. It was interesting and the characters were capitulating and well-crafted. The one thing that for my was annoying was the constant flashback. After a few chapters it became annoying. Otherwise, the story is interesting and I would enjoy reading more of this author’s books.

Another strong addition to the Welsh Blades series. Nan was introduced to readers in a novella released by the author prior to publication, so we know more of her background. I don't think it's necessary to read first, but it was helpful because much of the first part of the book is told from Gryff's POV, while Nan remains a bit of an enigma. I loved revisiting this part of history, which is so unique in historical romance. Kingston writes incredible women. One of the strengths of the previous books has been the female protagonists. Nan is strong but in a different way than Eluned or Gwenllian. And I loved how she relates to other women and the bonds she has with women who have helped her throughout her life (which is explained/explored a bit more in the novella than it is here). She helps Gryff deal with trauma, and in return he gives her space and patience. I really rooted for them to end up together. Their romance is a bit of a slow burn. The book has some nice surprises as well that I didn't entirely see coming. I would say I didn't quite connect with this much as much as the previous two books, but both of those are so good that it's setting a really high bar. This was still very well-written and compelling. Definitely recommend.

Review cross-posted to Goodreads (social link sharing wasn't working, so pasting URL directly): https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2742416124

I loved that this story did not follow the typical, historical romance 'formula'. It was a very unique tale that immediately drew me in. The characters were vivid and complex and made the story seem so realistic, that I often felt like I was actually there watching the story unfold.

#DesireLines #NetGalley

This was not for me. I thought the set up was interesting but unfortunately the writing didn't got to me. And I didn't like the format of just introducing flashbacks every other chapter to explain the story.

4.25/5. Gorgeous writing. Kick-ass heroine who carries an arsenal of sharps on her person and has deadly accuracy with each of these. I love how her past is slowly revealed to us little by little. Nan is from humble beginnings and has seen and experienced her fair share of trauma, but her extensive weapons training has ensured that she will be noone's victim ever again. Gryff aka Gruffydd ab Iorwerth ap Cynan Goch from Aderinyth is the youngest son of a Welsh prince, who has been living amongst the Normans as the hostage of the English King Edward since he was twelve. Aderinyth is famous for their mighty gyrfalcons and Gryff appropriately received training as a falconer while serving his time as political hostage in England. After the failed uprising of the Welsh against England, he feared for his own safety and fled his gilded prison, going into hiding for five years in a monastery. When Nan came upon him, he was physically emaciated and psychologically wrecked, after a traumatic few months as captive of a band of marauders. She tends to him silently, enabling his body to regain its strength slowly, although mentally it takes a bit longer for his nerves to settle.

Her quiet presence soothes him. Her weapons skills fill him with awe. Her enigma ignites his curiosity. Her uncommon beauty reminds him how long he has gone without a woman.

Five years without a woman, and the first one God put in his path was beautiful enough to tempt angels to sin - and covered in weapons.

They travel together to Wales, each initially for different purposes kept hidden from the other. Of course the inevitable happens.

She watched him disappear behind the trees at the edge of the clearing, her mouth bruised with kisses, her body burning. She wanted to call him back. She wanted to bury the knife between her shoulders. She wanted to stop wanting him.

Nan had been a scared and defenceless girl once. Her training has enabled her to rise above her fear. However, to be with Gryff means to leave herself bare and vulnerable once more.

In the soft sound of his breath she could hear that infinite patience of his, steady and calm, the way he waited for the falcon in its flight. It was not a helpless or hapless state, this patient waiting of his. he was there within it, unmovable. He would not advance unless invited, but nor would he yield his place, or himself, only because of her mood.

"There is enough hate in my heart to burn down the world entire." Her voice shook, her throat ached from the effort required not to scream. She looked at his profile and gathered the rough fabric of her dress into tight fists until her fingers grew numb. "But you are in my world," she said. "You are in my heart."

But even as she conquers past traumas and leaves herself open to him without a weapon within her reach, the future seems unsurmountable for he is a prince destined to lead his people into better days ahead and she, she is just plain Nan.

She could still hear Lady Eluned reciting his string of names and title, word after word after word. Then her own name next to it, once little sound anchored to nowhere and nothing.

The story is sweeping and richly detailed, depicting an interesting historical time. The prose just blew me away with its lyrical beauty. I had a couple of gripes. I didn't get why Nan was attracted to Gryff initially when he was still scrawny and weak both in body and in spirit. In fact, his personality and inner strength took a long time to reveal itself and physically, she was always his superior at least in vanquishing undesirable characters. At least Gryff bows to the greater presence:

"Let him take my land. Let him take my power and my title and my name. Let him take all of it, every possession to the very clothes off my back - and at the end I will come to you on my knees, pitiful and powerless, just as you found me. And I will call him a fool for making so poor a trade, for before God I swear that you a a prize greater than any kingdom."

She ranked above him in every way but bloodline.

Heat Factor: Not super hot. Not particularly cool either.
Character Chemistry: I’m given indicators that they complete each other, so I guess it must be so.
Plot: A journey home
Overall: Wasn’t convinced, but 180° + good writing = good read

I feel I should confess that the worst grade I ever got was on an English paper discussing motifs. It was Shakespeare, too, because of course it was. I still have absolutely no idea what I could have done differently to get a better grade, and that paper was a hard fail. Like, it was double digits, but not by a lot. It’s been almost 20 years and it still smarts. So this one’s for those of you who, like me, enjoy reading and do not enjoy technical analysis of books:

This book is fantastically well written. Kingston uses metaphors (and motifs, I’m sure...if I knew what those were from a literary standpoint) to great effect as she weaves a story rich with history.

From the beginning, I could tell the writing was great and the story pretty well researched. (I am not a medieval history buff, but I am pretty well acquainted with Norman Britain thanks to my podcast preferences.) But I was not digging it. I was maybe 40% through my ARC when I stumbled upon an article on new romance coming out this spring. The author of this article identified Desire Lines as one of only three recommended books and described this romance as magical (italics hers), and I was like, really? What am I missing? The first half of the book is basically a silent journey with flashbacks to Gryff’s youth for context. I was trying to think of how I would describe the character chemistry at this point and was toying with something like: “the main characters were pretty much moving silently parallel to each other page after page.” Things are developing, but not quickly and not in an obvious direction...

Let me provide some background. As I intimated above, the setting is medieval England and Wales. Nan and Gryff are our protagonists. We know that Gryff is the son of a Welsh noble, and if you know anything about medieval Britain, you know that, for Wales, the struggle is real. Therefore, at age 12, Gryff is given as hostage to King Edward I (really to another Norman lord) as a result of his father’s rebellion. He’s still a Welsh lordling living in the home of a Norman lord, but the Normans are not particularly kind to him, and he is never sure how he will be used by Edward. This fear leads him to run away from his “home” when Wales begins another open rebellion. He hides at a monastery until events unfold that result in him being tied to a tree, starving, cowering, watching as the men who kidnapped him are methodically dispatched by a tiny, beautiful, deadly woman. This is how we meet Nan, about whom we know almost nothing for multiple chapters. She doesn’t care to speak. But she takes care of Gryff and they journey along together. In fact, she is a commoner who serves the Lord and Lady of Welsh Blades book 1. She’s got goals. She’ll also wreck any man who tries to touch her. We wonder how exactly this romance is going to work.

What’s important is that Gryff’s Welsh homeland is famous for its falcons, and he is a trained falconer (if you don’t speak medieval, this is a big deal). Nan is extremely pragmatic and apt to wield her knives swiftly and well. They both have a lot of issues from their youths. This book is Angsty-with-a-capital-A.

I think the moment I knew this book was going to be literary work for me was only a handful of pages in when Gryff is first learning falconry and catches his falcon to train:

“How long until she is tame?”

“You will both be trained, but [it] is only you who will be tamed, little fool….You could raise her from the egg and still she would not think you her master. Never will she truly need you. She will stay with you so long as it suits her. But she will never be tame.”

Flash forward to fierce Nan destroying a bunch of grown men bandits by herself, and if you didn’t get it from the quote above, you really need to get it now: Nan is a falcon. Gryff is a falconer. Hmm.

So there I was, aware that the writing was really something special, yet not enthusiastic about what I was actually reading. I didn’t know what to think about this bizarre mental juxtaposition. Maybe it is just that when writing a medieval setting, authors (including Kingston here) tend to favor a formal, somewhat detached writing style with slightly odd phrasing in dialog so we readers feel more removed from our own modern world. It makes sense because these people would have been speaking Middle English or Welsh, both of which would be pretty unintelligible to the average reader. But it does cause a certain detachment emotionally as well.

So what happened? About 50% of the way through the book, things really get going! Gryff finds an old friend, and at the same time Nan thinks she’s reached the end of her journey only to discover that what she thought was the end wasn’t what she thought at all. And when she realizes her journey is going to take her somewhere she hadn’t planned for, things get to the slightly detached medieval equivalent of sizzling. The book switched from a sort of “where is this going?” to a “how fast can we get there?” I’m not one for the angst, but this book was, if not magical-with-italics, then certainly marvelous-without-italics.

There are legitimate problems keeping these two apart from the beginning, so Nan’s pragmatism is perfectly suited to both the conflict and the period. Gryff transitions from a cowering wreck to a likeable, patient, imperfect hero. Gryff is great, but Nan is just awesome. Also imperfect. But her life is her own, she’s got friends in the right places and mad skills to keep it that way, and a romantic journey just makes her life better rather than fixing her problems or changing her. It’s marvelous.

I said at 40% I still wasn’t sure this book was going to pull through. At 50% things really got going. At 60%, Nan is trying to communicate her past and its resulting emotions to Gryff:

“There is enough hate in my heart to burn down the world entire.” Her voice shook, her throat ached from the effort required to to scream it. She looked at his profile and gathered the rough fabric of her dress tight into her fists until her fingers grew numb. “But you are in the world,” she said. “You are in my heart.”

Whoa.


Review also posted at The Smut Report

This was a really fabulous book, I just adored it. Set in Wales at the time of the Welsh conquest by King Edward, this book is the third full novel in Elizabeth Kingston’s Welsh Blades series. I just loved the first two books, they were fully immersive and featured strong intelligent heroines, who were believably strong and capable in a time where women were completely at the mercy of men. This is no mean feat for novels set in the 13th century, so hats off to the author.

This book was an evocative, slow burn of a novel. The developing relationship, trust and flowering of the two main characters who are both damaged and wary is done so beautifully I just didn’t want to put it down.

Gryff is one of the younger sons of a Welsh prince, sent away to an Lancaster’s Court as hostage after his father has fought against King Edward, he feels rejected by his father, and forcibly separated from his family, and he grows up as a lonely man, whose only comfort are the falconers and birds of his home at Aderinyth in Wales (Phillip Walch), and Hal and his father. Aderinyth’s wealth are the nests of birds of prey, especially the rare white gyrfalcons, who are extremely valuable to the noble lords Gryff lives amongst.

Throughout the story, falconry and the birds are used as symbols and metaphors: “This is why his father wanted him to learn the art, so that he would know what it was to be a servant to one who served you, to have dominance but never complete control”

Nan, who we met in the earlier books is a servant girl, befriended and educated by Lady Eluned of Darien. She has been trained by Gwenllian - Lady of Morency, to defend herself, and she is a master knife thrower. The Lord and Lady of Morency and Darien use her as an emissary to carry out important tasks. She is on a mission to accompany Sir Gerald, a Knight who has been injured back to Morency. She is torn between this mission, and her desire to look for her younger sister, whom she was separated from when she was a child.

What I loved was how Gryff and Nan met, she rescues him from a gang of bandits who have enslaved him and killed the monks from the priory he had escaped to from Lancaster’s court. He has only been kept barely alive to handle the goshawk and falcon he owned. He is starving, filthy, and unused to talking. Nan, slight and incredibly beautiful, manages to kill all the bandits using her knife throwing skills. Gryff is immediately fascinated, and Nan is full of pity for him, as she empathises with his plight.

Gryff is almost suffering from PTSD, he finds it difficult to speak at first and is weak from being half starved for so long, Nan is mostly silent and stoic, but she leaves her dog Fuss to comfort/guard Griff, and leaves food for him every day. On Gryff’s part she becomes a bit of a talisman for him. He focuses on her as they travel to get through the journey, and to distract himself from his negative thoughts.

Nan has coped with a great deal in her life, including unwanted attention from men, due to her beauty, and her low status as a servant. She is incredibly wary of Gryff at first, and wields her silence like a weapon. Slowly she also realises her attraction to him too. Will they succumb to their feelings, or will Nan let their difference in station prevent their happiness. How will Gryff ensure he is not punished by King Edward, and sidestep the machinations of the King’s Court.

I loved the way their relationship was slowly developed, no instalove here. I also really enjoyed the author’s turn of phrase. The supporting characters were well drawn too.

Really fabulous, wholeheartedly recommended.

I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Posted on Goodreads

This book was well written and well researched in my opinion.
There is good story line and character development. At times book drags a little because of flashbacks, but overall it was an enjoyable read.
The best thing in this book was how descriptive some parts were. Overall a highly recommended read!

Desire Lines -Welsh Blades # 3
Elizabeth Kingston

Kingston definitely delivers once again.
lush writing sets the staple for this slow burn romance. It’s number 3 in the Welsh Blades Series, but it definitely is a stand alone story.
Adventures strong Female makes this story a perfect read.
Ms Kingston does the disappoint

I received a complimentary copy of this book for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading Desire Lines. It kept my interest and it made for a late night. Enjoyed this all the way through. Will be looking for more from Ms. Kingston.

Well written and I can see why some readers loved it but I just hate flashbacks. This book has a few of them till 30% and I just couldn't get into the story. But that's just me, if you don't mind flashbacks and you want to read a well written historical romance with a fierce heroine you should check this book.

I have never read a medieval romance so eloquently and exquisitely paced before. Never. I felt fully immersed in 13th Century Wales while also being swept away by the slow-burning romance between Nan and Gryff. I usually get a bit antsy with slow-burners, but much like Kate Clayborn's contemporaries, Kingston makes you love ever aching moment of the build-up before that first touch, the first kiss.

Also, I cannot even believe I'm writing this sentence, but Gryff is the ultimate medieval soft hero. Yes, I'm calling a Welsh Prince, trained in the art of falconry and swords-play, a soft hero. He'll love your dog (yes there is a wonderful dog and the dog is safe the entire story). And by soft I mean he'll cut off the head of your enemies and gift it to you as tribute but will patiently and forever wait for your permission to touch, to love, and to cherish. His adoration of Nan is utterly swoon-worthy.

"She felt in him, always, this allowance for her desires, for what she wanted and did not want. He accommodated her and she, who had grown accustomed to living in service of other people and other purposes, found it more pleasing than she could ever have imagined."

And let's not forget Nan. I did not realize she has her own novella, book 2.5, but I didn't feel lost without it. Nan is an inspiration, a heroine who is quiet, who knows what she wants and what she'll accept, but also a heroine with struggles, flaws, and desires. I appreciated her desire to find her sister, I appreciated her struggle to not judge her sister's decision to partake in the sex trade, to shame her sister, but also her unwillingness to allow her sister to put children into the trade against their will. I loved her knives, and the women around her who helped Nan become the woman Gryff would fall in love with.

PLUS the secondary characters are also amazing and add so much to the story and the historical setting. Kingston paints a diverse, accurate Medieval world, not ignoring the ugly parts of history.

There are so many details to absorb and love, and I'm so delighted I was given a chance to read this story in advance.

At the start of Desire Lines, Nan is quiet, beautiful, and deadly, having grown from a young, low-born beauty at the mercy of men to an almost preternaturally composed woman who is still very conscious of her social status in this historical novel. The is a road-trip novel, as Nan is in search of her younger sister, from whom she was parted after her mother died and Nan began a series of work placements with other families. In a role reversal, she saves a young Welshman from brutal captors, and soon they are traveling together, along with his falcons.

Like Nan, this novel is quiet, focused, and beautiful. The writing is evocative and you feel placed in that time with the author's skill. As a fan of the previous novels, I loved revisiting earlier characters, though it's not necessary to read the other novels to enjoy Desire Lines. Gryff was less compelling as a hero to me, as the novel does shift back and forth in time to provide his backstory. I think I would have enjoyed more of a linear, in the moment character development.

Third in the Welsh Blade series, Desire Lines picks up the story of Nan, who played a minor role in the preceding novel. There is a short, bridging novella, Nan, that fills in a lot of character growth that takes place between novels, and I recommend that one read it to get a deeper understanding of her arc if you're familiar with the trilogy.

Desire Lines by Elizabeth Kingston is book Three in the Welsh Blades Series. This is the story of Gryff and Nan. This for me was a standalone book.
Gryff has been a hostage who was freed by Nan. They go forward to travel together which leads them on more adventures and for them to become closer. Nan is a quiet women but is a fighter. This isn't a hot and heavy love scene book which fit their story fine.
Overall enjoyed their story.

What I found most interesting though is the relationship between Gryff and Nan – well since this is a romance that’s a good thing. Initially Nan is a mystery to Gryff. Who is this woman who can slay bandits, says little, and allows no man to take liberties? Meanwhile Nan’s simple offerings of kindness to one she doesn’t know and who is, let’s be honest, fairly pitiful when she first encounters him shows much of her character. Later when Gryff questions someone who knows her well about why Nan says so little, the answer is illuminating not only about Nan but also about the position of women and servants in that age.

I enjoyed watching the layers of their characters be peeled back and the little ways in which we learn about them, too. Nothing seemed artificial or inserted to be acceptable to modern readers over historical accuracy. And the means that Gryff uses to convince Nan to accept his offer of marriage is delightfully one that she herself had first told him and that in turn gives the book its title. There are many ways to travel, not all of them simple or obvious or laid out by kings. I had fun traveling along with Nan, Gryff, Fuss (who is adorable) and some characters from past books as they find their own way to happiness and service to those dependent on them. B+

I really enjoyed this book. It was a quiet thoughtful read. Although, it was a bit short on dialogue, at times I was like TALK!!!! BUT the last few chapters made the book! It tugged at your heart the pain and internal struggle they both felt, while all kinds of turmoil from the Welsh uprising. Elizabeth does a great job bringing in historical facts, while not taking away from the story or characters.
Nan is quiet, servant who has had a tough life, that she was lucky enough to have some strong women on her side to teach her to be resilient. Gruffydd is a man who led a quiet life tending falcons in a monastery until tragedy struck.
Together they made each other whole.

Like the previous books in this series, Desire Lines is what I call an epic story. The time period, the characters, the backdrop of historic events are drawn so well if really feels like you are there. Both main characters ' personalities are so complex one can enjoy the journey the take through the events and their love and see the changes as they come out the other side. Secondary characters are nearly as well drawn, so much so they feel like friends. What a thoroughly enjoyable book! Highly recommended!

Where do I BEGIN with this book? Where?

I’ve listened to all of Elizabeth Kingston’s medieval historicals in the past, and her voice is so strong and unique I actually almost “heard” this book in my head in Nicholas Boulton’s resonant baritone. But that wasn’t why I absolutely adored it.

The lyrcicism of the writing. The uniqueness of both heroine and hero. This is a book that grabs you from the very first page (seriously. The first page is ASTONISHING. I’ve handed it to more than one person and said, “Just read it.” And it has universally grabbed that person by the throat and made them want to read more.

I honestly don’t want to go into too many specifics because so many details would be major or minor spoilers. Let it just be said that if you liked THE KING’S MAN and/or FAIR, BRIGHT, AND TERRIBLE, you will ADORE this book. It earned an immediate spot on my favorites shelf.

I was given an Advance Reader’s Copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Welsh Blades series is darker and significantly more complex than most of the historical fare I read; its heroines are strong and powerful - far from cookie cutter in every way.  Clever, complicated and thought-provoking, each of the novels in the series has engaged my heart and mind in equal measure, staying with me long after the last page.Desire Lines is the same, but somehow different too.   Lighter maybe, less steeped in political intrigue than the earlier novels, and more narrowly focused on the developing romance between its principal players than on the machinations at King Edward I’s court (although they do play a part in this story too).  The author (wisely) explores the darkest parts of our heroine’s backstory in a companion prequel, Nan, but the repercussions of her traumatic past inform and reverberate in this story, shaping the woman she is when she meets Gryff, a stranger with a painful, traumatic past of his own.  Although Desire Lines can be read as a standalone, I would urge you to read the earlier Welsh Blades novels, and/or Nan before starting this one.  Those novels enhance this marvelous book in every way.In Nan, we discovered how a beautiful, lowly serving girl at the court of King Edward I came to know and love Eluned and Gwenllian, (heroines of the previous books) counting them as her closest friends.  Her traumatic past - including time in captivity, and the various women who interceded and helped her at key moments, shaped her into the silent, watchful and lethal - purposeful - woman she has become by the time that story ends and Desire Lines begins.  Nan, who has finally made peace with her past, has left Morency on a mission to locate her younger sister, from whom she was separated as a small girl.  She’s traveling with a small group on business for Ranulf, Lord of Morency, when their caravan comes under attack.  With (minimal) help from the armed knights in the group, Nan systematically kills eight men using the blades hidden on her body, leaving only one in their party alive.Gryff, whom we discover was a hostage of the gang, believed the attack on the traveling party would proceed as others he’s witnessed: Baudry and his men, vicious criminals, would attack the knights first, and then turn on the women and the children.  It doesn’t.It began in beauty and blood.He saw her face in an improbable moment, amid chaos and carnage – startling blue eyes and a soft mouth set in perfect, graceful lines – and then he saw the blood. Not a drop of it touched her. It was all around her, and all of her own doing. Ferocity and beauty, that’s how it began.He’s mesmerized by the beauty of the woman who saves his life, killing his captors, and suddenly - literally - frees him from the rope that binds him to a nearby tree.  Gryff (and the two falcons he’s managed to keep alive during his captivity), joins the small traveling party, convinced he must keep his true identity a secret from his companions.  He’s warned by an injured knight in the party:“When next you think to look on her with lust, remember it. She’ll cool your blood by spilling it, and let you live with the shame and the scar.”From this point forward, the story jumps between Gryff and Nan’s points of view, and flashbacks of Gryff’s life before he was rescued by Nan.  The brutality of his captivity haunts Gryff’s nights, and regrets and doubts plague his days.  Forced by his Welsh father to live as a hostage among the English after Llewellyn’s first failed uprising, Gryff escaped and fled to an abbey when the Welsh princes went to war again.  He lived peacefully with the monks until the day Baudry and his gang attacked and burned the abbey, taking Gryff hostage with the valuable falcons he was able to save from the fire.  He knows nothing about what happened to his family, and longs to return to Aderinyth, his home in Wales, but dreads what might await him there, or in England, if his identity is revealed.  He’s also struggling with his growing attraction to Nan.Desire Lines is the best kind of slow burn road trip.  Yes, there is a romance.  It’s clear to everyone but Gryff and Nan they’re destined for each other, and their evolving relationship and what it reveals about them grounds the story - but it’s the difficult and often elusive path they each must take to find ‘home’, that enriches this story and makes it so powerful.   Gryff’s past is deeply tied to Wales and its troubled history.  The author slowly parcels out his complicated backstory in parallel with his own gradual discoveries about Nan.  Nan’s strength, even in the most grim and harrowing of circumstances, shames him, and Gryff struggles to reconcile the man he is with the selfish, naive boy he once was.   He wants Nan, but he also wants to deserve her.  Gentle, kind, and passionate, Gryff is overwhelmed by his love for Nan, even as he keeps his true identity from her.Nan doesn’t know quite what to make of the Welshman - she’s attracted to him, but leery of men and their motives, and their secrets.  He clearly has them - she does too, but she also knows their power and lets him reveal them on his own terms.  Nan struggles to reconcile her attraction to Gryff with Eluned’s command to put herself first, to be selfish.  He’s leaving her; he’s going home.  When her trip doesn’t go as planned, it forces Nan to re-evaluate her vision for the future.  Could her home be with Gryff?  She knows he’s different; after making many of the same mistakes other men have - mistaking her words and actions as consent for ‘more’ - he apologized, admitting he was wrong.  Nan decides it’s okay to want him, and without words, she invites his touch.  Gryff disarms her - literally and figuratively - and their physical relationship is passionate and tender and sexy and lovely and... nope, not going to tell!Desire Lines unfolds along twin themes of love and loss, regret and hope.  No one gets an easy time of it, but the healing journey our principal characters take - metaphorically and physically - is poignant and lovely, bittersweet and romantic.  FOLKS.  THESE TWO DESERVE HAPPINESS.  TOGETHER.  Secondary characters - both people and animals (falcons!) – are expertly written, as is the introduction of court politics and intrigue late in the second half.  Ms. Kingston skilfully and seamlessly incorporates period detail and settings into all of her novels, and I was fully immersed in this world and this relationship from start to finish.  I didn’t love the resolution of a family subplot related to Gryff near the close of the novel, but that’s my only complaint.Despite its heavy subject matter, Desire Lines delivers an ending that’s hopeful, romantic and deeply moving.  I wholeheartedly recommend the  book - and all the Welsh Blades novels, to readers of historicals and romances alike.Buy it at: Amazon/Apple Books/Barnes & Noble/KoboVisit our Amazon Storefront

I enjoyed this book so much more than I expected. I received this as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for a review. I asked for it because I saw the author’s name and didn’t read the description until after I had received it. I follow Kingston on Twitter and find her delightful. I generally find the medieval period unromantic, and have avoided medieval romances like the plague. Desire Lines is interesting, well written, and engaging enough to overcome my usual dislike for the period. It’s also the third book in a series. I have not read the previous books but did not feel the lack.

Gryff and Nan meet when bandits attack Nan’s traveling party.

It began in beauty and in blood.

He saw her face in an improbable moment, amid chaos and carnage –startling blue eyes and a soft mouth set in perfect, graceful lines –and then he saw the blood. Not a drop of it touched her. It was all around her, and all of her own doing. Ferocity and beauty, that’s how it began.

The bandits had taken Gryff hostage months earlier, keeping him rather than killing him because he had hawks. When Nan rescues him, he is starving and traumatized. Nan and Gryff spend most of the book traveling together, slowly coming to trust and then love each other.

Desire Lines is set against the backdrop of Wales struggle for independence against Norman rule. Gryff had been given by his father to the Norman King Edward as a hostage. In contrast to Gryff’s position in the Welsh aristocracy, Nan comes from grinding poverty. The closeness between two people from such different classes in 1288 would be unusual, but Kingston makes it feel organic.

It’s plain to see you were born to finer folk, and lived in fine estate once. But you are in the muck now, if you’ll pardon me saying it, and none down here will shame you for being powerless. It’s only what we all are.”

Kingston has crafted a lovely, quiet romance that is a pleasure to read. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the first two books of the series, The King’s Man and Fair, Bright and Terrible soon.