Winter of Solace by Kathryn Le Veque is book Three in The Executioner Knights Series. This is the story of Emelisse de Thorington and Caius d’Avignon. I have yet read the previous books, so for me this was a standalone book. Emelisse and her family have been in torment and terror of their neighbor for sometime. But it has now reached its peak. Caius is one of William Marshal's best night and has the nickname 'The Britannia Viper'. So when William Marshal calls him up to go settle an upset that his cousin is going through he does so. But what Caius finds is that all is not what it seems. It appears that William's cousin is not telling the truth and it is he that is the problem. Caius also finds Emelisse in the mist of all the turmoil. Caius is drawn to Emelisse and he wants to help her with this turmoil but this puts him on the other side of William. This was a page turning read. This author never disappoints with her stories!

The Viper has his fangs pulled!

I love these Medieval Knight tropes. You know, where the dangerous and committed knight is dealt a double whammy when his eyes set upon the feisty, woman who's fighting to keep her loved ones from harm. The knight is Caius d'Avignon, aka the Britannia Viper, one of the powerful William Marshall's premier Knights who is sent by his powerful commander, to investigate and help as needed a relative by marriage, Covington de Wrenville, who is married to The Marshall's niece. (A woman given a dreadful name, Ugly Alice. A strong woman we discover, worthy of her uncle.) Covey is readying to attack a neighboring lord. Already the feeling that something is off has intuitively been filtered by Marshall. The cause of the dispute is Covington's accusation that Rupert de Thorington of Hawkstone Castle, is in league with the French over against King John. Marshall senses he is being played by the King and Covey. According to them, de Thorington "is aggressive and disloyal to the king. [Covey] has asked for [Marshall's] assistance in defeating this neighbor once and for all, for it has apparently been a long-running feud. John wants the neighbor arrested and brought to London to face his justice.”
Of course this is nothing but a power grab by an entitled lord, whose plotting has entangled Viper's master. Covey is a nasty piece of work without conscience or honor.
Caius journeys north to Hawkstone with a thousand troops only to find the situation is far more complex.
A complexity deepened by the beautiful and strong Lady Emelisse de Thorington being held prisoner by Covington. Covey is determined to marry his son to Emelisse, a son the Viper recently had a nasty confrontation with in an unsavoury inn. Surprise, surprise!
The Viper is in deep and only a shrewd and experienced head will be able to escape this situation with honor intact, including that of William Marshall, and in a manner that will satisfy the King. And then there's Emelisse!
A trusty read!

A Dragonblade ARC via NetGalley

A love story that passed on into a legend
Another Executioner Knights story comes forth from the anals of Kathryn’s treasure trove of tales. This is Caius d’Avignon’s story and what a story it is. It’s another very well written book with lots of action and intrigue interwoven with love and passion. This story also highlights the camaraderie among the gallant soldiers of William Marshal. Caius and Emelisse go through a lot of turbulent upheavals before they can earn their HEA. Through her amazing word building and prose Kathryn brings out the brilliance of the story.
The icing on the cake is advent of young William de Wolfe in this book.There are incidents between Caius and William worth reading and enjoying.The interweaving of the House of de Wolfe with these series was a master stroke and a treat for the readers.
Caius and Emelisse’s was a love story that rose from difficult circumstances to pass into a tale that legends are made of. At the end of it,I can only say Five Stars for this book and looking forward to more in the series.A highly recommended book that you will not be able to put down. I received an ACR copy of this book and I chose to post this review.

William Marshall trust one of his premier knights to handle a problem brewing that involves Alice, his niece, and her new husband Covington de Wrenville a warlord to King John. His son Marius suggest his father Alice to have William Marshall under his power. Caius d’Avignon is better known as the Britannia Viper, is calm under pressure and you never know when he’s going to strike. He arrives at Castle to find a war going on between the neighboring Hawkestone Castle and Emelisse de Thorington held captive in Covington’s vault. Emelisse’s father was killed in the last battle, her brother is holdup in their castle continuing to fight for their home. This is an action packed as Caius tries to figure out the truth and Emelisse fights for her life and her family. They receive some unexpected help as they try to outsmart Covington and Marius who want to marry Emelisse and take over Hawkestone and all her riches. This is an epic story from Kathryn Le Veque!!! I have voluntarily read and reviewed this amazing story.

I have read a few books by Kathryn Le Veque but hadn’t read this series yet. It is written en as a standalone, so I had no trouble following the story.

The author has a wonderful style if writing. The story flows well and I could just picture the story in my head. Caius and Emelisse are well rounded layered characters and I enjoyed their interactions.

The story kept me captivated from the first page to the last and I was rooting for Caius all the way. The story had everything I want in a story, great characters, intrigue, action and a wonderful love story.

If you are a fan of historical romance then you will love the book.

Winter of solace
Murder, cover-up, sex, spies, fighting, battles with knights what more can a person ask for in a book! Except is it a good book,?? Then I would have to admit that YES I would say this is a good book! It’s well worth a person to pick it up and read it from cover to cover! I even read parts to my husband and he said he would be willing to get the audible for his hour drive to work each day and back!! Wow!!! Now, That is big when he said he would be willing to listen to the whole thing!! That meant that the the whole book was not super sappy or it wasn’t drippy sex scenes! He is a sci fi guy and for him to be willing then I would say yes I would recommend this for men and women it’s a book for all! I have even listened to some of his sci-fi and got into his mage and his space things because I can unfortunately read and listen to a book being played and understand both!!! Is it frustrating to concentrate totally on one, Yes!!!!!
Now to give you the nitty gritty! Kathryn Le Veque . A Premier author does not disappoint her readers and pens another fine knight in shining armor who is not looking for love but he is so needing it! He is one of Those Executioner Knights who seem to be on the road for redemption whether they realize it or not! True love is going to set them free from all the things they did during the Crusade for Richard the Lionheart and what they continued to do as Executioner Knights for William Marshal to keep the good of their country England Safe! In this book Winter of Solace, we meet Caius d ‘Avignon an executioner knight for William Marshal , Caius who is extremely loyal and at over the age of 40 years has never been truly in love! However, he is about to discover the magic of the Hawk mountain! We also are about to
Stumble upon the young William De Wolfe! He is a precocious teenager who thinks he knows better and gets sent home from one of the training homes and ends up in the right place at the right time and begins his earliest knight training under the Executioner knights and some of what he has to learn he will take with him to his grave!! There are a few things about our young Wolfe that one will learn in this book that is humorous and is a interesting fact to remember if you haven’t already read Kathryn Le Veque, The Wolfe books !!! Or if you have read them, go back and reread them and you might get a different perspective of our mighty Wolfe!
Our young heroine is a unspoiled lady of character Emelisse de Thorington who has only tried to take care of her family and her people. She wants to know why their neighbor wants to destroy them other than for greed! Yes, they found two diamonds on their land but further development has yielded nothing. The only other thing that they could think that yielded this crazy vendetta war was her father said no to a betrothal match. However, there was no further dialogue about why or if they could maybe reconsider. The next week the retaliation began with earnest. The crazy people in all of this are the de Wrenville family! The father, Covington was controlled in retrospect until his wife passed away and it’s almost as though all common sense & decency evaporated from the man since that time. Now the son , Marius is another story, he seems to come from a cesspool of personal disgust and emanates a evil of ill will! The two men together complete a quagmire of utter disrespect and disarray and horror for all those they turn against! They have decided they want their neighbors diamonds and land and will stop at nothing to get them. They have even went as far as to have the father marry a homely spinster, who is related to William Marshal in order to gain access to the armies of the Crown and Marshal for their personal vendetta! They have perpetrated rumors that the neighbors are in bed with the French to gain sympathy from Marshal and of course the son has been a favorite at court to the Current Monarch John which everyone dislikes because of his heavy handed ways! Oh, what a snake pit this book reveals!!! Little intrigues here & there!!! This is another great Kathryn LeVeque that ties in the great Wolfe and she continues to hone her skills and makes me still preorder her books!
I received this book as a netgalley review and this is my first review and I hope I didn’t give any spoilers because there are a few and I wanted to be honest without giving up the spoilers and retelling the synopsis!!!
Enjoy the book because you will!!!

I am an avid fan of Kathryn Le Veque's books.
And this book , as with others ive read in her Midieval settings does not disappoint.
Caius is big , dark and leathal...an Executioner Knight...
Emelisse is the perfect counterpart to his dark...blond beautiful and strong in her own right.
The setting for this story a d references to other characters from other books Ms.LeVeque has written of, tie all these " people" together....ADDto the backdrop real persons from histpry , actual towns , castles and such , you as a reader are transported to a long ago age where these men and women might actually have walked, lived , warred and loved .
My thanks to Kathryn for another superb read( i really expect nothing less) .
My thanks as well to Netgalley for having this title available to read before its actual release.
And finally , im eagerly awaiting any and all new works from this talented author.
SUPERB , KATHERYN LE VEQUE!

Will he choose his allegiance over what he knows is right ...

Finally, my first foray in Mrs Le Veque universe, as while I have read two or three books related to her De Wolfe Pack universe, I had yet to read any of hers.
I have my sight on her next Sourcebooks release, but alas Little Me is not on the list of its reviewers.
I guess I was also afraid to get lost in the places and periods set in her books, it was a so tense area, one I do not know well.
Plus with so many books behind, I was scared by this too vast universe, to be unable to connect with the already-seen characters.
The author’s words at the beginning of the book had me nearly running out. She named so many of her characters, I quite swooned with all these names, my dyslexia in jumble, very much afraid to not be able to understand the story.

But it was nothing like I expected, the shadowy cover led me to believe it was a dark tale, and while it was not all rainbows and unicorns, the hero and his friends save the day at every turn, it is as much a tale of heroism and brotherhood than a romance.

While the introducing chapter is full of fun and laughers, the rest of the story is a game of chess, with one side having one’s hands tied behind where betrayals and schemings are the king and queens and people’s lives mere pawns.
It felt like a big adventure movie, so fast paced it in fact occurred outside the first chapter in the short span of time of 3 days.

Caius is a man of honor, and as he finds himself torn between two fires, how will he deal between his oath and his instinct. As he was asked to not use his army against the man he was tasked to backup.
Emelisse is a woman caught in a battle outside of her understanding at first, grieving her shattered world, will she find in time the strength to stand once more.
Due to the setting of the plot, I feared there would be a declaration of eternal love much too early, when both heroes have known one another for only a day, so I very much appreciated it was more a pledge for the years to come, and not a profession of love, even if it did arrive quite soon after.
Until the end, I did not know Caius’ age, I knew he was no boy, as he is referred as a seasoned knight, I expected him over 35, but at 43 for the time period, he was no more a young strapping lad when Emelisse is somewhat a 20 something. After it was common for men of his ilk to settle later, once they fulfilled their duties to their country.

I loved the relationship between the different knights, and the introduction of the young William De Wolfe.
I must add I loved Alice and Hallam’s romance even more than Caius and Emelisse, because it has grown under duress, their love feels more real and rooted in time.
So while I would have liked to see Caius and Emelisse love story be developed over a bit more time, I enjoyed the knights brotherhood.
The villains get their right rewards, but their greediness turned them too very foolish by the end.
4.5 stars as it was very entertaining.

I was granted an advance copy by the publisher Dragonblade Publishing, here is my true and unbiased opinion.

Another EPIC romance from Kathryn Le Veque.

Kathryn has the ability to write stories that grab her readers attention and transfer them back in time to an era where knights were men who were strong, brave, intelligent, and sensitive and where women were passionate, loving, generous, and warriors in their own right.

Winter of Solace is about a knight who became known for his ability to kill very quickly and a woman who had to fight for the survival of her home and her own life. These two amazing people were thrown together in a situation not of their own making but together chose to turn the tides against two evil men. There is non-stop action, passion, romance, pain, joy, hidden lovers, brilliantly written characters, and a storyline that is absolutely epic. This story starts in London with our hero then goes to a castle where our heroine is being held captive. Without giving a play-by-play, this story does have an HEA, but it's a hard fought, passion filled plot before our characters (main and secondary) find their HEA. It also introduces us to William de Wolfe from The Wolfe (De Wolfe Pack Book 2).

My kindle has 85 books written by Kathryn (some are individual stories and some are collections). Of those 85 books, all are 5 or more stars and I have read all of them more than once. There are countless authors who write stories that take place during the 10th-13th centuries, but none possess the awe-inspiring writing style of Kathryn Le Veque. I recommend this book, the other books in the Executioner Knights series, and every other one of her books. Read this book, you will NOT be disappointed at all.

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley and the publisher and am volunteering an honest review.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
💋💋

Action packed in every way .
Kathryn is about to blow your mind with the next book in The Executioner Knights Series .

Caius d’Avignon and his friends are back , under the instructions of William Marshall of course, to keep King John from running Roughshod over the country.

These guys don’t mess around , they’re ruthless and passionate about the work they do, and the women they love.
Emelisse is his lady of choice , though the situation is one that kind of sneaks up on him , as always it’s through honour and devotion that he finds himself in her powerful gaze.

There is so much going on in this book , it plot is brilliant, a little complex but not to hard to follow and it’s so so good .
You are in for a treat and one brilliant ride.
Also look out for a very young William de Wolfe , only in this he’s a squire, age 12 , and quite cheeky and sweet. Don’t believe it?
Then read it.

I received an Arc copy of this book and chose to post this review

Caius d`Avignon was enjoying some down time in a tavern with his fellow Knights when he is called back to duty. When William Marshall gives an order all his men know to obey.

This task is to investigate and possibly mediate a complicated family matter.

Emelisse de Thorington is caught up in a nightmare that has taken three years to come to a head. For no reason she knows of, their neighbours started to harass her family's holdings. Now it has turned deadly.

Our hero is one of the best and most deadly Knights in the land. He will find himself in a morally difficult position, to follow his orders or his heart. The biggest often fall harder and quicker than lesser men when it comes to love.

Our brave heroine will defend her home before herself.

An action packed historical adventure romance. There is danger, political intrigue and even some laughs in this story. A lot of the characters will be known to readers of this author's work but this book will not spoil any of the others.

As usual with any of this author's books, you will be hooked from the first page until the end.

I loved every page.

This is my fair and honest review, voluntarily given and in my own words, for this ARC. It's Kathryn Le Veque, what more needs to be said???? Seriously, I have yet to find ANY book by this author that is not fantastic! This one is not as long as most are but it is still full of awesome writing!