Warrior's Lady

by Madeline Baker

A New York Times Bestselling Author The Warrior . . . He was everything a woman dreams of in a man -- strong, virile, courageous. More at home on the battlefield than in the bedroom, he would give his heart only once and fight to the death to protect his love. The Lady . . . a creature of moonlight and quicksilver, she had rescued him from unspeakable torture, then healed him body and soul. She was all he'd ever wanted in a woman -- gentle, innocent, and exquisitely lovely -- but his enemies would do everything in their power to keep her from him. Only a passion born of desperate need could prevail against such hatred and unite two lovers against such odds.

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Fantasy, Native American, Paranormal Romance, Fantasy Romance, Dragons

418 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1993

About the author

Madeline Ruth was born on 1963 in California, where she raised. She married her high school sweetheart and they have three sons, all handsome enough to be cover models. Growing up, her favorite pastimes were going to the movies and going horseback riding on Saturday mornings at Griffith Park. Madeline has always been "horse happy." A horse was the one thing she asked for on every birthday and every Christmas. Many years later, that dream came true when she bought an Appaloosa mare named Candy—because she was so sweet. Madeline loves animals. Over the years, she's had numerous dogs, cats, fish, mice, hamsters, turtles and birds, and her horse, of course. The most exotic pet was a crocodile that belonged to one of her sons. Currently, she has a terribly spoiled Pomeranian named Teddi, six goldfish, a catfish, and a betta. When she's not writing, Madeline enjoys going to movies and the theater. Her favorite plays are The Phantom of the Opera, The Scarlet Pimpernel and her all-time fave, Beauty and the Beast. She also loves reading, going to lunch with her best friend, collecting Star Wars, The Phantom of the Opera and Beauty and the Beast memorabilia, and playing with the most beautiful, adorable, brilliant grandkids in the world.

Madeline started writing when her children were still at home, and she wrote for several years, finding time to write after her children were in bed and her husband was at work. In true cliché fashion, she wrote the books and put them under the bed, never telling anyone what she was doing, until one day she let a friend read one. Encouraged by her friend's comments, and armed with a copy of Writer's Market supplied by said friend, Madeline began sending out query letters. After six years and 31 rejections, Leisure Books bought Reckless Heart, and she's been writing ever since. After writing several Westerns, Madeline decided to try her hand at something else and wrote her first vampire romance. It was a short story titled "Masquerade" for an anthology. She loved writing that so much that she wrote her first full-length vampire romance, Embrace the Night, and thus Amanda Ashley was born. One of her dreams had been to write for Harlequin, and she accomplished that in 2003 with the publication of her Silhouette Romance novel, Dude Ranch Bride. Madeline loves to hear from her readers. You can reach her online at DarkWritr@aol.com or by mail at PO Box 1703, Whittier, CA 90609-1703.

Reviews

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so good really enjoyed reading it.

[Lady Tea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating: 3.3 / 5

To be honest, I feel a bit bamboozled with this one, so it's hard for me to give it a higher rating.

Basically, I was used to Madeline Baker as being an author of just Native American romances, and so, seeing the cover of this book and reading the extremely general and generic summary, I thought that it would be another one of those "captured warrior is freed by white woman and they run away to be together" romances.

Boy, oh boy, was I wrong!

For the first two chapters or so, I thought that maybe the hero, Jarrett, was just in a dream state and was imagining himself in a medieval fantasy world, with giants and healers known as Maje and...yeah, it was dumb to think that, I know, but I'm just SO used to Madeline Baker authoring one type of book, that having her go off into a fantasy romance novel out of nowhere was just...something that I had a hard time believing at first.

Now, the book still has her signature things in terms of writing style, sappiness, and overabundance of love from lovemaking to longing, but the fact that I expected a Native American romance and instead got an alternate reality fantasy is just REALLY off-putting for me.

So, in conclusion, even though the story and writing style are typical of this author, whom I am a fan of, this book gets a low rating for mistaken advertising/generic summary and cover that make it seem like something it's not.

If I had known this was a fantasy romance set in an alternate medieval-ish place, then I would never have bought it.

[Cindy Kirkland · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. The thee's and thy's got very tiresome. There was a few details that did not make sense but over all an okay read.

[Stacie]

A fantasy romance with dragons, witches, healers, etc. The story starts off with the two main characters in prison and being tortured. Leyla is a healer. Jarrett is forced to fight and be tortured. Then Leyla is brought in to heal Jarrett for the next "game". They eventually escape but Jarrett finds that he can not live with out Leyla.

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

not a favourite of her books

[sandra smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Game of thrones meets Lord of the rings. Am not usually a great fan of magic healing but this had me hooked from the first to the last page.

[Faith Townsend · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book thinking it was a Native American romance, since the is what the author is known for, based on the title and the quote from a review about her other stories assumed it was indeed a western… however, right away it was obviously not what I thought but I kept reading and actually enjoyed it. I wasn’t crazy about all the “thy” and “thee” but the story flowed really well.

[Ada Geringer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warrior's Lady

I have falling in love with your writing. I have started to collect your books as fast as I can read them. You have another devoted read. I thank you with all my heart. Your love stories touch my heart and soul. I thank you again. Ada G.

[Linda I. McCormack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written published 8 years after her (Madeline Baker) first novel. It was really good. A very innovative storyline. A lot of twists and turns but, inevitably, a HEA. If you enjoy a little mysticism in your novels, I would recommend this book.

[Myra Wray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread. Still found it a good read. I will be reading the rest of this series too.

[SwampWitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not at all what I was expecting, but it was quite good!