Review: One Night in Heartwood by Emma Denny

Oxford 1360

When his sister’s betrothed vanishes the night before her politically arranged marriage, Raff Barden must track and return the elusive groom to restore his family’s honour. William de Foucart ? known to his friends as Penn ? had no choice but to abandon his fiancé, and with it his own earldom, when he fled the night before his enforced marriage. But ill-equipped to survive on the run he must trust the kindness of a stranger, Raff, to help him escape. Unaware their fates are already entwined, their unexpected bond deepens into a far more precious relationship, one that will test all that they hold dear. And when secrets are finally revealed, both men must decide what they will risk for the one they love…

Review:

Dear Emma Denny,

Unfortunately this book did not work for me.

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

Readers, I lasted fifteen chapters of the book plus I have read chapters 25 and 26 and epilogue because I did want to know how this ends. To state everything upfront, I am always looking for (and VERY rarely finding during the last several years) gay historical romances / m/m historical romances, which are the actual historical romances rather than people with modern mentality being dressed in costumes of the historical times and playing out whatever story was supposed to take place.

I saw this book almost at the same time when I bought another m/m book being billed as a Tick Tock sensation and that book I bought and it disappointed me so much that I swore off books that I have with those words in the blurbs. But a few days ago I saw this book on KU and I decided to keep my fingers crossed and try because even if it is not going to try for something resembling a historical setting, maybe it would have been a nice romp?

As I said I lasted fifteen chapters. Please keep in mind that the year the story is supposed to take place in is billed as 1360. I always say that I am not competent to judge how much the language of the story is resembling the historical period, but this story is written in a very contemporary English. I would not really care much about that though, because what bothers me the most in these stories that claim to be historical (If I am not very familiar with the era and cannot catch glaring anachronisms) is the mentality characters have.

I am sorry, but I did not buy at all that the brothers of the woman who is being married off in a marriage of convenience in the year 1360 would care much or at all just how suited she and her future husband will be, so from the beginning I was rolling my eyes a little bit.

The further in the story it got the merrier it became though. Penn decides to flee his father’s castle rather than being married off to Lily (Rafe’s sister) and when Penn runs away, Rafe volunteers to go looking for him in the forest.

Rafe, the good tracker that he presumably was, finds Penn a/k/a/ William almost right away, but somehow totally buys the story that Penn was William’s servant. Rafe did not volunteer who he was either (that he was a brother of William’s betrothed) so it’s not as if I was mad at Penn for hiding his true identity.

They are both very kind and both liked each other almost from first sight, but surely none of then would decide that kissing an absolute stranger the very same day you met him is a good idea? RIGHT? Of course Penn decides that even though he could be killed, he kisses Rafe first and everything be damned a second later? In the year 1360…

But then apparently they are both ignoring the kiss for many pages before an obligatory very long sex scene in the 50 – 51 percent of the book. I just can’t. I am sorry. If you are already acting on your desire as an absolute idiot in the year 1360, would you really be saying now, oh no it will be such an unwise thing to do to act on it again?  By the way, I am of course not saying that men who preferred other men did not find companions in the Middle Ages! I am just having trouble imagining them acting so very recklessly.

As an aside, how does either of these men know what animal abuse is? I don’t mean that people in the Middle Ages could not necessarily want to help the mistreated animal. I meant what the heck the word abuse is even doing in the book in the year 1360???

Also, Rafe’s sister and brother both know and tolerate very well the fact that he prefers men and seem to be very amused when he finally gets together with Penn. In the year 1360.

To be fair, it could have been a nice romp with me trying to ignore the year 1360 in the beginning and thinking maybe these guys and girls are playing reenactment in the 20th century and all of this is some kind of a weird dream during their plays, but when Rafe is forced to confess who he is to Penn and Penn instead of deciding to confess because hey, perfect chance, decides to continue to lie because – THIS IS ALL GOING TO EVENTUALLY END ANYWAY, SO NO NEED TO BE TRUTHFUL, I said no thank you and went to the end and basically gave up on the last forty percent of the book.