• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 481 KB
• Publisher: Carina Press (November 14, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005UPRNVY

Review received via NetGalley

Buy at:

• Amazon

When Lord Arik, a druid knight, finds Rebeka Tyler wandering his lands without protection, he swears to keep her safe. But Rebeka can take care of herself. When Arik sees her clash with a group of attackers using a strange fighting style, he’s intrigued.
Rebeka is no ordinary seventeenth-century woman—she’s travelled back from the year 2011, and she desperately wants to return home. She poses as a scholar sent by the king to find out what’s killing Arik’s land. But as she works to decode the ancient runes that are the key to solving this mystery and sending her home, she finds herself drawn to the charismatic and powerful Arik.
As Arik and Rebeka fall in love, someone in Arik’s household schemes to keep them apart and a dark druid with a grudge prepares his revenge. To defeat him, Arik and Rebeka must combine their skills. Soon Rebeka will have to decide whether to return to the future or trust Arik with the secret of her time travel and her heart.

I don’t know what it is about time travel books that makes me love them. It could be the fact that I’m a history geek or that I like watching heroes and heroines go through the awkwardness of being in a time and society they’re not used to. Whatever the case if I see a book with a time travel storyline I’m likely to pick it up.   Here’s what I liked and didn’t like about Knight of Runes.

What I liked:

• I liked the underlying theme in the romance between Arik and Rebekah – a bond that not even time could break. What romance reader doesn’t like the idea of love overcoming all odds, even if those odds are the space-time continuum?
• The side characters were written really well and actually supported the hero and heroine instead of providing cheap laughs or a set up for book 2.  Logan, Doward, Jeannie, Audrey Skylar and others had depth and their own personalities.
• I really enjoyed that the love between the two main characters didn’t start as a flash fire, all hot and heavy, but slowly simmered to a rich and true love.  I absolutely see the appeal of love at first sight books, I love the idea of falling hard and fast for someone but it wouldn’t have made sense in Knight of Runes and wouldn’t have been in character for either our hero or heroine. Arik is Lord and Master of a land that is being attacked by an outside force, he’s not going to accept some strange woman who’s shown up out of the blue. He’s going to watch and wait and evaluate her character and motives before letting himself become vulnerable enough to let her into his life.  Rebekah, on the other hand, is 400 years in the past and worried that a false move could adversely effect the future.  That kind of stress is not going to put anyone in the mood for love all too quickly.

What I didn’t like:

• Rebekah’s so awesome it’s ridiculous.  A seasoned rock climber, a black belt in Karate, a University Professor and she has the presence of mind to use a water purification tablet that she just happens to have in her pack, so she can drink stream water without boiling it first, less than an hour after falling into a vortex that’s taken her back in time!   Rebekah has extensive knowledge about flora, fauna and soil, she is well-travelled, she can play the mandolin and knows a selection of 17th century songs and dance steps.  Her Dad was conveniently a professor of Druid mythology and so she can read Pict, Ogham and runes, everyone (well not everyone) immediately loves her and she barely bats an eye at being sent to the past. When will one of these type of books have a heroine who freaks out when she realizes there’s no indoor plumbing? Cause that’s what I’d be doing, just saying.
• There are a lot of questions I still have I have about certain plot points. For example, who exactly is Rebekah’s father, what’s the skinny on Rebekah’s mom and what’s the deal with George Hughes? I’d also like more info about Bran, the off-page, villain ultimately behind all of Arik and Rebekah’s troubles, and Hugo his evil henchman. There were also answers to important plot points in the story that I felt were answered but were hastily dealt with and should have been afforded more page time.
• I need to talk about the cover, it in no way related to the quality of the text within, but I need to get this off my chest. Look at this cover and tell me it doesn’t look like our pectorally perfect hero was run over by a car. It looks like there’s tire tread on this dude’s chest! As I read this book I came to realize that this is an artist’s interpretation of Arik’s tattoos as described in the story, but until that time every time I saw the cover I snickered.

It’d be very easy for me to over analyze King of Runes and make myself dislike it. Here’s the thing, I didn’t have enough of a problem with any of the aforementioned dislikes not to continue reading this book. Is it literary genius? No. Is there room for improvement? Yes. Overall though, an enjoyable read. It’s light and fluffy romance with enough intrigue, magic and angst to keep things interesting.

If you’re between books and you’re looking for some light romance with a sexy, druid hero and a super accomplished Univeristy professor this would be a good book for you.