My Forever Love [Mass Market Paperback]

What is it about the Templar Knights that mystify us as readers of the historical romance genre? Is it that they are monks, or that they have taken a vow of celibacy? Perhaps it is that they are religious warriors that have taken up the sword for a cause. Whatever the reason for our great interest, author Marsha Canham takes us directly into the heart of this fascination with Templar Knight, Ciaran Tamberlane. Ciaran becomes disillusioned during his journey into the Holy Land, as innocent lives are slaughtered before him and everything he believes to be true about the Templar Knights is carelessly tossed aside by the heartless and merciless Knights he fights with. He can no longer watch the brutal killings and follows his own heart abandoning his sword and retreating into self-imposed exile back to England. As a reader, you can decide what you find so interesting about this sort of character. It definitely taps into our interest of the mysteryious Templar Knights as historical romance readers.

Amaranth de Langois (Amie), has been married before to an old and abusive man, and upon being sold again to the highest marriage bidder, this time to the brutal Lord Odo, she has reached her limit of abuse and has decided to fight back by attempting to kill him. Amie, fleeing her vengeful husband, finds herself on Ciaran's land. Brutally attacked and wounded she is brought back to his castle and is cared for by Marak, a healer who nurtures her back to health.

As these two tormented characters come together (Ciaran and Amie), their attraction is almost tangible. Author Marsha Canham builds up this story through excellent character development, not just with the central hero and heroine, but also with the secondary characters. This adds a dimension not often seen in historical romances where usually the focal point is on the hero and heroine.

If you like intelligent historical romance that are filled with passion, action, and interesting characters then MY FOREVER LOVE is the book for you.

Tara Green

I'm sorry I can't love Marsha Canham's last novel. I barely like it. I had read the reviews when it was first released and had hoped that I would agree with the better ones. Alas and alack the mention of the slow middle, the weak heroine, weak romance, the disjointed plot and the problems with the hero's retainers mirrored mine own. Certes, methinks mine grade maybe slightly lower.

Brief plot: Amaranth is fleeing from her second abusive husband and takes refuge in a village on the land of excommuncant Templar knight Ciaran Tamberlane who saves her from the killers sent by her husband. He takes her back to his remote castle, learns her history, meets her loutish evil husband and vows to deliver her to the

convent of her choice to escape. Then some derring-do is thrown in at the end

about King Richard returning from his captivity after the Third Crusade.

I have some major questions about things that happen in this book. I might

be reading it wrong or be totally off base in my understanding but...a) if

Ciaran is a Templar, wouldn't he be a monk and therefore unable to marry?

Or does the fact that he was excommunicated release him from his vows?

And if he's excommunicated, wouldn't that mean that no Christian could

aid, abet or have anything to do with him? Especially marry him?

And why would Father Michaelus at the Abbey turn to Ciaran for

help in getting King Richard home? A man of God asking for help

from a man cast out of the Church?

b) peasants can't count? What? They have fingers, they have toes.

c) how did Amie manage to blend in with the few retainers and serfs that

Ciaran has at Tanier? If gossip spreads so quickly that it's known

throughout the castle immediately, is everyone suddenly blind to the

new turnspit boy? No mention is made of intense devotion to Ciaran

as their liege lord. But if they are so devoted, why would anyone be

afraid of betrayal caused by the large reward offered by Odo for word

of his wife? And how does Odo's left behind servant manage to remain

unremarked upon for a day?

d) the two knights traveling with Ciaran and Amie to the convent are lords?

Wouldn't they be Sir Boethius and Sir Geoffrey?

I was disappointed that suddenly a minor villain from the prologue gets

resurrected for the last battle. It seemed tacked on and unnecessary.

And would he have been left a beggar by the Temple?

I was much, much more interested in Marak. I knew he couldn't be the hero

(after all as one reviewer mentioned, it's the guy with the castle who is

always the hero) but he was much more intriguing and different a character

than Ciaran. I thought he and his love Inaya were wasted here. Either

forget the quickie romance of their's or flesh it out.

I'm afraid that by the time I started skimming the last third of the book, I

was pouncing on all the problems I had with the plot and characters. A

few things I could have breezed over or ignored in return for a tighter plot

and more interesting romance but in the end, there were just too many for

me. A shame since this is supposed to be Canham's last book.

First of all, the cover of this book is among my favorites. I love how only half of the knight's face is shown, leaving the rest to the reader's imagination. The castle in the background was yet another nice touch. Now on to the story...

I did not find the violence in this story to be one bit offensive. In fact, it only added to the realism in this tale. Some authors get right into the story surrounding the hero and heroine, whereas Ms. Canham treats you to much more than that. Instead of merely stating that the hero engages in battle, you are taken onto the battlefield with him - the descriptions leaving little to the imagination - BREATHTAKINGLY REAL - the descriptions put you in a mind frame of watching a movie rather than reading a book.

I really enjoyed the story of Ciaran Tamberlane, a man who had lost faith in his God and almost in himself and Amaranth de Langois, the hunted bride of an abusive husband. I fell in love with Ciaran from the moment he was introducd - quiet, yet commanding...the physical description given of him by the author was enough to make me weak in the knees. Black hair, green eyes, tall and muscular....YUM!!!

Amaranth was most certainly courageous in her attempts to escape yet another abusive marriage.

The only thing that prevented me from giving this story a five-star rating was that by the time Tamberlane and Amaranth got around to declaring their love for one another...the book was ending. It's like I was so caught up in the story of how he came to be a excommunicated knight and she a woman on the run and then there was Marak, of course...that by the time the two confessed their feelings for one another, I was like, "Okay, now their story begins." But it doesn't. Don't get me wrong - the love scenes, though few, were wonderful and the attaction between the two was quite obvious from start but I just wanted more!!! *whine However, this doesn't disuade me from ordering every title by Marsha Canham from Amazon.com tonight. *laugh

All in all, this was one of THE BEST medieval stories I've read in quite awhile. Enjoy!