Baymore's Heir (In the Company of Men 3) by Lynn Lorenz: elisa_rolle

I arrived late to read this third instalment In the Company of Men series but I already knew it was a mistake, a mistake since this is exactly the romance I like. It’s an historical romance, with enough realistic touch to not be “fantasy”, but romantic enough to not ruin the experience of the romance reader with the harsh reality. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing the good historical novel, I love them, and most of the time they are very high quality, but I think the target reader who is opening Baymore’s Heir is searching for something different. They are searching for a love story in an historical setting, and like sometime the romance is unrealistic in an Contemporary setting so it could be in an Historical one; the reader is searching the dream, whatever suit the hero is wearing or house he is inhabiting.

Actually Baymore’s Heir is letting some “reality” to invade the story; Jackson and William met an fall in love in the previous book, and for some that was probably not really possible. William is gay, and more or less, unashamed of it; he is the second son of a duke, his older brother knows the truth and more or less is supporting of William. Jackson is the bastard son of another duke, and coincidence wants that Jackson’s stepbrother, and heir to the dukedom, is also William’s former lover. And of course now William is Jackson’s lover and that is not really taken well by Hugh.

That is more or less the previous plot, and now Jackson is the Duke, and William is his steward and lover; even if everyone knows, no one is opposing their love and this should be an idyllic situation if not for the little detail that Jackson wants to marry and have an heir, mostly to be able to “protect” William’s interests in the chance Jackson dies. A somewhat too “modern-day” worry, but indeed a realistic one, since it would be quite unbelievable that medieval law has some way to recognize Jackson and William’s bond.

I remember that I liked William in the previous novel, more than Jackson, and in a way this is confirmed also in this new story; Jackson is a bear of a man with the soft core, but, truth be told, I don’t think he is as clever as William. I had the feeling that William is maneuvering Jackson on his own will, and even if he does everything Jackson is asking him, he does that in a way that Will will always come out as a winner.

There is less drama in Baymore’s Heir, and the romance part of the story has the lion share. This is really an old fashioned savage romance story, but of the comfortable sort of way, those stories you wish to read on a winter night, under a blanket.

http://www.loose-id.com/In-the-Company-of-Men-Baymores-Heir.aspx

Amazon: Baymore's Heir
Amazon Kindle: Baymore's Heir
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Loose Id, LLC (September 16, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1607377306
ISBN-13: 978-1607377306

Series: In the Company of Men
1) The Mercenary's Tale: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/243092.html
2) Jackson’s Pride: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/277247.html
3) Baymore's Heir

Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Cover Art by Christine M. Griffin

Baymore's Heir (In the Company of Men 3) by Lynn Lorenz

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