IRIS JOHANSEN

|| Lion's Bride || The Ugly Duckling ||

(Last review(s) added 10/13/97)

Lion's Bride

Rated 4.0
Copyright 1996
Reviewed 9/21/97 by Isolde Wehr

Constantinople, 1188:

Thea, a slave, has just escaped from her fathers house where she had nothing more to do then weave silk. She is on the way to Damascus where she wants to open her own shop. Her caravan is attacked by brutal robbers. Thea is the only survivor, alone in the desert. She has only less water anymore and then comes help from a mercenary, Lord Ware of Dundragon.

Ware guards a dark secret which threaten his life. He does not want to have Thea in his castle because he is a danger for everyone. Soon Ware realizes that he can't do anything to protect Thea from his past. He falls in love with her and everything he does is all for one reason: to save Thea from harm.

An unusual story which takes place at an exciting scene with drama, mystery and love in it. I never can decide if Iris Johansen's historical or contemporary books are better. One thing is clear, she is doing a great job for both time periods.

"The Ugly Duckling" is Nell Calder. Externally she is fat, unattractive and shy but in her heart she is sympathetic and loving. Together with her husband Richard and her daughter Jill she is on Medas, a little island near Greece. Nell doesn't like the party to which they were invited so she makes a picnic with Jill in her room. When she wants to go back to the party there is an attacker with a knife in her room. He wants to kill her. He hurts her with the knife and throws her from the balcony.

She wakes up in a hospital and there is only one thought in her mind -- what has happened to Jill? She remembers that Jill was in the room with her before the attacker threw her from the balcony. The answer is known by Nicholas Tanek, a mysterious man. Nicholas was the one who found Nell after her fall and took her to a hospital.

Jill was killed, her husband was shot down and Nell has a destroyed face and no reason for living anymore. Nick gives her a reason - revenge.

After cosmetic surgery, Nell starts a new life with a new face, a new name, and less weight than before. She wants to find the murderer of her daughter to kill him. With the help of Nicholas, she learns to fight and to kill.

The book contains not a simple love story. There is much more. It is a story about a woman who doesn't give up after everything that has happened because life still goes on. This book is exceptional in my eyes.