The More I See You by Lynn Kurland

A wish upon a star transports the luckless-in-love Jessica Blakely back in time to the 13th century. But her desire for a fair and gallant knight yields the fearsome Richard De Galtres. And it will take her tender touch--and stubborn will--to pierce his armor-clad heart.


Jessica, our composer heroine, gets invited to England with a man she's known less than 2 weeks. As a matter of fact, he was a blind date. Not being an idiot, she readily accepted his offer to spend a month in a beautiful Victorian mansion in London. I would have, too. I mean, really, a man offers you a free month long trip to Europe? You can bet I'd be on it like a cop on a doughnut.

But things don't go so well once she's there. The blind date, Archie, turns out to be a boring pig who annoys the crap out of her. Plus, there's this run down castle that's attached to the mansion she's staying at and it creeps her out. After a week there, she escapes to the garden to lament her bad luck with men and makes a wish: To find a chivalrous knight who will love her as much as he loves himself. Personally, I would have asked for at least 8 inches, at least a million in the bank and a mom who isn't pscyho, but that's me.

Well, Fate, or whoever happens to be charge of this type of thing, takes her at her word and transports her back to the year 1260. Yeah. 1260. At this point I'm thinking cleaniness is next to Godliness and indoor plumbing is a blessing, but what do I know? Anyway, she opens her eyes and finds herself in the middle of a field and being chased by hunting dogs. A scary prospect indeed, when the Victorian mansion she loved so much is no where to be seen. Can we say Twilight Zone?

She's rescued by none other than our very tortured, very midevil hero, Richard de Galtres. He's dark, brooding and hasn't smiled in years. Plus, he suffered 12 years of abuse from his father before he ran away from home at the age of 13. Yeah, boy has issues.

It takes her awhile, but she finally figures out that she's not crazy and that she has, in fact, been transported back in time. By then, she's been firmly ensconced in Richard's castle and her attemps to escape have ended badly for her. She's pretty much resigned herself to being stuck - for the moment - when the most amazing thing happens...she starts to fall in love.

For Richard's part, he can't believe the little baggage speaks up to him and refuses to do everything he tells her. Plus, for a mere woman, he figures she sure as hell can't do anything usefull. She can't sew, she can't cook. Hell, she won't even go to bed with him. What else are women good for? But over time, he comes to appreciate her quick smiles, her strong backbone and her biting tongue. Before long, he's wondering how he ever lived without her and what he'll do if she gets sucked back in time (she told him in the beginning when she was from and he eventually accepted it).

I was enjoying this book. A great deal. It's not a deep, dark, heavy read, but it was entertaining. Jessica cracked me up with her constant teasing and testing Richard, and his opinions about women and what they were 'used' for had me rolling my eyes. Though I did get rather irritated with the way Jessica just seemed to let him have his way in the beginning, I did understand it. I mean, she's stuck in this foreign country and time and didn't want to cause trouble, but meh, whatever.

And then, when I was on Chapter 11, my book fell apart. Literally. The spine came unglued and pages started falling out left and right. And then the entire first half of the book came out in one chunk. I should have given up then, but I was enjoying the story and was determined to finish it. More fool me. After reading all that junk about fate and what-not, I should have realized it was a sign that I wasn't meant to finish the book, but just like Jessica, I went on ahead and did my own thing. And like Jessica, I learned my lesson.

So, things are rolling along fine. Richard and Jessica fall in love and get married and then one of Richard's very bestest friends gets killed and they rush over to the families keep so that Richard can go out with the father to avenge the death and Jessica stays there.

*Oh, quick side note: Anyone else who reads LK, is this part of a series? Because she meets another girl from the future while at the friend's dad's place and it made me wonder if there were books before this one?? End Side Note*

Now this, this is where the book went downhill for me. ALL THE WAY DOWN. Why? Because she turned into another one of those stupid idiot ass heroines who thinks the hero is too stupid to make decisions for himself and figures she has to make the ultimate sacrafice for him. Yeah, one of those....

Basically, the King shows up and says Richard has to marry his 8-year-old godniece. Jessica overhears some women talking about it and decides, completely on her own and against the advice of no less that three people, that she just has to go back to her time to save Richard from making some stupid decision and falling out of favor with his king.

WHAT.THE.HELL.

Why do heroines have to do this? The hero has showed good sense throughout the entire book. He's proved on countless occasions that her preconcieved notions about him are incorrect. He's resuced her from dangerous situations and offered fabulous advice. And then she decides he's too stupid to figure out what he wants and has to make the decision for him?

From that point on, I skimmed the book. I would have stopped reading completely, but I only had three chapters left at that point. UGH! You know, I think this deserves a blog of it's own. I'm going to work on that.

In the meantime, I give this one:

Story: 3.5
Ending: -1

Stupid ass heroines.