I just want to preface this by saying that I enjoy Samantha James. I don’t worship her, I don’t hate her, I find her books generally entertaining and readable. I don’t rush out and buy her books when they come out but if I’ve got the extra money to spend and I see something new (or a reprint I didn’t already own) I always pick it up.

My Lord Conqueror is a book I’ve read a few times. It’s a run of the mill Norman invasion where the hero (Merrick) is a Norman lord who’s conquered some Saxon stronghold, and in this case, the heroine (Alana) is the bastard daughter of the keep’s former lord. It has all the earmarks of this type of romance — an unwilling heroine and a patient hero. She has visions and from the beginning of the book, she has a vision of Merrick standing over her with a sword as if he’s going to kill her. Since her visions usually come true, obviously this causes some anxiety on her part.

The story is tried and true, but no less fun to read. There’s a lot going on aside from the main romance (Alana’s legitimate half-sister, a few odd murders and occurences, a very minor secondary romance and more invasions) but I never felt like they distracted me from the main romance, which despite the predictibility, still flowed and seemed believable. By the inevitable declaring of one’s love, I did feel that the characters had earned that and felt it, which is nice.

For the first read through, I enjoyed the book. I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it but I didn’t feel like I’d wasted my time reading it, which I think really determines a book’s value. It’s a book I put on my shelf and take down time to time when I’m in the mood to read a romance but I don’t want to have to concentrate on something I haven’t read yet. However, by the third read through, a few things do tend to jump out. Merrick calls Alana ‘Saxon’ no less than six times in the span of two pages and while you don’t notice it right away, once you notice it, you can’t stop. Which means I’ve probably ruined it for a few people, lol.

It’s not on the level of a Nora Roberts or a Jennifer Crusie read for me, but it’s also not a book I shoved back on my shelf to forget it (Catherine Coulter or Johanna Lindsey.) I do recommend it