Swordheart
By: T. Kingfisher
My Rating: Four out of Five stars
Best for: Adults

Well nuts, I kind of walked into that one.

I don’t like romance novels, but I do like when books have some romance.

This fantasy book about a guy stuck in a sword had some very blurry lines in the romance department, and now I’m not sure what I read.

I did like the story though. So I suppose it doesn’t really matter.

But romance books are still barf.

Although Swordheart is a stand-alone story, I learned from the epilogue and author’s note to expect a trilogy of books with these characters, which I won’t mind at all.  Ursula Vernon/T. Kingfisher’s wit and sarcastic humor so much fun I’m happy to read more.

In this story, our hero is a widow who’s been caring for her dead husband’s elderly uncle because she didn’t have anywhere to go and he needed help. When he dies, she unexpectedly inherits the uncle’s estate, much to the chagrin of her husband’s family.

Locked in her room and forced into a marriage with her cousin to keep the money in their family, she decides killing herself with the old sword hanging above her bed is the best solution. But when she unsheathes the sword and a warrior suddenly appears in her bedroom, the tables turn and things get MUCH more interesting…

The hero of this story doesn’t fit any mold I’ve read before, and I loved that. She’s pushing 40, not beautiful or skinny, doesn’t have any particular skills or talents, and considers herself unworthy of affection. What she does have is a charming balance of naive wit, innocent sincerity, blind kindness, and fierce passion…and she has those qualities in fabulous abundance.

She and her sword spend the entire story falling in love with each other–and when I say the entire story, I mean the entire story. I would have preferred more sword play and less playing with her sword, if you know what I mean.

But anyway.

Fun story. Great writing. Excellent characters. Laugh-out-loud dialogue.

Just one or two instances of PG level swear words. Lots and lots of innuendo though, plus a couple of descriptive (but tasteful) sex scenes towards the end.

Grown up’s only.

Happy Reading!