When Isabelle de Piaget receives a mysterious message telling her to go to France or else her family will die, she immediately sets out to leave, dressed as a lad. Unfortunately, after an accident along the way, she loses her memories and is saved by a lord whose politeness seems to have left him long ago. The lord, Gervase de Seger, tries to put her to work, thinking she is a boy, but when he finds out exactly who she is, a woman and a lady nonetheless, he has to decide if he should confront her or see if any other secrets come up. As more mysterious threats arise towards them both, they will have to put aside their distrust and band together to find out who is behind the threats.

DREAMS OF LILACS by Lynn Kurland is part of a long series (that I hadn't read previously), but can easily be read as a stand-alone. I did find myself confused at times over some background details, but overall, everything that you need to know is explained. The main character, Isabelle, is the youngest from a large family, and ready to find her own excitement. With her sense of adventure and bright personality, she makes for a wonderful main character. Her relationship with Gervase is wonderfully slow and never overpowers the story line. Kurland gives them plenty of time to get to know each other before their feelings get very strong, and because of that slowness, they come alive brilliantly as a couple that knows the moods of the other (if not all the facts) and have a caring relationship. Their romance is also very clean, and though I would've liked some slightly steamier scenes, it fits very well with the tone of the story.

With a smooth voice, Kurland clearly knows how to tell a good romance story. I didn't feel an especially strong connection to the characters (I prefer first person narration instead of third), but I still found DREAMS OF LILACS to be an enjoyable and quick read, perfect for any fans of adult historical romance.

Book Summary

Isabelle de Piaget is determined to elude her overprotective family by means of a hasty escape to France. But instead of making a surprise visit to her brother there, she winds up shipwrecked on the French coast with no memory of who she is or how she came to awaken in the dark and forbidding castle of an equally brooding lord.

Gervase de Seger rescues—very reluctantly—the bedraggled urchin he finds on the road and puts her to work where he can ignore her. Unfortunately, he soon realizes that her brother is an intimidating lord who is going to be absolutely furious when he learns that his beloved sister has been laboring as a scullery maid. Yet Isabelle may be the one who holds the key to solving Gervase’s most pressing problem: that someone has been trying to finish the task of separating him from his title and his lands.

Finding the truth propels Gervase and Isabelle from the buried secrets of half-ruined keeps to the glittering French court, and to the realization that love can blossom in the most perilous circumstances—and in the most unexpected places of the heart . . .