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This book drew me in immediately and I loved the unique historical take on a traditional road trip story. There is, however, always a bit of tension in queer historical romance where you’re never quite sure what the HEA will look like and how they will find their way there. This is especially the case here as you’re waiting for the truth of their identities to be revealed. Towards the end, the plot got a bit muddled for me, as the politics of the day come into play but I still enjoyed the ultimate resolution. A hard look at families of origin, and how they end up affecting us in ways we might not even realize;
A romance where both leads are hiding aspects of their identities from each other (but are able to be more themselves by not being their "public" selves); But optimism flagged only briefly, as I reminded myself that Freya Marske blurbed this. Freya Marske! Emma Denny won the ‘Romance Includes You’ competition run by Mills & Boon to encourage LGBTQI+ writers, and it’s very easy to see why. This is a really wonderful story that proves exactly what the competition set out to do – romance really does include everyone. I loved it.
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What does it matter, you say. It matters because writers of historical romance owe it to their readers to depict the history credibly. And because one kind of sloppiness foretells others. (Who needs Merlin to make prophecies?) It makes sense at first, as they're thinking to just know each other for a night and then never again, but after that, when Penn truly runs away and Raff is sent after him to find him, and they run into each other, they don't clear up the lie. I also wish the epilogue had been a little longer, it was fairly short. I wanted more of them getting their HEA together, but it was more of just a snapshot of it. Very rushed. There’s tons of story in this, Romeo and Juliet in one sense with warring families, and echoes of the classic peripatetic comic novels of the 18th Century too, such as Tom Jones and Barry Lyndon, in the journey they take together, the strangers they meet etc. But above all, this is a sweeping romance with such highs and such lows. It’s deeply sensual, it’s dramatic, and it is heart-breaking. Towards the end you get such an awful sense of doom, of lies unravelling, and I really began to wonder, how on earth can they possibly have any sort of happy ever after. Don’t read the last section on the bus as I did, unless you’re happy to sob in public.
I was not rid of you,’ he spoke quietly --- ‘I have not been rid of you since that first evening in Hartswood Forest. I will be keeping my eyes open for more from this author in the future. This one was a delight to read and our main couple was good together. The story felt very contained within Raff and Penn’s romance. I would have loved to see more exploration of the period. One Night in Hartswood was gentle, tender, heartwarming, and desperate. I honestly haven’t read much medieval romance before, but I love the tone this set by starting in Hartswood, the King’s forest. Raff and Penn encounter one another in the middle of the night, total strangers, and take the risk to trust one another with a secret that could get them killed, even if they won’t trust themselves with their true identities. There is a happy ever after of course, a very satisfying one. And the promise of more to come from the secondary characters – a romance between the two sisters seems to me on the cards.
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Users who like One Night in Hartswood, By Emma Denny, Read by Tom Alexander and Sebastian Humphreys where would you like to spend one night? I’d love to go to a beach but honestly I would be happy going anywhere that was quiet & had soft comfy bedding 😴. I should also talk about the steamier scenes - I imagine this is the hardest part for an author to get right. In this one it was done SO RIGHT. The sex scenes were so hot and a delight to read - I can't even do justice through this review to how much I loved them - I think this was largely due to the chemistry between the pair, but the author is clearly very skilled and talented. You won't be disappointed by these parts of the book. This story takes place in the 14th century but I really didn’t get the feeling that I was anchored in any time period - It felt almost fantasy leaning, which is probably due to the majority of the book taking place in the woods while Raff and Penn were traveling so there was minimal interaction with the world outside of their little bubble.
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