Looking For a Good Book

I was a little bit torn about whether or not to read this. I was not really in a mood to read a romance (though I’m not opposed to reading romance), but I was in the mood for a fantasy and a Robin Hood theme sounded really good.

Mariah Clinton works as a sous-chef in modern London. When not cooking or running a kitchen, Mariah’s passion is archery. She likes the idea of medieval life and plans to attend a re-enactment (ala a Ren-Faire). Of course a good costume is essential for being in a re-enactment and Mariah goes to McQuivey’s Costume Shop to get her period outfit.

But the strangest thing happens – with her costume on, Mariah doesn’t step out of McQuivey’s into modern London – instead she finds herself in Nottingham, circa 1100’s. Being a woman her options are limited yet she knows she needs to find a way to survive and she finds work helping in a kitchen. Being with ‘the help,’ she learns about all the drama in this town and to her surprise, she learns that the sheriff of Nottingham is real and as much a cruel man as the legends have portrayed.

She also learns that the outlaws who hide out in Sherwood Forest are real, including the legendary Robin Hood. Thanks to her skill with the bow, Mariah – who introduces herself to others as Marian – becomes fast friends with the outaws (Little John, Friar Tuck, Allan, Will Scarlet, et al) and will have to make a difficult choice when the opportunity to return to modern London appears.

This was really delightful.

My fear before starting this was that it was going to be ‘sappy’ or a Mary Sue romance (look it up if you don’t know the term). I also feared that Robin Hood (and the merry men) would be portrayed unrealistically and simply swooning for the female lead. And while it is a romance (I’ve seen this referred to as a ‘clean romance’) and Mariah/Marian and Robin do fall for each other their behavior strikes me as realistic rather than fantasy.

Having Mariah skilled with bow and arrow was a unique and interesting twist to the legends and did provide author Sian Ann Bessey with some additional conflict opportunities. I enjoyed the scenes which centered around archery quite a bit.

There was one very specific moment that I was taken out of the story and this felt like the unrealistic romance that I had feared and that was when Mariah, who was an extremely bright, modern woman thrown into the past, didn’t recognize that she was the Marian of legend.  It seemed even more odd given that she took on the name rather than use her own.

The romance was not overwhelming and did not dominate the story for me. I felt this was more of a ‘Connecticut Yankee’ story – a modern woman thrown into the past finds a way to not lose her sense of individuality and her strength – and it was this story that I thought was particularly well written and enjoyable. The romance developed organically, which I thought was really nice.

This is the second book in the McQuivey’s Costume Shop Romance and based on my enjoyment here I’m definitely interested in reading more.

Looking for a good book? The Maid of Sherwood Forest by Sian Ann Bessey is a well-written, enjoyable time travel fantasy with a clean romance.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

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The Maid of Sherwood Forest

author: Sian Ann Bessey

series: A McQuivey’s Costume Shop Romance

publisher: Shadow Mountain

ISBN: 9781639934676

paperback, 296 pages