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Roma Lombard is the younger sister of Ben McCabe's best friends, Gray and Blade(Heart of Midnight and Blade's Lady) Lombard. When Roma is shot at Gray asks Ben to protect her. Neither expect the instant attraction between them. This book was wonderful. Sexy scenes, a hunky hero, and an independant heroine. Marry McCabe was actually the first book I read by Fiona Brand and I loved it so much I rushed out and ordered the others from this series. They were all great. She reminds me of Linda Howard's early works(Mackenzie's come to mind)and Suzanne Brockmann's TDD series. I will be anxiously awaiting more books from this author!!! Way to go Fiona!!

I LOVED this book! Fiona Brand is a talented writer and her heroes are in a class of their own. Romantic, brooding, protective and so SEXY they sizzle off the pages of her books! I liked how the characters in this book tied to characters in all her other books, it was really great seeing how all the previous happily-ever-afters turned out. I can see how some reviewers might be lost with the backstory, but I've read all her books and already knew the running thread tying the stories together. If you're lost hunt down those previous books--they're more than worth the time! Many authors out there can technically craft a well-written book, but Fiona Brand is one of the few romance writers who can create characters, particularly heroes, with such style they linger long after that wonderful last page. She's definitely a writer for that "keeper shelf!"

Fiona Brand is really great! She's one of my new favorites. She makes you fall for the hero and sympathize with the heroine. She's also one of the most sensuous writers I've found in the Silhoutte line.

The plot of this story is not that origional - rich girl in danger falls in love with body guard - if you've read much romance you're familiar with that one. Fiona Brand just did such a good job that this was really a great story.

I couldn't put the book down. You could actually feel the pain, anguish and longing that the "Patient Nurse" was feeling. The chemistry between the hero and the heroine was very tangible. I highly recommend this book to everyone, especially to first time Palmer readers.

This is one of Diana Palmer's best. I've read almost all her books and this is a favorite. A must read. It has characters that you can relate to. A great book and one of her best works.

I always love to read Ms. Palmer's works. But this one is a real hit. I recommend "the Patient Nurse" to every romance reader. You won't be dissapointed!

I was very positively surprised when I started reading this book. I had never read anything from this author before and I was imediately immersed in the story.

The story, though based on the life of Melisende, the first daughter of King Baldwin of Jerusalem, has enough fiction to make it easily readable and very captivating.

The author has been able to recreate the romantic atmosphere of the times, with Knights fighting for the "true" religion and
women who had the courage and character to be true Kings, but could not for their sex.

All characters are so vividly described, you cannot but feel you know them and want to find out what happens to them. The places are very well described and feel as real and ancient as they are.

All in all, a very good book and very enjoyable.

This story of a rather atypical medieval family more than pleasantly surprised me, as I bought it on a whim. The detail is excellent, but not too overdone as to overpower the plot. Tarr also paid close attention to her characters' evolution over time. As this book occurs over a 20+ year time period, we see Baldwin and Arslan turn from infants, to mischevious boys, to knights of a warrior kingdom; Lady Richildis metamorphisizes from cold, practical young widow to earnest, loving mother and wife, yet still steadfast in her servance to Melisende. With exception of, perhaps, slightly more description of Michael Bryennius and perhaps Helena (secondary characters, yet most fascinating), this books misses absolutely nothing. A must read for those who are curious about life in the medieval age, particularly the Crusader Kingdom.

This book was a very enjoyable read, I'd love to know if there is going to be an contiunation because I'd love to know more about the people in the book? For example what happens to Arslan when he gets to France......?

"Golden Palaces" (sequel to "Swords and Scimitars")is a book that won't disappoint you! This is historical fiction at its best! Tancred Jehan Redwan is in 1097 Constantinople amid the crusaders whose aim is to take Jerusalem from the Seljuk Turks. Tancred's heart is not in the crusade but he finds himself caught up in it despite his will and also gets involved with Helena Lysander, the beautiful Daughter of the Purple Belt who is being given in marriage to a Moslem prince another cousin of his. Tancred also searches for the assassin who killed his brother Derek. Helena is searching for her mother Adrianna who was banished from Constantinople by her aunt Irene and is believed to be in Jerusalem. She turns to the man she has wanted to marry for so long but Philip Lysander sees his opportunity to become emperor and sacrifices Helena for it. Helena then has no choice but to turn to Tancred who is the only one who could help her find her mother and elude the marriage. Will Tancred and Helena be able to evade her aunt's plots and schemes? Nicholas Lysander, Helena's maverick bishop-warrior uncle and godfather of Tancred entrusts Helena to Tancred's care. He had once loved Irene before she turned corrupted and was banished himself from Constantinople. Informed by his niece that Adrianna is still alive and possibly held captive by a sultan, he returns to Constantinople in the company of Bohemond's crusaders and confronts his past with Irene and his sworn enemy,the corrupted bishop,Constantine. This a great plot that moves smoothly along and never gets boring. You must read this book yourself if you do not understand my review! I strongly recommend this book for an thrilling and enjoyable read!

The most romantic Christian Fiction I've ever read. Please don't pass this one by!

It is a good read that you won't want to put down. After you figure out all the characters you will enjoy this book. You will follow Helena and Tancred as they search for true love. I can't wait to read the next one!

I decided to read this book because i had seen a play of "The Theatrical Illusion" being presented and i had adored it. So, i decided to read the book to be able to explore every verse and every line and now i like the story even more. Life is an illusion indeed, an illusion of love, hate, betrayal... Infidelity and hate is just a part of the picture of love and faith, these are all knit up in our lives. Read this book to see the illusion of reality of our lives...

This book covers the entire Crusader period, from the beginning of the first Crusade to the end of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. The author tells a fascinating story in clear, readable prose -- and in only about 200 pages. He sketches the main characters with fascinating details and doesn't skimp on the action. His enthusiasm for his subject matter comes through clearly, and at times the book reads almost like a novel. Highly recommended.

Middle East scholars have lauded "A History of Palestine, 634-1099" as the most comprehensive historiography of Palestine from the initial Arab Muslim conquests, until the arrival of the Crusaders in 1099. Remarkably, despite the constraints of academic annotation, and the uncertainties of translation (i.e., from Hebrew to English), Professor Gil's narrative is eminently readable for the non-professional student of history. Through the clear, dispassionate presentation of a rich profusion of data, he captures the stark, unromantic reality of Muslim ruled Palestine during this 465-year period.

Professor Gil begins with a survey of events before the Arab Muslim invasion. He also notes the singular centrality that Palestine occupied in the mind of its pre-Islamic Jewish inhabitants, who referred to the land as "al-Sham". Indeed, as Gil observes, the sizable Jewish population in Palestine (who formed a majority of its inhabitants, when grouped with the Samaritans) at the dawn of the Arab Muslim conquest were "..the direct descendants of the generations of Jews who had lived there since the days of Joshua bin Nun, in other words for some 2000 years..". The 465-year period carefully surveyed by Gil comprises the following stages: the Arab Muslim conquest and establishment, from 634 to 661; the Umayyad-Damascene rule, from 661 until 750; the Abbasid-Baghdadian rule, from 750 through 878; Turco-Egyptian rule- Tulunids and Ikshidids- from 878 until 970- "interrupted" by Abbasid-Baghdadian rule again, between 905 and 930; nearly two generations of war including numerous participants, the dominant party being the Fatimids, from 970 through 1030; just over 40-years of Fatimid-Egyptian rule, between 1030 and 1071; and a generation of Turkish rule encompassing most of Palestine, from 1071 until 1099.

Gil offers a particularly revealing assessment of dhimmitude (i.e., the regulations imposed on the non-Muslims vanquished by jihad), and its adverse impact on these conquered, indigenous peoples, in chapter 3 pages, pages 139 to 161. For example, excessive, arbitrarily imposed taxation in the first quarter of the 11th century lead to the destitution, imprisonment, torture, and death of many Jews living in Jerusalem. However, the clearest outward manifestations of this imposed inferiority and humiliation were the prohibitions regarding dhimmi dress "codes", and the demands that distinguishing signs be placed on the entrances of dhimmi houses. During the Abbasid caliphates of Harun al-Rashid (786-809) and al-Mutawwakil (847-861), Jews and Christians were required to wear yellow ( as patches attached to their garments, or hats). Later, to differentiate further between Christians and Jews, the Christians were required to wear blue. Finally, in 850, consistent with Koranic verses and hadith (sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad) associating them with Satan and Hell, al-Mutawwakil decreed that Jews and Christians attach wooden images of devils to the doors of their homes to distinguish them from the homes of Muslims.

Near the end of his extensive, scrupulously documented presentation, Gil offers this sobering assessment: "..These facts do not call for much interpretation; together they simply form a picture of almost unceasing insecurity, of endless rebellions and wars, of upheavals and instability..".

On an Earth that never was but might have been, Richard the Lion-Hearted never died while battling against the infidels for control of Jerusalem. He went on to defeat Saladin and with the help of his half-sister Sioned he took away the precious Seal of Solomon from Sinan, the old man of the mountain. He was crowned king of Jerusalem and for over a decade he has reigned over the city he has come to love.

Although he is reluctant to leave, Richard I is ready to return to England to thwart his brother's plan to take the throne. However, Sinan returns more powerful than ever, eager to take his revenge on everyone who opposed him a decade ago. He kidnaps Sioned's daughter, captures one of Richard's castles, and lays siege to another. Sioned and her husband the Sultan of Egypt persuades Richard that the only weapon that could defeat their enemy is the Ark if they can find it.

Change the output of one pivotal event in history the way Judith Tarr has so brilliantly done and the outcome is a world that is completely different than the history books. Richard is presented as a noble warrior king willing to heed the advice of the people he trust but the star of HOUSE OF WAR is his baseborn sister Sioned, a powerful mage who has the wisdom and courage of Boudacia and Cleopatra. Fans of alternate history and fantasy will love this enthralling novel.

Harriet Klausner

This Canto abridged version gives in nearly 200 pages a good account of the motives of the "west" to start the crusades, the reasons why the Byzantines agreed, the very indivual human motives of the kings, popes, clergyman, nobles, and poor. It also spells out what it takes to get (mostly on foot) from France to Jerusalem, with a large mass of poorly prepared people. A fascinating account.

If you have romantic ideas about the crusades they will have been replaced by solid facts out of the everydays crusaders lives at the end of this book. You'll have a better grasp of this era as a whole, and the place of the crusades in it.

Sometimes there are more scholary details offered then I really need in an abridged version. But it still is a good read, that offers you the flavor, the look and feel, of the past.

For an expert or someone not well-versed in the Crusades, there might not be a better resource than Steven Runciman's three-volume history of the Crusades.

Volume one relates the origins of the Crusades, and Runciman also provides very interesting overview of Christian history in the process of describing the relationship of the Church in the east to Muslims and Jews. In doing so, the reader is impressed by the complexity of relations between the three major faiths that lay claim to the Holy Land, and how the complexity of these relations is not a new phenomenon. If anything, Volume One suggests that, freed from outside pressures, the "people of the book" can coexist.

Runciman also conveys the human dynamic aspect of the early Crusades that might be lost. The relationships between the hermits and clergy that spawned the first crusade, the competition (of sorts) between the Frankish and German lords, their confrontations with Byzantine authorities (both ecclesiastical and secular) and those of the Middle East were the real drivers of the Crusades. In understanding how these human interactions developed and played out, the reader can better trace the ebb and flow of the cause-effect of actions and reactions that shaped the Crusades.

This abridgement couples Runciman's well narrated and concise account of the First Crusade with some beautiful illustrations of the Holy Land, medieval warfare, and Byzantine, Latin, and Muslim art. It is a shame, however, that amongst all these wonderful illustrations, there is not one detailed map of the Holy Land and Asia Minor. Still, the book is well worth having and reading. If you haven't already read the unabridged edition you may want to read that as well.

While this is certainly one of the best and most accurate works written about the First Crusade, I am unsure I can go so far as to agree with the previous reviewer that it is the best. It is certainly thorough: the author has visited many of the sites and, where possible, reconstructed the battles in situ. While dedicated to a military perspective, he incorporates many elements, such as the religious and political antecedents, that provide the background necessary to any meaningful understanding of the crusaders' march into Syria and Palestine. As the author has made the effort to include many of the primary sources that to date remain untranslated, the Crusade chroniclers' accounts are more fully represented, allowing both the author and the reader to arrive at conclusions based upon a greater comparison and analysis of contemporary sources than is present in many other texts. Further, this is the first work I have come across that points out the significance of contribution made by Byzantine naval support, at least up to and including the seige of Antioch.

As a military history this work is outstanding, marred only by the author's at times inelegant and unclear sentence structure. For some, this work may be long on military tactics. Also, the casual reader should be aware that this is primarily a military history, and does not consider comprehensively all the religious and political events that led up and in part inform the First Crusade.

I was prompted to say something about this book after viewing various reader lists concerning the crusades and medieval war and finding this title absent; omissions due to ignorance, surely. Victory in the East is, simply, the best book on the First Crusade that you are likely to ever read. Trust me.

I first encountered this book at the Byzantine Center at Dumbarton Oaks. Six pages into it, I realized I had to own it. It is not just an invaluable account of a complicated time, but a superb military history, as effective to the novice as to the expert.

Dr. French shows himself to have a gift for explaining strategy and tactics clearly and for setting them within a context of politics (war by other means, if I may invert Clausewitz's dictum) and religion.

His diagrams are easy to understand, and his exposition of the siege of Antioch makes it readily comprehensible.

A very valuable work for the specialist, scholar, writer, or serious reader.