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rosemarymorris, August 7, 2008

Bloodstone Castle by Mirella Patzer

Review by Rosemary Morris Historical Fiction Novelist.



With her dying breath Morena’s mother names her new-born baby and bestows on her the bloodstone handed down from generation after generation from mother to daughter.

Years later, Amoro faces the death of his father, Duke Dragone, who was ambushed and murdered on his return to Genoa. But he did not die before he made known his wish to end the ancient feud with the Monterossa family. Amoro’s father wanted Amoro to bring the feud to an end through the marriage of his son to Contessa Morena Monterossa of Portovenere. Thus the wrong his ancestor did to the Dragones when he dishonoured his betrothal to a daughter of the house of Monterossa would be righted.

Although the match is sanctioned by the king, the new duke, who wants to marry for love, is horrified by the prospect of marrying the enemy’s daughter. Apart from this he dreads hurting his mistress, Laria, but his love for his father compels him to obey. When he tells Laria, she is furious and declares she will fight to keep him. Despite this, Amoro swears to marry Morena on his father’s tomb. Amoro is not a man to break a sacred oath.

Amoro rides to Portovenere to claim Morena and remembers the legend of a Roman casket buried beneath his bride-to-be’s home, Bloodstone Castle.

After Amoro arrives it is impossible to meet the lady who refuses to see him in spite of the sumptuous gifts he sends her daily. Amoro is accustomed to his every command being obeyed and Morena, the betrothed of Ernesto of Savona, a man twenty years her senior is used to having her own way. Morena has no reason to repudiate Ernesto and accept Amoro’s hand in marriage and it is unlikely hat Ernesto would agree to renounce his claim to Morena’s hand.

As the saying goes, “where there’s a will there’s a way”. Amoro finds a secret way into Bloodstone Castle during the absence of Morena’s father.

From the moment Amoro and Moreno meet the air sizzles but Morena is determined to remain true to Ernesto, about whom she knows little, and is too spirited to be coerced into wedding Amoro. To win Morena as his wife Amoro must undergo many ordeals and help Morena to triumph over adversity.

While I read Bloodstone Castle in which every page burns with the affairs of tempestuous Morena and honourable Amoro, I really wanted them to fall in love and live happily ever after.

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