The Dark Knight by Elizabeth Elliot ~~

The Dark Knight by Elizabeth Elliot ~~

Paperback, 464 pages

Published June 26th 2012 by Random House Publishing Group

Thief, assassin, and master of disguise, Dante Chiavari is the most feared mercenary of England’s King Edward. On one last assignment, Dante must play the part of a chivalrous knight to steal Avalene de Forshay from her family and thwart the ruthless Faulke Segrave, who would wed Avalene and use her to spark war between Wales and the crown. Upon seeing the beautiful and innocent young maiden, however, the mercenary suddenly finds himself at the mercy of his own intense desire.

When Avalene meets the handsome knight she knows only as Sir Percival, he sweeps her off her feet even as he spirits her away from Coleway Castle. Their escape is wrought with risks and perils, but Avalene will find that the greatest danger lies in losing her heart. And after the truth is revealed, Avalene fears that she may never again be able to trust the dark knight who has come to mean more to her than life itself.


I was SO, so thrilled when I heard that Elizabeth Elliot was FINALLY going to write Dante's book ~~ I have the original 3 books, STILL, and I would occasionally Google her name, or search Amazon just to see if new book was coming out, finally.  I never heard why she quit writing, but as great as her writing was, I was sure she'd resume one day...and she DID!! 


And I'm so thrilled to say I'm not dissapointed.  My taste has changed alot since I read the first 3 books, but I had to sit back and take this as pure enjoyment, and it WAS!  "Percival" swept Avalene off her feet, both figuratively and chivalrously ~ he was all that was perfect and knightly.  But Dante, aka "Percival" really WAS enthralled by Avalene.  And it wasn't so hard for my mind to buy that ~ isn't they why we loved some of our most favored hero's of older books?  Becuase they were the biggest baddies, except w/ the heroines? Because they COULD be vulnerable w/ the heroines?  I loved that as powerful and strong as Dante was, he still couldn't be SURE of Avalene. 


What bothered me ~ in the back of mind, I kept thinking that Dante's son was the son was the boy left with his sister in the 3rd book...and the last thing he did was threaten to come back and claim him.  And that thread was never picked up in this book, never even mentioned.  Now, it's been years, so I could be wrong...and the books are boxed up somewhere, so can someone help me out here?  Am I wrong? 


AND did you read the teaser for the next book??  GASP ~ it's in FIRST person!
A jump from 3rd to 1st in the same series.  I hate that, sigh.  So while I loved the story, I still have a few niggling doubts and hangups here.