Rise of the Defender

By: Kathryn Le Veque

Narrated by: Brian J. Gill

Length: 32 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

AD 1192 - Sir Christopher de Lohr is Richard the Lion Heart's champion, a man the Muslims nicknamed "The Lion's Claw". Blond, battle scarred, and powerful, he is what all men fear. After the fall of Acre, Christopher makes a promise at the deathbed of a dying comrade to marry the man's incorrigible but wealthy daughter. Christopher returns home to marry the woman, but the only thing he is interested in is her substantial dowry. He has no use for a wife and resents being forced into the marriage.

The Lady Dustin Barrington doesn't want a husband. Petite and beautiful, she is a goddess with the heart of a tomboy. When the enormous, seasoned warrior comes to Lioncross Abbey Castle to marry her, she savagely resists him. More than ever, Christopher regrets agreeing to marry the woman, but as they are forced together in a contract marriage, something strange happens.... Somehow, someway, the animosity subsides, and a gentle warmth takes its place. More and more they come to care for one another, but neither of them will admit it.

As the voyage of discovery begins, Christopher is distracted by a very important task entrusted to him by Richard. He has been sent back to England ahead of King Richard to assess the climate of the country and to assess the activities of Richard's brother, Prince John. He leaves for London to put himself in the heart of the turmoil that is going on between Richard and John and brings Dustin with him. The moment they arrive in London, an entirely new and dangerous world opens up to them.

Join Dustin and Christopher as they embark on the adventure of a lifetime. Evil princes, tournaments, politics, wars, and a threat to their relationship from deep inside Christopher's inner circle invade their loving and passionate world. When Christopher is reportedly killed in battle, Dustin must pick up the pieces of her shattered life and attempt to carry on. But don't count the defender out just yet...can he make it back to Dustin in time to prevent catastrophe?

Become a part of the sweeping, three-part saga in an epic medieval romance you won't soon forget.

©2012 Kathryn Le Veque (P)2015 Kathryn Le Veque

31 HOURS OF EXCITEMENT!!!

Kathryn Le Veque has written a gripping story that grabs your attention from the beginning and never lets you down. This book was so emotionally riveting to me that at one point I literally threw my ipod across the room! Of course, I picked it back up... but the point is.... I've never done that before with a book. It was THAT emotional to me. This book kept me guessing along the way and was funny, sad, emotional, and real. The characters were all wonderfully written.....especially the ones that I didn't like!

Narration was perfect. He added to the excitement. There are, however, quite a few narration editing mistakes throughout this book. (Chapters out of order and narration mistakes that weren't edited out.) Hopefully, this will be corrected soon!

Note: This book had some violence and detailed sex scenes.

This one is definitely on my repeat and recommendation list!

Fabulous story

This was one epic saga, which I would normally use only for a multi generation story. But Rise of the Defender is a story of an arranged marriage, intrigue, the wars between King Richard and his brother Prince John, jealous Knights fighting over a woman. Neither partner in the married is perfect and at times you want to knock their heads together, their love for each other is a tough road to travel. Of course you’re rooting for them to succeed.

All of le Veque’s famous heart wrenching scenarios are here. Some characters are revealed quickly, others take the entire book to completely reveal themselves, but nearly all of them are important in vital ways to the plot. You get a not a cardboard cutout, but a brief description that so thoroughly makes them believable and understandable.

The hero Christopher de Lhor was raised from early childhood to be a warrior Knight and he is brilliant in his command, honors, richly deserved fame. But he has no idea how to love, doesn’t look for it or expect it. His iron clad armor is broken to pieces when his meets and clashes with his new wife, Lady Dustin. When they each fall, they fall hard.

I regret to say the recording wasn’t up to par. Background noise, stops and starts around sentences that were not deleted when the narrator made a mistake, but instead merely repeated, sometimes with a laugh before the correction, caused me to cut a couple stars off my rating. The narrator has a lovely deep voice but the recording is the problem.

awesome Narration and love this book.

Dustin was an amazing Character. Christopher was a strong alpaca male. highly recommend this book. so worth the credit as all of KLV'S books.

Outstanding story!

Narrator added much life to the story. The character Dustin adds excitement to being a Lady in times where women were expected to be obedient. In the end, no matter the time and place, "true love conquers all"! Bravo!!!!!

Great story

Love the author and the story. The chapters were out of order in one section and there is no narrative for the epilogue. I was disappointed.

What a Rollercoaster Ride

Great characters with enormous depth. I found myself cheering them on and then admonishing them at the same time. It was like game of thrones in 1 book. I don’t usually write a review just rate it but I truly loved this one best of all.

NEEDS to be made into a movie, or HBO show!!!

I do not normally leave a review.. I normally listen and then move onto the next one.. However I had to say something about this story. This has been my favorite of Ms. LeVeque's stories. I seen a lot of myself in the female lead, many of her "spirited" qualities. lol.... I fell HOPELESSLY in love with every male character in the story....... well the good and Knightley male characters. In my minds eye I could see the cast of the most handsom and honorable of men.I found myself laughing out loud, weaping, with my salty tears streaming freely down my face. I had many occasions where I was sitting on the edge of my seat, with the actions and perils that this marvelous cast of characters had to endure. When out most beloved had a steamy love scene, I was so beautifully written, without being vulgar, I found myself sighing with contentment, without the embarrassment of witnessing such an intimate experience, that is written with vulgar description by other authors. After listening to this story, as with all of Ms. LeVeques storys, I find myself unable to listen to other authors. Wonderful storyline, great cast....and definitely should be made into a movie......or an HBO Series...... I enjoyed it immensely. I recommend this story to anyone else that loves historical fiction and romance. I will listen to this one over and over again. Definitely worth the time. my attention was captured from the very start, and my A.D.D. usually prevents that. I usually listen while I clean or do crafts, however I found myself sitting down and hanging on every word. I could go on and on with my praises..... but nobody wants to read my own short story of a review. I do hope you will listen and enjoy as much as I.

What A Rollercoaster Of An Incredible Story!

I am a big fan of KLV. However, she really outdid herself in this long medieval romance. I felt as if I had been lifted up and transported to that time period. I went back and forth from applauding the heroine to calling her a fool. Likewise, the hero alternated between acting like a jealous jerk to displaying some sense of kindness. There were things in the book that disgusted me. Yet, I couldn't stop listening. The narrator was so good that I felt as if I were being led forward by the Pied piper. I simply could not stop listening. By the end of the book I felt as if I'd been put through a wringer. This story had so many ups and downs that I almost could not take the roller coaster ride. But did I stop listening--no. I just had to find out what would happen next. I have no choice but to give maximum stars to the narrator as well as to the author.

Poor or NO editing!!!!!

Any additional comments?

Chapters 7 and 6 were spliced in out of order. I read the Kindle version and it was in perfect sequence. This problem goes on for at least 90 minutes and the editor did not seem to notice the out of sequence scenes. I love Le Veque's stories but she definitely NEEDS a good editor who corrects her many errors.

My favorite Book!

This is one of the best books that I have ever read. I read the book and I just had to listen to it also. This audiobook needed some more editing done to it. Several sentences were repeated and the narrator laughed a couple of times when it was not warranted. It did not take away from this brilliantly written book.