Ex-corporate raider Alexander Smith travels back in time to Medieval England and meets a woman worthy of settling down with, Margaret of Falconberg, who is painfully ahead of her time.

The first great thing about this novel is that the man travels back in time. Most time travels involve a woman who doesn't quite fit in today's society traveling back to a more restrictive era. This one is quite the opposite. Here is a man who is desperately searching for something pure and good and warm in his world, when most of what he has experienced, and done, has been cold and greedy and worthless. He wants to settle down. he wants to raise a family, and he wants to do it with a woman who will challenge him every day.

The second great thing is the role reversal. Margaret is downright manly at times. She is strong and skilled and sure of herself. There are many instances in the book where she takes care of Alexander, and Alexander is liberated enough to let her.

But rest assured, the third thing I like about this book is that our hero is the perfect combination of liberated and not-so-liberated. While he is liberated enough to fall in love with Margaret's untilmely strength and intelligence, he is also just macho enough to want to take care of her, defend her, awaken her sexuality.

And finally, Margaret is unforgettable. An uncommonly beautiful woman, Margaret thinks that all she is good for are her masculine traits. She is touchingly overwhelmed by Alex's appreciation of her as a feminine creature. She is fiercely independent, but her growing love for Alex awakens all kinds of new feelings in her. She wants to be a mother, a wife, a lover. Things that she never allowed herself to think about before.

I cannot say enough good things about this book. It's the first novel by Lynn Kurland that I have read, and I can't wait to read them all now.

---K.D.