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My Beloved The Loved Karen Ranney 9780380805907 Books

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My Beloved The Loved Karen Ranney 9780380805907 Books

I was going through some of this author's older books and came across this one. Although I've definitely read better overall stories, I thought this one was worthy for the "outside the box" storyline which kept me somewhat captivated.

Without spoiling the story, Sebastian and Juliana were married when she was 5 and he was 12. They never see one another again for 12 long years. She's lived in a convent and he went off to fight in the crusades. At some point he comes home and sends for Juliana with the offer to keep her as his wife if she will live with him without being bedded by him. Juliana doesn't want a white marriage, but neither does she particularly want to go back to the somewhat restrictive life she has led at the convent.

Of course many will guess at why Sebastian won't bed Juliana nor even allow her to touch him - there are several hints and probably spoilers in some of the reviews as well. I purposely didn't read them because I didn't want the reveal before I had the opportunity to read the book. The book is a little slow but the story is sweet and the wait is worth the satisfying ending. And, yes, I do believe in miracles.


Tags : My Beloved (The Loved) [Karen Ranney] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. “A rich tapestry of love...embroidered with golden threads of sensuality.”<br />—Stephanie Laurens A classic love story from Karen Ranney,Karen Ranney,My Beloved (The Loved),Avon,0380805901,Romance - General,FICTION Romance General,FICTION Romance Historical General,Fiction,Fiction - Romance,MASS MARKET,Romance,Romance - Historical - General,RomanceModern,Romance: Modern,Romance: Historical

My Beloved The Loved Karen Ranney 9780380805907 Books Reviews

The story is really quite, quite amazing - how Ms Ranney ties in her imagination with stories of the Knights of the Templar - the latter has always intrigued me. This is the first I encountered that placed them in a much more negative light - for that I applaud you, Ms Ranney. Love the twist of the plot, the strength of characters, the imagery pictured. beautiful.
I like the author's work but not this book. Juliana and Sebastian were betrothed when children. They had been apart for twelve years she in a convent and he had been a prisoner for awhile. She had only seen him once in all this time. They finally we're going to be together as.man and wife. He was not going to allow to the marriage to be consummated. He had this secret which by the time. I found out what it was did not care. The book had some good moments but found myself skimming the book. I will buy other books from her but this one is not a keeper.
When it comes to this author I think, at least for me, it is more hit than miss. However, this story was so well written that I don't just think that this is one of the best book Karen Ranney has ever written. I know so. It is THE best medieval romance I've ever read.

With the power of her immaculate prose, she drew me into this brutal and unforgiving medieval period, so deep that I could feel the pain, sorrow and in the end love.

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"It was the first time he'd said her name. It had never seemed so lovely before, a word comprised of rolling syllables. It flowed from his mouth like a brook might tumble over round and polished stones."

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"He bowed his head again, forced into humility not by faith or devotion but by a despair as wordless and deep as a night sky. For what should he pray? Absolution for the sin of killing, even in the name of faith? For the sins of the flesh? Or for once enjoying them so heartily? Perhaps he should pray only for death, oblivion rendered fast and just. A swift end, like those he'd meted out in battle. This was nothing less than war, wasn't it? One fought in solitary, with Death on one side and him on the other, the adversaries so unevenly matched that the outcome was certain."

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Sebastian and Juliana are one of those lovers that you'll never forget, like Tristan and Isolde, maybe even better because their story is told with such care to detail that I had tears in my eyes as I read it. If you've ever read a romance just for the tortured hero and heroine, then this is a story for you.

Everything about this story touched my heart and I highly recommend it.

Melanie for b2b
My Beloved ( The Loved) by Karen Ranney is quite possibly one of the best works of Ranney to date. Other reviews have (somewhat accurately) described this book as slow, and initially it is. However, this book is a treatise about deep, abiding genuine love, innocence vs evil, greed vs contentment, mortality vs hope, ecclesiastical evil masked as saintly, and strength of character vs the hand of judgment. It is all there readers. So tell me how on earth can Ranney in just a few pages tell this complicated, intense, heart-shattering tale about how the power of love spits in the eye of evil, without first setting the scene so that the entirety of the emotional spectrum is painted in every color imaginable. Ranney weaves this tapestry in inky darkness and yet so vivid that the reader can not but help experience their own mental/emotional epiphanies every step of the way.
Years ago there was a popular Country Western song that seemed to air every ten minutes and the chorus went something like this, "Gloom, despair, and agony on me! Deep dark depression - excessive misery! Gloom despair and agony on me!" I couldn't help but think about this song as I was working my way thru this phase of the story. But believe me, eventually the neck of evil is broken by who knows what power? Readers get to choose! And yes, the H/H eventually get to move to "They lived happily ever after Street."
I will not recount the many facets of the story for you readers, doubtless by now you have read the them an infinite number of times. But before I put the dog out, I do want to say a couple of things about the book.
A) Character development was great and extended well beyond the H/H.
B) The Hero, Sebastian and the Heroine Julianna were well suited to one another. Both of them were intelligent, educated, well-read and were neither mean, spiteful, or plotting the downfall of others. They each listened to what the other person observed, queried, or thought and rather than become angry and spiteful, they allowed themselves to grow and develop in a positive manner without surrendering their underlying personality strengths. This takes time for an author to do!
Sebastian, had wed Julianna when they were very small children and then he essentially forgot about her, and did not contact her until she was well past the age of a timely marriage. Juliana had been whisked away to a nunnery to wait for her husband to remember that he had a spouse, and return to claim her. The two of them had acquired a fair degree of individual experience and expectations over the years, but neither one aware of the other's trials, tribulations. and expectations. Their coming together to form a marriage and an alliance was honed in the crucible of their individual experiences, melding them into a couple who would then be challenged by the great Templar Knights, not just for their demesne and livelihood but for their very lives. There is no better place than the crucible of life to reveal one's weaknesses, or adversely to nurture and grow strength of character. As this couple left the Lion's den, the smoke from the fires still singeing their clothing, it looked like all was lost- there was no place to go- suddenly a door opened, the enemy was vanquished ( for a little while ) and then the two became one. But did it stop there? You will be glad to know it did not. Ranney could have just truncated the entire tale right there,
C) but she continued to expand the story, allowing the reader answers to other questions. Was the "treasure" such as it was, a blessing-a curse ( reader you decide, I couldn't). Should it be destroyed and if not, what should be done with it? Would their plan be a consensus or cause friction and discontent?
D) Sebastian's trusty squire, whom I grew to like and admire had yet another part to play.
E) The Templar Knight ( Sebastian's brother) finally has an epiphany of his own and perhaps gains a little humility? One can hope!
F) The editing was well done, the scenes flowed smoothly from one scene to another, the correct words were used in the correct context.
G) The questions were all answered, yet there was enuf fodder left to write a sequel had Ranney decided to expand the book.
H) And finally, I not only read a great love story, but I actually learned the basis for a rumor I had read about but was unable to determine it's origin. The concept, which lingers until present day is as startling ( to me anyway) as it was then, and is the foundation on which this story is built. There was/is a sect is known as the Catar or Catharism and their beliefs were diametrically opposed to the tenants of Catholicism, which at that time was heresy and vigorously stamped out. The Catholic church held a tight grip on the population, even to the point of telling them who, when, how, what to wear and so forth, even to overseeing the etiquette of sexual congress with one's mate. Thus people who practiced a different faith were considered heretics and the Catholic church sent the Templar Knights to persecute and murder them relentlessly and with great passion. The principle, tenant of the Catar faith was a belief that Jesus Christ did not die, but went on to marry Mary, and begetting a family with a lineage from Christ that could actually be determined and verified. The substantiating concepts sounded much like very much like New Age-Self Realization teaching, but never the less, it inflamed the Catholic Hierarchy, and spurred the rabid persecution of the Catars.
Now, if I can learn a profound theological hot-potato within the context of a romance, I would say that frosts a pretty divine cake, and is well worth the time and effort to tell the story right, rather than boy meets girl, lusts after girl, girl is frightened silly virgin but lusts after hero, they screwed like rabbits and until they were very old and gray, then they found out that they had fallen in love which is the pattern of most romance stories.
Readers, savor the relationship building, this is the recipe for the story. Soon the pace will accelerate and before you know it you will be reading The End! Savor is the operative word-savor!
Ranney, Salute! Not only are you a master author, you are also a master weaver, using just the right tension, colors, texture, warp and count to present your audience with a divine love story, and you did not rely on sexual fluff to fill the pages. Let's have another tapestry soon~*~
I was going through some of this author's older books and came across this one. Although I've definitely read better overall stories, I thought this one was worthy for the "outside the box" storyline which kept me somewhat captivated.

Without spoiling the story, Sebastian and Juliana were married when she was 5 and he was 12. They never see one another again for 12 long years. She's lived in a convent and he went off to fight in the crusades. At some point he comes home and sends for Juliana with the offer to keep her as his wife if she will live with him without being bedded by him. Juliana doesn't want a white marriage, but neither does she particularly want to go back to the somewhat restrictive life she has led at the convent.

Of course many will guess at why Sebastian won't bed Juliana nor even allow her to touch him - there are several hints and probably spoilers in some of the reviews as well. I purposely didn't read them because I didn't want the reveal before I had the opportunity to read the book. The book is a little slow but the story is sweet and the wait is worth the satisfying ending. And, yes, I do believe in miracles.