Review - In the Aerie of the Wolf by Leonora Pruner

TITLE:    In the Aerie of the Wolf
AUTHOR:    Leonora Pruner
INFO:    Paperback, Fiction, 343 pages
PUBLISHED:   Noble Novels, 2011
SOURCE:   Received from Publisher for Review and Blog Tour

FROM GOODREADS:  Another intriguing and uplifting novel from the author of Close to His Heart, Leonora Pruner has a gift for storytelling and creating compelling characters. Set in 18th century England, our heroine Anne is betrothed to a man she's never met and must leave behind her girlhood fantasies. When she arrives at the home of Lord Wolverton, Master of the Wolf's Aerie, the mysteries and challenges of her new life cause her to seek Biblical wisdom and guidance concerning honor, integrity, and faithfulness. In this story of the discovery of true love, there is also danger, betrayal, and sword fighting and it all takes place in a castle complete with secret passageways. Become lost in another time and place. You will not want to put this book down.


MY TAKE:    The author created a very interesting story with In the Aerie of the Wolf.  She has taken the bare bones of the classic Beauty and the Beast story and adapted it to fit a tale of her own making.  It makes for a nice historical fiction read.

I enjoyed the character of Anne.  She was brave and tried to put others ahead of her. The love her servants had for her showed how she treated others.  One of the parts that reinforced this was when she first danced with Samson at the inn.  She was torn because she had let herself relax and have fun with a servant in public.  Afterwards she pondered on the propriety of it even though she now considered him a friend. ~ On the subject of Samson, his manner of speaking was very annoying.  It was hard to follow and I found myself skipping over some of the times when he had a very long narrative.

Andrew was also a very complex character.  He is very mysterious in the beginning and when we learn how he came to be disfigured, it is heartbreaking.  His story gets more interesting as it goes.  He also endears himself to his servants by treating them with love and respect.  Anne remarks early on about what a happy household lives at the castle.

There are numerous threads running through this book.  It was one of those that has a touch of just about everything:  mystery, romance, paranormal, thriller, fantasy and fairytale. 

Leonora Pruner uses words well in her storytelling.  She was very descriptive without being overly wordy.  I was able to imagine being in the cave overlooking the castle and felt like I could almost touch the wet walls of the tunnels. As for the tunnels,  I thought it was funny when Samson made Anne remove her hoopskirt so that she could fit in the tunnels. ~ After having to wear some of the dreaded things myself, I can't imagine NOT wanting to take them off at any given moment.  Of course Anne is much more of a lady than I could ever be..

While I wasn't completely thrilled with the excess of Biblical references and the growing religious feel towards the end of the book, I still recommend it as a very good fictional story.  I think most readers will enjoy the nice love story, the slight paranormal/magic elements and the message of acceptance and tolerance that pervades the tale.

Out of 5 JEWELS, I give it:

WHERE TO BUY IT:    Amazon 

Leonora Pruner

While born in Dubuque, Iowa, Leonora Pruner was brought to California by her parents during the Second World War, which has since been her principal residence. In 1953, she graduated from Westmont College then earned an MBA from Pepperdine University in 1981. Having married in 1953, she has seen her family expand from two children to thirteen grandchildren and five great- grandchildren.


Writing has been an important activity since junior high. In the late ‘60s, an eighteenth-century English character on The Wonderful World of Disney, captivated her interest. The desire to create a variation of him, led to five years of extensive research, followed by the publication of two period novels in 1981 and 1987, Love’s Secret Storm, and Love’s Silent Gift. Feeling that all that research should be reused, eighteenth-century England continues as a setting for her work.

From 1987 to 1997, she lived in the Republic of Maldives collecting folklore and teaching economics and computer science. While there, she wrote the first drafts of Close to His Heart and The Aerie of the Wolf on her computer.

You can visit Nordskog Publishing to learn more about Leonora as well as see what other bloggers are saying about In the Aerie of the Wolf.

Read an excerpt  and check out the other bloggers participating in the tour.

 

~~~~~ Disclaimer:  All opinions expressed on this blog are 100% my own.  I do not receive monetary compensation for my reviews but do utilize affiliate links.  I may receive books in  order to facilitate a review, but this does not guarantee a good review - only a completely honest one.  Each review post denotes how I obtained the book.