If Not for the Knight was an enjoyable historical romance. It follows a Saxon woman named Regan and shows how she was isolated and bullied after she's presumed to have ventured into a "relationship" with a Norman warrior. Calder is the man who put Regan's reputation into question. He was instantly attracted to the woman and never considered the implications of his actions.

I thought this storyline had a good flow. I liked the historical backdrop. In addition, the characters were well developed and easy to relate to. I was moved by the demonstration of human cruelty to each other. These people had prejudices against one another based on their backgrounds, without ever taking the time to know the other person. The beauty of Calder and Regan's relationship is that it's a perfect way to unify two opposing groups of people.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a reader's copy. I chose to voluntarily review it and the words contained within are my own.

This book was a captivating historical romance story and the characters that were very intriguing. This was a well-written book that kept my attention throughout. I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Thanks for the advanced copy #netgalley #ifnotfortheknight

Thank you NetGalley for the digital ARC. I love a good historical romance! I love olden time love stories. This book kept me going from beginning to end! Lovely

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and BooksGoSocial in exchange for an honest review. I was excited to read a historical fiction set in medieval England at the time of the Conquest and to read a book from an indie author. However, I cannot say I was overly impressed with this one.

"I did not know you were an innocent. But I cannot stop now. It has been too long a time and we've gone too far." I nearly gave up on this one within the first couple of chapters when the main character is raped and it is played off as if it's a "sweet" thing. I do NOT like when rape is used as a plot device, even when it was done in one of my favorite books (Outlander). I don't know if the comment made by the male main character, Calder, was supposed to make the scene endearing or what, but it certainly did not.

Additionally, I found some of the descriptions to be a bit cringy and felt like I wasn't totally immersed in the setting. I'm not entirely sure much research was done on the period as some aspects did not mesh with what I know of the time period. I also struggled with the frequent change in point of view and felt like the final confrontation with the main antagonist was wrapped up quickly and a happy ending was achieved very shortly there after. The book spent a long time on the build-up to this confrontation and the difficulties between Regan and the Saxon villagers, and it felt like it did not reach it's natural conclusion.

Besides the uninspiring main characters, the overall progress of the story made it still an engaging read. I think with more background research and more development of the characters and the setting, this could have been a good read.

1.5 stars, rounded up to 2.

The potential was there but this book was just okay for me. I read till 70% and then skimmed. The book takes place in the year 1067. Calder's brother has rule over some lands for the king. The villagers are not happy about this. Calder ends up in charge and falls for a pretty maiden. The villagers do not like that she is with the enemy so she is ostracized. They try to bring everyone together but there is always trouble brewing. There were things that just did not work for me. Calder has to leave during the wintertime, yet he does not make sure Regan has plenty of supplies while he is gone? Regan gets sick and her mom does not stay with her to help her, and again not noticing her lack of wood supply during the winter? Regan can barely feed her and her son so Calder gets them a dog?