Her Knight at the Museum

OKAY, so! This was a pretty entertaining read, at least initially. The author does a decent job of portraying Griffin as a genuine fish out of water in the modern world, and the details about medieval life that his character tackles seem to align with what’s historically known about the period, so: that part’s not half-bad.

As for the rest of the story, well… That’s where things fall apart a bit. The love story’s all well and good, of course, but it’s all pretty standard for this sort of story, and isn’t all that gripping. Not to say it’s a bad love story, it’s just…bland, I guess? Part of the reason might be that Emily and Griffin just aren’t very intriguing characters, which is kind of a pity because I can easily imagine them being so; they just didn’t feel as fleshed out as I think they could have been in this book. What characterization there is, is enough for a romance to happen between them, and for that romance to be a mildly entertaining read, but aside from that, there’s not a lot there. Even the moments of drama between them aren’t interesting enough for me to linger, so I just glossed over them quickly to get to the next bit in the story, and found I hadn’t missed much by way of plot or detail in doing so.

Which is kind of a pity, to be honest, because I wanted this romance to be interesting. I know I picked it up for a fun bit of escapism but it really isn’t the kind of romance to keep me hooked. I guess there’s a reason I put it aside so easily when Dragon Age: The Veilguard came out and didn’t really think to pick it up again until now: no compelling reason to keep on reading to see how the romance turned out.

Another sad thing about this novel is that everything else around the romance is pretty engaging, but it doesn’t get put front and center or developed beyond a certain point because that’s not the point of this story. Emily’s work at the museum, for instance, was something I read about with interest. I was also fascinated by her co-workers - yes, even surly Laurie. I was also intrigued by her boss, Jason, and the nature of his work. There’s a whole other story there, I’m sure, and it’s the kind of story that I’d enjoy reading. Even Aaron and his work would be fun to read about. But sadly, given that these are all incidental pieces to the main event that is the romance, there’s not a very high chance that those stories will ever get expanded on, which, in my opinion, is a pity.

Overall, this is a story that’s functional, but I wouldn’t call it a story that lingers with the reader. I didn’t get an urge to finish it until very recently, which might not be fair, given that it was competing with a video game from a franchise I absolutely adore, but even before I paused reading it in favor of playing Veilguard it already had a tenuous hold on my attention. As a bit of fluffy fun, it’s fine, but isn’t any more demanding than that. Many readers - even ardent readers of romance and romcoms - will likely put this aside once something else genuinely riveting comes their way.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this. This review is for an uncorrected proof. I have been waiting years for this book after reading a snippet of a work in progress on the author’s website. This is a light hearted, whimsical story and one should not expect any deep and meaningfuls. This is escapism, pure and simple. Because I had that view in mind, I thoroughly enjoyed it.