The Duke's Handmaid by Caprice Hokstad

Caprice Hokstad's The Duke's Handmaid has something for everyone! If you like adventure and intrigue and danger, this is the book for you. Fantasy? yup, the descriptions and features of the enchanted kingdom of Latoph, set in the world of Byntar—the land of twin suns, moons and continents—will more than sate your thirst. How about romance . . . yes, we have that too.

Hokstad's main characters are three-dimensional. timna, the duke's optimess and slave interested me from her first appearance. Just discovering her motivation for wholeheartedly accepting her servitude to Vahn, her duke, kept me eager to read on! I wanted to learn more and more about this society. I wanted to know why our heroine's— Keedrina—only goal was to become a slave! What sort of a place was this?

The plot pulls the reader along from chapter to chapter beginning with the horrifying tragedy that befalls Keedrina and provides the impetus for leaving her simple life to search for more. The noble household that she enters is already fraught with intrigue and murder and Keedrina finds herself in the midst of danger. The action sequences are compelling and encourage the reader to discover more. Yes, there is violence—this is a medieval-type of society—and your average Christian romance reader might be put off. But The Duke's Handmaid isn't your average Christian romance and I found the scenes to be realistic to the setting and tastefully written.

The setting of The Duke's Handmaid is the jewel of the book! The rich and detailed description of Latoph—its society: customs, dress, speech; its geography and its place in time and space—is reminiscent of the world Tolkien wrote about. Ms Hokstad must be commended for the detailed and rich world she has created here. Although one doesn't need to view the information on the Latoph website to appreciate the setting, I certainly found that it enhanced the vivid picture I formed in my mind while reading the book.

Go to the website, learn more about Caprice Hokstad and her writing, read the sample chapters . . . then go out and purchase this beautifully edited book. You won't be disappointed.