The macho barbarian is dead. Whether or not it is the choice of the big publishers or their editors, the typical hero of the historical romance written today has sacrificed a significant portion of his machismo; and for every piece of lost historical accuracy, he has been epoxied over with another layer of political correctness. Sarah Winn almost writes an old style historical romance, with the hero not perfectly perfect. Not that Alard is a barbarian; however, his nineteen year old Jocelyn does have a traditional vestal quality that is found more between the pages of romance than would have been likely in even a convent-raised medieval maiden. And yes, in The Knight in the Dungeon, the knight in the dungeon does spend a night (with the lady) in the dungeon.

The premise of Knight in the Dungeon places the hero and heroine as the title indicates--in a dungeon. The darkness and perilous situation add tension to the plot line, but these conditions also enable the author to do a little ear play. Picture the key characters in the threatening dungeon, surrounded by filth and darkness, with nothing between them but a stone wall. Unable to touch, unable to do anything but interact with their voices, it is inevitable that a verbal romancing ensues--the kind of romancing that sounds familiar to anyone who has ever had this kind of exchange over the phone--or over the internet for that matter.

There are no plot twists here; the plot has been incised down to its bare minimum. The main conflict is a minor one--an outgrowth from when the heroine gets a good look at the begrimed hero, beaten, tattered and torn from his three month stay in the dungeons. The story is exactly what you would expect it to be, with the main objective being just what you expect--a few complications would have been in order. There are a couple of problems which editing should have caught; in spite of actually being written pretty well, I found grammatical errors. And the initial paragraph melds with a flashback/memory in such a way that it must be skimmed twice to determine where exactly the memory/exposition ends and the story begins. Still, if you want to hear the hero woo with words, Sara Winn's Knight in the Dungeon will be music to your ears.