Book Review: Ransom My Heart (Mia Thermapolis - Meg Cabot)

He’s a tall, handsome knight with a secret. She’s an adventurous beauty with more than a few secrets of her own.

Finnula Crais needs money for her sister’s dowry, and fast. Handsome Hugo Fitzstephen, Earl of Stephensgate, returning home to England from the Crusades, has money–saddlebags of gold and jewels–and lots of it. What could be simpler than to kidnap him and hold him for ransom? Especially when he’s more than willing to allow himself to be caught by such a winsome captor.

Well, for starters, Finnula could make the terrible mistake of falling in love with her hostage, only to realize he’s been lying about his identity all along ….

But then, so has she.

Now their lives—and the lives of everyone they know and love—could be in mortal danger. Is Finnula in hell? Or is she in heaven?

I was quite surprised with this book. Here I was, thinking I was reading a Young Adult book in Ransom My Heart, only to find out that it is afterall, a full-fledge adult book! Deceived (or not), it was a good read nonetheless.

Set in Medieval England, Ransom My Heart portrays a very easy transition to the said period. I came to terms with the change in ways very easily, what with all the narrative style and the characters' attitudes. It is mostly the characters that relays this and I was happy with that. The primary characters are well-drawn and accurate and between them can extend laughter in all directions. Even the narrative itself was hilarious with well-chosen words!

For some inexplicable reason, this was a slow read for me. I toiled over it for days. I guess this was partly due to the slow start. No matter, it speeds up quickly. This results to quite a strange pacing - a slow introduction and then a whirl and blur towards the end.

Ransom My Heart can honestly be split into two parts. The plot first focused on the romance between Finnula and Hugo, one I was very excited to read, but found nothing so extraordinary about. Maybe it was due to my overly excitement, but although I had nothing against it, I found the romance a little too fast, in every sense of the word. Although the banters are funny and smart, the whole romance side is strangely reflective of a general plot in a number of romance novels. It just did not connect with me as much as I wanted it to. There were moments that appeared too brief for my liking, but there were quite a few bits and pieces I just can't say no to either.

After the romance is cemented, a mystery is then introduced. This transition flows readily, and I liked it, generally speaking. What I found slightly disappointing was the lack of actual mystery. The culprit was obviously meant to be hidden, but whilst the plot attempts to divert the reader to other possible suspects, it becomes blatantly obvious where the real culpability lies. In the end it was only a matter of how this would be played about. I found no strong dislike on how everything is arranged, but nothing special about them too.

This is my first Meg Cabot read, and I think I still have to explore more of her writing to get a firm grasp on my general liking of her works. Ransom My Heart, with its endearing characters though, is not a bad start at all!

Three stars.