Review: "Knight of Runes" by Ruth A. Casie

     In this time travel romance, Rebeka Tyler finds her self sent back to 1605.

     Rebeka finds out she has inherited part of the Fayne Manor estate as the last surviving member of a family line that she wasn't even aware of.  In her research she finds herself sucked through a time portal and into the year 1605.  Lord Arik, a druid knight, and one of his men find Rebeka wandering his land without protection.  He soon becomes enamored with her fighting style, which he has never seen the likes of.  Lord Arik assumes she has been sent by the King to help research why the land and crops have been dying and welcomes her into the Fayne Manor.  Rebeka secretly researches the druid runes and spells to find a way back to 2011 while helping to discover what is happening to the lands.  Not everyone staying at the Manor is accepting of Rebeka and soon plots her demise.  While Rebeka finds out that the gruff, commanding Arik she has come to know also has a softer side she must decide if she still wants to return to 2011.

     While the story started out a little choppy with several different characters all in different times, once Rebeka arrives in 1605 the story starts to pick up.  It was a little hard to believe that a woman from our time would put up with the way men of that time treated women, especially the independent Rebeka.  I tried to ignore that part of Arik since it was probably not as harsh back then as it seems now.  I really enjoyed the Druid backstory and how they incorporated the spells and runes into it.  There were several members of his family and the warriors that I enjoyed and would have loved to learn more about them.  I'm still curious about one of the characters that seemed to be posing as someone else but the author never addressed that at the end of the story, so I'm still not sure what is happening there.  Rebeka truly seemed to fit in this time period and I was concerned both if she went back to 2011 and if she stayed in 1605 what would happen.  The little twist toward the end was a nice tie in to Arik's backstory.  I was a little unsure of this book when I started it since it started out a little slow but it picked up and was a change from what I usually read.  It still had a little fantasy/sci-fi twist with the time travel and druid magic but really turned out to be more of a historical romance.  Overall it turned out to be a pretty good book and I found myself getting really sucked into the second half.  I would have to give this one 3 1/2 stars.