Her Knight at the Museum

September 16, 2024
Arthurian legend meets spicy modern rom-com in this diverting contemporary from Donovan (the Knights of Manus Sancti series). Emily Porter abandoned her own dreams to support her husband—and now she’s trying to put her life back together after their divorce. A temporary conservator position at the Art Institute of Chicago is a good start and when she’s put in charge of restoring a statue of a medieval knight, she hopes it’s an opportunity to prove that she should be hired permanently. There’s something odd about the statue, however. Sir Griffin de Beauford was transformed into stone by a centuries-old curse. Though paralyzed, he’s able to communicate with his statue’s owners in their dreams—and Emily is the first person ever to listen. She reverses the curse with a kiss, freeing him. Donovan has a lot of fun with the culture clash between life in modern-day Chicago and Griffin’s chivalric sensibilities and flowery language (“You are the queen of my heart, and all the days of my life I will do you service where you will command me,” he tells Emily), and tosses in plenty of steamy sex scenes. Unfortunately, character development is occasionally lost in the mix, with little room for nuance as the plot careens along. Still, there’s plenty to enjoy here.