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By Design | 
 enlarge | Author: Madeline Hunter
Publisher: Bantam
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  25 reviews
Sales Rank: 259783
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0553582232
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780553582239
ASIN: 0553582232
Publication Date: January 2, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Bound by honor...
The moment Rhys saw the stunning young woman selling her exquisitely crafted pottery in the marketplace, he was captivated. But the wealthy freemason would never have guessed that just a few days later, a misunderstanding would land Joan in the town stocks and he would become her unlikely savior. After the grueling ordeal, Rhys tenderly cares for Joan's bruised body—and her bruised pride. Yet he longs to do much more ... to satisfy the fire that sparks between the pair the moment they are alone.
Rhys could not have known that Joan once enjoyed a more privileged life. She'd had no choice but to become an indentured servant, but she is determined to avenge the crimes that ruined her family and destroyed her world. When Rhys meets with her employer to buy pottery—and buys her instead —Joan is furious. She vows to resist falling under the spell of the handsome, imposing Rhys. But she finds that her resolve quickly softens when tempted by Rhys's powerful charms—and she can only hope to find a way to avoid surrendering to her potent desire....
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| Customer Reviews: Read 20 more reviews...
 Hunter's best by far January 20, 2008
I've had this and two other books by this writerin my "to be read" pile for a long time. Due to great disppointment in some of her other works(especially Rules of Desire), I had given up on Madeline Hunter. After seeing this book referenced on a discusssion board, I thought I would give it a try. I was very happy I did.
I don't have enough praise for this book. It may simply be the best romance novel I have ever read. The emotions in this book were powerful and profound.Though of low birth, its hero, Rhys, was the truest of gentleman.
Loved it.
 Not bad, just seemed a bit recycled from By Possession May 24, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Not a particularly bad novel, and like BY POSSESSION, BY DESIGN contains the requisite Madeline-Hunter elements: a relationship characterized by a stormy, yet witty beginning, flaring passion, emotional angst and finally, an unattainable, impossible happily-ever-after. This is my third Madeline Hunter novel, after THE RULES OF SEDUCTION and BY POSSESSION.
If you've read BY POSSESSION like myself, there's too much of a feeling of deja vu to ascribe this book its proper due, and it appeared too many things were recycled from BY POSSESSION. There's the impossible love between two people of different statuses (reverse the genders), there's the hero protecting and abstaining from his desires until the heroine consents, and even the love scenes seemed similar to BY POSSESSION, with the obligatory heroine-strips-in-front-of-hero scene. BY DESIGN contains solid plotting and characterizations, but for me, it could not escape comparison with BY POSSESSION. I was happy to see BY POSSESSION's Addis & Moira quite a bit in BY DESIGN, but their presence also drew constant comparisons. In short, I enjoyed BY POSSESSION's romance, characters and plotting more than BY DESIGN.
BY DESIGN's plotting isn't bad; the settings, though nothing special, were adequate; and the romance, albeit wrenching, didn't resonate as much as the other two novels I've read by Madeline Hunter. Rhys & Joan, though well-conceived and poignant characterizations, paled in comparison to BY POSSESSION's Moira & Addis.
In general, I thought the connection between our leading pair was too abstract. I did appreciate a look into the skilled workers and craftsmen of the medieval era. However, BY DESIGN attempts to "join" Joan & Rhys' souls via their craft, having their souls connect from a crafting "by design." I found the entire notion too abstract, and as much as I appreciate Hunter's liberal use of analogies and metaphors to describe something deeper, I thought this particular connection infringed in on the realm of Unable-Suspend-Disbelief.
The Story, possible SPOILERS.
Readers from BY POSSESSION will recognize BY DESIGN's hero Rhys Mason, the skillful and affluent stonemason who courts Moira for a short while. In BY POSSESSION, Rhys helped bring about a rebellion which leads to weak king's abdication of the throne (Edward II), and firmly thrusts a Queen and her lover, the ruthless and ambitious Roger Mortimer, in power. The story is very much based on historical facts, and obviously Hunter takes some liberties with those historical facts to tell her story. In BY DESIGN, the people of England grow weary and tired of Mortimer's pseudo-monarchy and ambition, and plots surface of a conspiracy to remove Mortimer from power and help the rightful heir -- Edward III - seize the throne. BY POSSESSION's Addis finds himself in the middle of these conspiracy plots in BY DESIGN.
Rhys meets Joan Tiler in a market selling her crockery and is immediately drawn to Joan, immediately discerning a beauty and class in Joan beyond his own ken, beyond his own status. After Rhys buys out Joan's indenture and takes in Joan and her brother into his house, the tumultuous and fitful relationship between Joan & Rhys takes off. Similar to other Madeline Hunter novels, our heroine Joan doesn't trust Rhys yet enjoys a very heated passion in his arms short of intercourse -- Rhys will not go that far until Joan truly consents. Another words, Joan's mind and heart are at odds, and she grasps to causes for complaint in Rhys, such as his connection with Mortimer.
I found the ending in which Joan holds the chisel for Rhys and becomes an extension of his soul so he can still practice his craft, too abstract, too vague. I thought the reappearance of the evil and despicable Sir Guy Leighton again and again a bit too much, I mean Joan puts a knife through Sir Guy, and he's perfectly fine afterwards? A tortured and bruised Rhys pounds Sir Guy in a hand-to-hand duel and he still has manages a last-gasp lunge? I wanted to know more of how Addis and Edward III remove Mortimer and Edward's mother from power besides just sneaking in while Rhys has Sir Guy tangled up in a duel, a diversion.
The final chapters speak of an impossible and ends too much like BY POSSESSION, despite all the odds. But I thought BY POSSESSION did it better with better characters.
 More serious than most April 18, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was the first of Ms. Hunter's books that I read. I was surprised by the emotional and psychological depth of the heroine, and the details of life in London during the troubling time of Roger Mortimer's influence on the monarchy. By Design is well researched, well written, and has an unexpected emotional heft. If not for the thinly explained resolution at the end, this would definitely rate five stars. The follow-up, Stealing Heaven, DOES rate five stars.
I liked it except for the ending March 7, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I won't bother writing a synopsis since other reviewers have done an excellent job of that. Rhy's patience in helping Joan overcome her trauma was very lovely and touching. However, once Joan's background as a lady is revealed, their love is depicted as impossible because of different stations in life and all the implications of that in 14th century England. Yet, in the last chapter, Joan is back with Rhys permanently with no satisfying explanation of how the barriers were overcome. It left me scratching my head a bit.
A magnificent and enthralling tale September 4, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Joan and Mark de Brecon are all alone in this world. Their home was captured and parents killed by order of Guy Leighton, an evil knight reputed to be Roger Mortimer's assassin. Roger Mortimer, by the way, is the Queen's lover. Guy was ordered to the Brecon keep to destroy it and also dispose of the entire family, but he became enamored with Joan and so struck a bargain with her: In exchange for Mark's life, she would become his lover.
Joan endured the horror of being with Guy every night until she and Mark were able to escape. They made it to London where Joan was able to find work as a tiler and make money on the side by selling religious statues she made out of clay. While she's at the market selling her wares, she meets Rhys, a wealthy freemason who has done work for the royal family. He rescues Joan several times, first when one of Mortimer's squires attacks her and also when he finds her in the town stocks, punished for selling damaged statues.
Rhys and Joan are drawn to each other but Joan is like a wounded animal, fiercely attacking anyone who tries to come near her and refusing to trust anybody. Through his kindness, Joan learns to trust Rhys but not entirely for she refuses to share the horrific story of what happened to her family or that her and Mark are on the run. Despite what her head tells her, Joan loses her heart to Rhys and just when she's starting to relax, her past catches up with her.
I think the best thing about this story is the author's prose. She weaves a beautiful tale of two souls melded into one. It's something so special that you won't see the words "I love you" anywhere in the story, because to add to it will simply take away from it. Who else can use words to paint a picture of the coming together of two people as they work together to do something so ordinary as molding clay?
I am enamored with this tale. The storyline is solid with plenty of subplots to add a sense of richness to it. Rhys and Joan have to navigate dangerous intrigue to stay alive and also to bring to justice the man who murdered Joan's parents and raped her repeatedly. I don't have any complaints nor see anything lacking in the story. Needless to say, Madeline Hunter is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. She is as gifted a writer as they come.
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