Beauchamp Besieged

""Besieged"" describes how readers may feel as they plow through Knighton's overwrought medieval-era debut. With its many bloody battles and cruel encounters, this book is not for the squeamish. Nor is it for those who prefer mature protagonists and believable conflicts. An arranged marriage between 19-year-old Welshwoman Ceridwen of Llyn y Gareg Wen and widower Sir Raymond de Beauchamp brings peace to their lands, but it stirs up conflict between Raymond and his unbelievably vicious brother, Alonso. When Ceridwen and Raymond aren't defending themselves from the brute, they're battling their attraction to one another. Wracked with guilt over his previous wife's death and filled with hate thanks to Alonso's machinations, Raymond feels he's incapable of love. Ceridwen has no such problems, but when she discovers that Raymond killed her cousin four years earlier, she melodramatically declares, ""I will never, ever forgive you. Even once you're dead."" She simmers down in time, however, to doff her upper garments and distract Alonso's men from clobbering Raymond. Sensational plot turns such as this may put off some readers, but other will relish the gritty but vivid picture Knighton paints of medieval times. (July)