Carolyn Hughes writes outstanding historical fiction and I enjoyed reading every single word of De Bohun's Destiny, her latest novel in The Meonbridge Chronices. The 14th Century has never been brought to life so vividly in literature and I urge all readers of historical fiction to pick up this series and be as hooked on Meonbridge as I am.

There are some very strong female characters in the Meonbridge Chronicles but I really noticed their impact and strength in De Bohun's Destiny. With Meonbridge still recovering from the Black Death, whole families have been wiped out and women have been left without husbands. Following Sir Philip's untimely death and that of his unborn child, the De Bohun legacy is at stake leaving his parents without an heir. Their daughter, Johanna, has entered a convent and renounced her inheritance, leaving only Dickon, the illegitimate son of Philip de Bohun and Agnes atte Wode with De Bohun blood running through his veins. As with any inheritance, there is always someone hidden in the wings to contest it and Sir Richard De Bohun's cousin, Morys Boune, is just the man to do that; or at least his wicked and greedy younger son, Thorkell, is.

Thorkell Boune is definitely the villain of the piece as he woos Matilda Fletcher in order to obtain information about Sir Richard and Dickon. Despite the charity shown to her by Lady Margaret de Bohun, Matilda has dreams of becoming lady of Meonbridge and Thorkell exploits her weakness and propensity to gossip. It would be easy to dislike Matilda but I found her quite amusing as she just didn't think things through properly and couldn't see the potential effect of her actions.

Although it's historical fiction, De Bohun's Destiny reads like a thriller filled with backstabbing, murder, secrets and lies. Historical fiction is renowned for being slightly dry and I tend to read it a lot slower than other genres but not this one! I whizzed through it as I was completely riveted and found it fast-paced and thrilling. Carolyn Hughes is such a talented writer to take dry and dusty history and make it vivid and exciting.

I also have to give a shout out to the cast of characters at the start of the book and also to the manageable number of characters introduced in the book. Sometimes it's overwhelming when too many characters appear but Carolyn Hughes balances her cast perfectly. I've read the previous books so I know who a lot of the characters are, but the cast of characters is invaluable to any new readers picking up a book mid-series, which you certainly could do with De Bohun's Destiny, but the first two books are fantastic so you should definitely read them all.

With her stunning evocative writing it feels like Carolyn Hughes has opened a time-portal into the 14th Century, so jump right it and enjoy your visit; I certainly did.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion. ( )