BOTB Semifinalist - Sherwood Charade by Mimi Riser

Sherwood Charade, by Mimi Riser

Some are born to greatness. Others have it thrust upon them. Marian Allanson would prefer to avoid it, period. Emotionally scarred, and haunted by nightly dreams of the mythical Robin Hood, Marian is just limping through life till a mysterious quirk of fate tosses her and twelve-year-old street kid Orlando Konstantinos centuries into the past.

Now she's on a full-scale run through medieval Sherwood, threatened by the Sheriff of Nottingham, and discovering there may be truth to the myth, after all. A forest phantom appears out of the shadows to rescue her from death, then disappears again, leaving her to a different danger in the form of a forced marriage to Lord Roland of Hunterdon, a man hot enough to melt a maid's skivvies (despite the fact underwear hasn't been invented yet). To make matters worse, when the old sheriff is murdered, Roland steps into the job with plans to kill Robin Hood, unless Marian can stop him. Or will Roland be the one to die?

With the questions striking deeper than Robin's arrows, and a sudden uncertainty as to who's the villain and who's the hero, "Maid Marian" has much more to worry about than her missing unmentionables. And speaking of missing, where the devil is Orlando?... Before the secrets crack open and the dust clears, an unlikely heroine will rise from her own ashes, a legend will be rewritten, and a love will be forged strong enough to conquer time.


Mimi Riser has been an actress, model, clown, belly-dancer, jewelry designer, editor and publisher, but her first and foremost love is writing. She specializes in offbeat tales where laughter reigns and good always triumphs—but she makes her characters really work for their happy endings. She refers to herself as a blend of both Yankee and Southerner, city-chick and country-gal, and says that if folks think her stories are crazy, they should see her life. Mimi has had six novels published to date, plus numerous novellas, articles and short stories. She currently lives in the rural southwest with one husband, three dogs, and more cats than anyone wants to know about.

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