The Scottish Boy by Alex de Campi

1333. Edward III is at war with Scotland. Nineteen-year-old Sir Harry de Lyon yearns to prove himself, and jumps at the chance when a powerful English baron, William Montagu, invites him on a secret mission with a dozen elite knights. They ride north, to a crumbling Scottish keep, capturing the feral, half-starved boy within and putting the other inhabitants to the sword. But nobody knows why the flower of English knighthood snuck over the border to capture a savage, dirty teenage boy. Montagu gives the boy to Harry as his squire, with only two rules: don't let him escape, and convert him to the English cause. At first, it's hopeless. The Scottish boy is surly and violent, and eats anything that isn't nailed down. Then Harry begins to notice things: that, as well as Gaelic, the boy speaks flawless French, with an accent much different from Harry's Norman one. That he can read Latin too. And when Harry finally convinces the boy – Iain mac Maíl Coluim – to cut his filthy curtain of hair, the face revealed is the most beautiful thing Harry has ever seen. With Iain as his squire, Harry wins tournament after tournament and becomes a favourite of the King. But underneath the pageantry smoulder twin secrets: Harry and Iain's growing passion for each other, and Iain's mysterious heritage. As England hurtles towards war once again, these secrets will destroy everything Harry holds dear.

I was immediately intrigued to read a queer romance set in late medieval England. Besides the romance aspect, there is a lot of insight into knighthood and tournaments, royal lineage, and farming tenements. I'm not a historian by any means but it read like de Campi really did their research and brought this small part of the world to life for me. However, readers should be aware that Ian and Harry's relationship is the main point of the book. While the book does take place during Edward II's continued war with Scotland, that's just the setting, not the plot, so if one goes in expecting a lot of real world historical references or to learn something about the time, they'll be disappointed.
While I really enjoyed this book, there was a few issues as always. The formatting of the writing when Harry is internally grappling with his sexuality and its consequences in a Christian-ruled nation goes into weird poetry formatting with short stops and things which are obviously meant to create impact but it doesn't really flow with the rest of the book. There also is hardly any character development with Harry as he doesn't seem to really learn anything from his time with Ian besides that he likes anal. This would have been a good opportunity for Harry (and thus the reader) to learn more about medieval Scotland or perhaps why Ian was so important to Edward I and his house in the first place but he's too occupied with running his farm, fighting off his childhood friend turned enemy from taking his farm, and also touching Ian's bits whenever he could without someone catching them. Past reviewers complained about the amount of sex in this book - while that wasn't a problem for me, an avid reader of historical MM romance, it's definitely something readers should be aware of ahead of time. The cover shouldn't have to be plastered with two ripped models in each other's arms for people to realise this is first and foremost a romance novel.
I'd recommend this to more mature and seasoned MM historical fiction readers.

Thanks to Pigeonhole for allowing me to read this early and enjoy the book alongside other readers.

Set in the 14th century during the reign of Edward iii, this book very cleverly weaves a tale around the family tree of the Capet royal family of France. However, it centers around the fight between England and Scotland. Harry de Lyon, newly knighted, is rudely awakened by a violent raid on a Scottish castle where the inhabitants are massacred and a mysterious boy taken prisoner. Manipulated by his superiors who use his lack of wealth as a leverage point, he is forced to take on the savage prisoner as his squire. Whilst it takes some time, Harry and the boy (Iain) eventually become friends and develop a growing romantic attachment to one another.

I loved the depiction of the growing relationship between the two, but this is the type of book to make grandma blush! Several pigeonhole readers found this a little too explicit in places. I thought it also required a little suspension of disbelief in places regarding the attitudes towards homosexuality at the times, but if you are into this kind of book as I am, the sex scenes are hot!

It's obvious that the author has put a great deal of research into the period and used real people and historical fact whenever possible. The plot is gripping, with lots of adventure alongside the romance, the book would stand up without the explicit scenes, but they added to the story for me.

I was sad to finish the book. I felt like I really got to know the characters in the story, not just the two protagonists, but also Harry's enemies, the servants at his home and his allies and friends. Will definitely be looking out for more from this author in future.