Category: Middle Ages / Medieval (476-1454)

In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages.

Bride of Ice by Glynnis Campbell

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Middle Ages / Medieval (476-1454), Scottish/HighlanderLeave a comment

Bride of Ice (The Warrior Daughters of Rivenloch, #2)Bride of Ice by Glynnis Campbell
Barbara’s rating: 3.5/4 of 5 stars

Series: The Warrior Daughters of Rivenloch #2
Publication Date: 11/17/20
Number of Pages: 416
** 3.5 Stars **

This book takes place at the same exact time as the first book in the series, Bride of Fire. I haven’t read that book, but I imagine that the opening scene in that book is likely the same as this one – but with the focus on a different heroine. I don’t feel that I was ‘left out’ because I didn’t read that first book – this one is totally standalone. Although, having read that book might have helped me to understand why a Highland Laird would want to move his clan to a lowland castle on the border with England.

Hallidis Cameliard is the future Laird of her clan – and she’s currently acting as Laird during her parent’s absence. Hallidis’s clan has a long-standing claim against Creagor and was surprised when it was granted to the nephew of the last Laird at Creagor. While Hallidis’s parents were petitioning King Malcolm to grant Creagor to them, her cousin Jenefer snuck out via the secret entrance to lay siege (or something) to the newly arrived Laird Morgan Mor mac Giric whose uncle was the former Laird of Creagor. Hallidis and another cousin, Feiyan, left Rivenloch to stop Jenefer and return her home. Except – all three of them end up captured. Hallidis manages to escape and also manages to capture a prisoner to use to bargain with Morgan Mor mac Giric to get her cousins released. That prisoner turns out to be Morgan’s right-hand-man, Colban an Curaidh – which means Colban the Champion.

During his ‘imprisonment’ (which consisted of being held in the Lairds chamber), Colban soon endeared himself to Hallidis’s three brothers and her sister Isobel. Her siblings took great delight in thwarting Hallidis’s plans to treat Colban as an enemy prisoner. Of course, he soon endears himself to Hallidis as well. They come to love each other and commit to marriage. Then, the unthinkable happens and she ends up having to marry another. How can they ever get to a HEA with her married to someone who is not The One? There are lots of twists and turns before they ever make it.

I went into this book thinking it was going to be filled with action – LOTS of sword fights, sieges, and battles – I mean – the series is WARRIOR Daughters of Rivenloch, so you’d expect lots of ‘warrior-ing’ and I didn’t see as much of that as I’d expected. The first 65-70% was much slower paced than I expected, so I found myself putting it down frequently and not being in any hurry to pick it back up. The book picked up after the 60% or so mark and I enjoyed it much better. It was well written, just, to me, overall, slower-moving than I expected. However, what really got me – and it isn’t mentioned anywhere in the book blurb – is that there is a serious, active, sexual deviant in the story – in a pivotal role. It doesn’t matter to me if he got his punishment or not – his proclivities had too much page time for my taste – at least his activities did. A mention of his ‘ways’ would have been sufficient; I didn’t need to see them all in print. I was happy to have met Hallidis and Colban – and I LOVED Ian, Isobel, Brand, and Gellir.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Highlander’s Destiny by Mary Wine

On By TracyIn Medieval (1066-1540), Middle Ages / Medieval (476-1454), Scottish/Highlander, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

The Highlander's Destiny (Highland Rogues, #2)The Highlander’s Destiny by Mary Wine

Tracy’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Highland Rogues, #2

Release Date: November 3, 2020

After waiting years for Cormac Grant, her betrothed to claim her, Cora Mackenzie is restless and jumps at the chance to ride out with her brother’s men to deliver a message to Rolfe Munro. She is aware by doing so, her brother is letting her know that she is free to follow her heart rather than marry Cormac. Cora likes Rolfe, but he doesn’t inspire feelings anything deeper than friendship. She and the party are returning to Mackenzie land when a vicious storm breaks and Cora is washed away. She fights for her life and amazingly survives, but drenched and freezing, she won’t last long, so it is nothing short of miraculous that she sees a man standing just a few feet away.

Faolan McKay is stunned to see a beautiful woman cursing the sky, but he quickly realizes that she is not a mythical siren, but a flesh and blood woman in danger of freezing to death. He helps her to the tower and gets her out of her wet clothes, tucks her into bed and climbs in to share his heat. When she wakes, he is gone. She dresses and ventures out of the tower. She soon discovers that the tower is part the construction of a look out for the McKay clan. There are no women at the site and she rolls up her sleeves and cleans the kitchen and prepares a meal. She is intrigued by Faolan and feels the spark that she has been hoping for, she can see that he returns her regard, but he holds himself at bay and when a maid named Brynna shows up from the McKay Keep, Faolan immediately has her act as chaperone and takes Cora to the Keep.

Things at the McKay Keep are tense and Cora soon learns that Faolan is the half-brother of Malcolm, the laird of the McKays and that he used to court Malcolm’s wife Noreen – who happens to be the half-sister of her betrothed. Tensions escalate and Faolan and Cora end up married, but when Faolan fails to consummate the marriage, believing he will seek an annulment to free Cora, Malcolm gets involved and things turn deadly. Soon Faolan and Cora find themselves as Laird and Lady of the clan with the possibility of HEA within reach, but plots to destroy them abound and they will have to root out a traitor before they can even think about their future.

This was a very good, well written, fast-paced story with very likable characters. The book has action, betrayal, warm to steamyish love scenes, multiple villains, accusations of witchery, traitors, some amusing banter, great secondary characters, a very sweet, romantic declaration of love and finally a very, very, very hard won HEA. As much as I enjoyed this book, there were some things that left me baffled and some minor inconsistencies and typos, that didn’t ruin the book for me, but that did rob it of a five-star rating. This is the second book in the series, but it can easily be read as a standalone title with no problems. Overall, I did enjoy this book, I am happy to recommend it and I will definitely be looking forward to the next installment in the series.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested from NetGalley and the Publisher. All opinions are my own.*