Tracy’s Reviews – Page 523 – Flippin' Pages Book Reviews

The Devil of Dunakin Castle by Heather McCollum

Series: Highland Isles, #4

Release Date: November 13, 2017

Tracy’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Before I begin my review, I have to say that this book had the absolutely best dedication I have ever read and that dedication is reiterated in the note from the author at the end of the book. It was beautifully done and really touched my heart.

This book has all the elements I love in a story: humor, action/adventure, a misunderstood hero, steamy love scenes and a heroine that you can’t help rooting for.

Grace has been a secondary character in the previous books in this series, she is the sister of Ava, the heroine of the first book ( The Beast of Aros Castle ). Grace has always been portrayed as meek and even a bit weak, she has many fears and considers herself a coward, but inside she longs to be strong and have adventures of her own. When an opportunity to leave Aros arises, she jumps at the chance to leave and secretly hopes that she will find her own adventure. She leaves with an escort to travel to Barra to help Mairi with the birth of her child. But on the way, she and her escort are caught in a storm and take shelter at the inn. When her escort Thomas becomes ill, the healer in Grace takes over and she ventures out in the storm to find herbs to treat Thomas. But she gets turned around in the blizzard and soon finds herself lost and alone.

Keir MacKinnon is on a mission, he is on his way to Aros to bring back Mairi MacLean the famed healer. Keir is the brother to the chief and his nephew is gravely ill, he will find the MacLean healer and bring her to the Isle of Skye – no matter what. Keir is known as the Devil of Dunakin, the fierce warrior and executioner of his clan. When Keir hears a scream while on the way to the village, he tells his friend Brodie to go ahead to the inn and turns back to investigate.
What he finds is Grace surrounded by wolves. Injured while trying to save her and then knocked unconscious, Grace knows she cannot leave him to die. She tends his wounds and those of his horse and then begins to make a shelter to protect them from the storm. When Keir awakes, he is shocked to find Grace on him and asks if she is an angel. When he realizes that he is not dead, he leads them to a deserted cabin. Over the course of the storm, Grace cares for Keir and when he finally wakes, she is smitten. They spend time to together and the attraction grows. Just as things begin to heat up between them, Brodie shows up.

Grace learns that Keir is planning on taking her with him and is furious. But along the way, she learns much about Keir and is shocked by the way people treat him. She tries to stay angry, but her heart goes out to this man.

When they arrive at Dunakin, Grace faints at the sight greeting her, but when she recovers, she agrees to treat Keir’s nephew, Lachlan. But the news is not good, not only is the boy sick, but now his father, Rab is also showing signs of the illness. When Grace learns the cause, she has no one she can trust except Keir. And she is not sure she really knows who Keir is, is he the sweet, gentle man who saved her or is he the killer his clan deems him to be. Grace decides that she does trust Keir and together they form a plan to weed out the villain.

The plan works perfectly, except it also implicates Keir’s sister and Rab orders Keir to execute her. Grace is horrified for Keir and seeks him out. When she finds him, she learns his deepest secrets and knows that she loves him. She begs him to refuse to kill Dara, knowing that it will be the act that finally destroys him. Keir loves Grace, but he feels there is no future for her with the “Devil” and tells Brodie to return her to her family.

Desperate to save Keir, she seeks out the one person she believes will help her and learns of a clan legend – that the Devil will be killed when an Angel pierces his heart. To save the man she loves, Grace will have to overcome her own fears.

This was such a great story, the book is well written and flows great, has lots of action, steamy love scenes and a great ending. While this book is the fourth book in the series, I think it could easily be read as a standalone title with no real problems. But, if you would like a better understanding of Grace’s character, I would recommend reading the first book (The Beast of Aros Castle ), before you read this story.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher*

A Knight’s Temptation by Lana Williams

Series: Falling for a Knight, #2

Release Date: November 7, 2017

Tracy’s rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

I was thrilled to learn that Ms. Williams was finally writing the follow up to A Knight’s Quest and could wait to delve right back into her medieval world of knights and ladies!

This story begins about two weeks after the end of A Knight’s Quest, Ilisa Douglas is the sister of Sophia (the heroine from A Knight’s Quest) and sister of the former governor of Berwick is in hiding with her younger brother Alec and Braden. She has a serious aversion to English knights and wants nothing more than to see Braden healed and on his way, so she can take her vows and retire to St. Mary’s. She feels honor bound to stay with Braden until he heals and her sister returns to take Alec with her to England.

Braden is the cousin of Garrick (the hero of A Knight’s Quest) and son of William and Christiana (Believe In Me – a fact that I remembered while I was reading this book!). Braden was injured while saving Ilisa and Sophia from an assassination attempt. Now that he is recovering, he wants to learn why Lord Graham is trying to kill the Douglas’ and who else might be involved. Little by little he regains his strength and tries to fight his attraction to Ilisa. Braden possesses the same gift of healing as his mother, a secret he guards closely, but a secret that may already be out, as he had used his gift in front of Alec. Using his gift drains him and in his weaken state could kill him, but Braden cannot let anyone suffer if he is able to help them. He is truly a good and honorable man.
When Ilisa and Braden learn that Lord Graham is having a tournament to celebrate his daughter’s birthday, Braden decides to go and see what he can learn. Ilisa and Alec also want to go and after meeting with the Prioress of St. Mary’s, Braden grudgingly agrees to let them accompany him. The Prioress helps them by giving them an invitation and new identities, but in turn she demands that they marry before they leave, assuring them that it will be easy to annul later. Doubtful, but needing to gain entry to the keep, they agree.

They travel to Lord Graham’s estate and along the way, Ilisa begins to realize her assumptions about Braden where wrong and that even though his is an English knight, he is a good man. The more she is with him, the more she begins to rethink her plans to take vows. She wonders if there could be a future with the man she is coming to admire.

When they reach the estate, they learn that Lord Graham is part of the Sentinels (the group of Scots looking to place their own man on the throne), but they still don’t know why he wants the Douglas siblings dead. They each play their role, trying to glean more information and the identities of Graham’s conspirators. When Ilisa befriends Arabela (Lord Graham’s daughter) they get too close to the truth and someone tries to kill Ilisa, Braden is forced to use his gift to save her. But too many people saw her injured and suspicion begins to take root.

When Chanse (Braden’s brother) shows up uninvited, Braden is overjoyed. Chanse enters the competition and tries to help Braden and Ilisa find out who Lord Graham is working with and to divert attention from Braden.

Braden knows he loves Ilisa, but is not sure about her feelings and with the danger they are in, he decides to wait until they are back in Berwick before he talks to her. But Ilisa has figured out Braden’s secret and is humbled that he risked his life to save her. She now knows that she loves him and would like to have a real marriage – but first they have to finish their mission. When they attend the final feast, Ilisa learns who tried to kill her. She tells Braden and they decide to leave the next morning. But when they are confronted by the villain and he uses Alec to force Braden to use his gift to save him and things go from bad to worse. Braden and Ilisa go to the keep to meet with Lord Graham and discover that Alec escaped. They leave to search for him and finally decide to leave and look for him on the road. When they find him and Braden heals him, he is drained and they are forced to stop so he can rest. But Lord Graham is not done with them yet and Braden is forced to make a choice to which there is no happy ending.

I loved this book, it was well written, flowed nicely, had plenty of action and intrigue and while it was not as steamy as I like, the love scenes were well done and appropriate for the story. Braden is a wonderful hero and is truly the shining star of this book.

This book is part of a series, but it could easily be read as a standalone title with no confusion to the reader. I was also excited to learn that Chanse’s story will be next and is scheduled to publish next spring!!

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