BLOG TOUR – Beguiling Her Enemy Warrior by Lucy Morris

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Beguiling her Enemy Warrior

Kidnapped by the warrior

Tempted by the man…

Captured by the infamous Lord Rhys, a Welsh prince intent on revenge against her family, Viking healer, Helga, must keep her wits about her if she’s to be freed. Easier said than done when she desires him rather than fears him! Helga senses there’s good inside Rhys and feels compelled to reach his heart. But first, she must make him see there’s more to her than just his enemy…

Purchase Links:

US ~ UK

Author Bio:

Lucy Morris has always been obsessed with myths and legends. Her books blend sweeping romance with vivid worldbuilding to whisk you away to another time and place filled with adventure. Expect passion, drama, and vibrant characters.

Lucy lives in Essex, UK, with her husband, two children, and two cats. She has a massive sweet tooth and loves Terry’s chocolate oranges and Irn-Bru. In her spare time, she likes to explore castles with her family, or drink bubbly with her friends.

Social Media Links:

Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Website

Tracy’s Review:

Beguiling Her Enemy Warrior (Mills & Boon Historical) (Shieldmaiden Sisters, Book 3)Beguiling Her Enemy Warrior (Mills & Boon Historical) by Lucy Morris

Tracy’s rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Series: Shieldmaiden Sisters, #3

Release Date: January 19, 2023

This story runs parallel to the previous book “Tempted by Her Outcast Viking” and is the story of the youngest sister, Helga. Helga is not like her older sisters, she is not a warrior, although she knows how to fight, she is a gentle soul, who tends to the hearth while her sisters and mother wage war, she is a healer and has dreams and visions of the future. And it seems as if those prophetic dreams are starting to come true when after a year of misery, her sister Valda marries Halfdan, her first love, and the family’s fortunes begin to change. But Valda’s marriage also led to Halfdan’s father Jarl Ulf to disown him, when he failed to marry Alswn of Gwynedd. Now Alswn, along with her guard Hywel are missing, and her brother, Rhys, the Dragon of Gwynedd is out for blood. He is convinced that Helga’s family is connected to Jarl Ulf and therefore bears some responsibility, so he abducts Helga. He informs her sister Brynhild that he will hold Helga hostage until his sister is returned to him at his fortress in Wales.

Helga is shocked to realize that the dragon that has haunted her dreams since she was a child, is actually Rhys, the man she believes is her fated mate. But she soon begins to question that fate when Rhys makes it clear that he hates Vikings and doesn’t believe her when she tells him that Ulf is not her family and won’t care that Rhys took her. Rhys is sure she is lying – Vikings killed his parents and of late Ulf has been raiding and pillaging his land, going as far as to take his Aunt hostage – Ulf made it clear that he planned to conquer Rhys and take his lands, hence the marriage agreement between his sister and Ulf’s son. But now that Halfdan married Valda and his sister has vanished, Rhys knows it is only a matter of time before Ulf wages war on him. A war he knows he cannot win since his king refuses to send men to help him. His only hope is that Ulf values Helga’s life enough to back down. However, it isn’t long before Rhys realizes he was wrong about Helga and isn’t sure he will be able to let her go, even if his sister is returned. But with Ulf’s army at his front door and her family’s army at his back door – Rhys will have to decide if he is willing to trust the woman he has come to love with not only his heart and his life but with the fate of his entire clan.

This is a must-read if you have been following the series – Helga is an amazing heroine, despite her own feelings of inadequacy; she is courageous, bold, gracious, and helpful. Rhys is a bit harder to like, he also struggles with inadequacy, but is reluctant to accept help and refuses to let anyone know him, including his own family. This story has a lot happening and is much more emotional than I was expecting. The book has abductions, misunderstandings, a very slow-burn romance, battle scenes, steamyish love scenes, cameos from previous characters as well as a host of new secondary characters, and finally a HEA complete with an epilogue. It needs to be pointed out that this story does contain some triggers such as rape and physical abuse, but they are all off-page and there are at least two graphic death scenes that might be disturbing to readers sensitive to violence. I thought the author handled these scenes very well and didn’t dwell on them. This is the third and final book in the series and while it could be read as a standalone title, I would suggest reading the entire series in order for the best reader experience. Overall, I thought this book was the perfect ending to a wonderful series and I am happy to recommend not only this title but the entire series.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own.*

 

Murder at an Irish Castle by Ellie Brannigan

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Contemporary, Mystery, Part of a SeriesLeave a comment

Murder at an Irish Castle

Barbara’s rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Series: Irish Castle Mystery #1
Publication Date: 2/7/23
Period: Contemporary Ireland
Number of Pages: 313

This debut author did a nice job of setting up the characters and location for the series. The writing was good and she did an excellent job of making you feel Ireland and its verdant green fields while bringing the people of the countryside to life.

Rayne McGrath was celebrating her thirtieth birthday and feeling as if she had the world on a string – until someone cut the string and the world all came tumbling down around her. She lost it all – every dime in her banking account, every item in her Rodeo drive bridal shop, as well as the man she was expecting to propose. What now? Well, another loss might also bring a solution. Or will it? Her beloved uncle Nevin has died in Ireland and the estate expects her to come over to receive whatever has been left to her. Rayne’s inclination is to say no and just deal with the mess surrounding her – but her mother persuades her to go and even provides the plane tickets. Goodness, what a shock she’s going to get!

When she arrives in Ireland, she finds she is to be the owner of an actual Irish castle – which she does not want and is determined not to accept. However, the will makes it clear that if she doesn’t accept, there are dire consequences for not only the castle itself but the people who live and work at the castle as well as the village. Still, she cannot accept and move to Ireland – those folks will just have to figure out a way around the will. But then, maybe she could give it a year . . .

Rayne had made visits to the castle with her father before he passed away, so she has fond memories of some of the inhabitants, but others have also passed on before her uncle. Rayne learns she has a cousin, Ciara Smith, who is Uncle Nevin’s natural daughter. Ciara is as shocked as Rayne when she learns who inherits the castle and she definitely doesn’t plan to ‘make nice’ with Rayne.

Ciara firmly believes someone murdered her father but has no proof and no logical reasons for feeling that way – other than those ‘fey’ intuitive feelings one gets on occasion. Rayne, nor anyone else around the castle, seriously believes Ciara is correct. But, is she?

I loved the juxtaposition between Rayne and Ciara. Rayne is the typical California girl who is into high fashion, fast cars, dieting, yoga, meditation, etc. while Ciara had a hard life being raised by a single mom and then coming to work at the castle after her mom’s death. She is down-to-earth and works hard, but is a snob in some ways because she looks down on Rayne and her ‘rich American life’.

I don’t know if it was an aberration because this is the first book in the series and there had to be a lot of time spent on the character and location setup, but I didn’t really feel we spent much time on the mystery. Most of our time revolved around Rayne and her getting herself set up in Ireland as well as the conflict between Rayne and Ciara. The suspects were all mentioned for one reason or another – but – everyone was sure they couldn’t have done it. There were no red herrings and any that you thought could be a red herring were quickly proven to be one. The murder was given some thought on occasion, but there was no real time spent investigating until – voila – crime solved, criminal caught. I also thought the book was a bit draggy in places and could have used a bit of excitement. I enjoyed the read well enough and will probably try the next book in the series to see how it progresses.

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

View all my reviews