Tracy’s rating: 3 of 5 stars
Series: The King’s Outlaws, #3
Release Date: June 29, 2021
Rhona the healer of Clan MacDougall is devastated when she learns her Granduncle, Alexander, Lord of Lorn has surrendered Dunstaffnage Castle to the self-proclaimed King of the Scots, Robert the Bruce, and is taking his best soldiers and fleeing to England. And if that wasn’t bad enough she then learns that Robert has assigned Sir Arthur Campbell to act as the constable – the man who broke her heart years ago and the one man she hoped to never see again.
Sir Arthur is thrilled to be at Dunstaffnage again and hopes to win Rhona’s heart again now that she is widowed – he is not sure why she is so cold to him and thinks it is because of his allegiance to the king, who is an enemy to her clan, which is true, but what he doesn’t know is that she never got his letter and that she thinks he deserted her.
Arthur is determined to woo Rhona and marry her, but Rhona is equally determined to keep him at arm’s length and to cause him problems by sabotaging things at the castle. She is able to keep her feelings under control, but when Arthur is injured and she tends him, she knows that she still cares for him. But even her feelings for him don’t stop her from betraying him by helping the men who shot him escape and making Arthur look like a fool – actions she later hopes to keep from him. Can these two find their way back to each other or will past hurts be too much to overcome?
As with every book I have ever read by this author, I found this novel to be a well-written, well-researched, nicely paced story with interesting characters and a bit of fact incorporated into the fiction. But unlike almost every book I have read by this author, I didn’t love this book. Personally, I didn’t really like Rhona, I found her actions petty and immature, I also had a hard time agreeing with her POV about the loyalty she owed to a man who took his best soldiers and left his elderly sister and widowed niece to fend for themselves with his enemies. Furthermore, I didn’t feel the connection between Arthur and Rhona, and when her secrets were exposed, I thought the “solution” was improbable and contrived. Arthur was a wonderful hero and unfortunately, I felt like he ended up doing all the work to make their HEA happen and he deserved better. This is the third book in the series, but the books can all be read as standalone titles with no issues.
*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.
