Tag: Mary Wine

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.*

Wicked Highland Ways by Mary Wine

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

Wicked Highland Ways (Highland Weddings, #6)Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Highland Weddings #6 – series end
Publication Date: 5/28/19
Number of Pages: 384

This was an excellent read, but as the end-of-series, it left something to be desired. That is one reason I didn’t give it a full five-stars – the other reason is that I got a little tired of the unyielding Brenda. I understood the trauma she’d been through, but she had some excellent examples of good men – like her cousin – to mitigate some of her distrust of men. Also, she never appreciated the fact that Bothan traveled all the way to England to save her – there was never a ‘thank you for saving me from a life of torture and degradation’. IMHO, she could have given in a bit earlier and moved things along so that there could be a nice epilogue that would include the other couples in the series. Maybe they could have been involved in the solution at the end if the author didn’t want to do an epilogue. It just needed something more for it to be the series finale.

Chief Bothan Gunn met and was attracted to Brenda Grant a previous book. He tried to forget her and select a bride from among the many whose fathers had offered them in marriage. A sweet, docile, biddable woman that would give him children, run his home and do as he bid. Nothing like Brenda Grant who is a spitfire. He just couldn’t convince himself to choose any of them.
At the end of the last book, Between a Highlander and a Hard Place, the Scottish king had declared that Brenda had to travel to England to marry Galwell Scrope (don’t you love that name) in order to keep a coveted piece of property within the Campbell clan. Bothan promised Brenda’s cousin that he would rescue Brenda and assure that she didn’t marry the cruel Galwell.

This book opens with Brenda being escorted to England by soldiers of Queen Elizabeth Tudor of England – and Bothan following them and planning how to liberate Brenda. I absolutely loved the way the liberation occurred – and it gave a lot of insight into how shrewd and cunning Bothan is. I really liked Bothan. He is a really good and honorable man and Brenda was very lucky to have him. Too bad she didn’t acknowledge that fact until it was almost too late.

Brenda fights Bothan and her own feelings all the way back to Bothans home – where she is welcomed openly and lovingly by Bothan’s people. When Brenda is ‘stolen’ by Hamell Campbell, who intends to marry her because the Earl of Sutherland said he could, Bothan is off on another rescue mission – and this one may be even tougher than the last.

I didn’t like the Earl of Sutherland at all, but his son was good. The Earl’s decree only forced Bothan to yet again prove what a wiley and clever man he is.

I would definitely recommend this read, but as I said – I’d have appreciated something ‘more’ for a series finale. I adored Bothan and was so happy to see him finally get his HEA. I also liked Brenda, but not as much as Bothan.

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