Gwen’s Quick Quacks of Three Books and Three Scotsmen
Historical romances released between November 2007 to November 2008

So I’m sitting here with another pile of books I’ve read but haven’t reviewed, and decided I better do something with them before Sybil kills me.  But, as I have no time to do the full, long, well thought out reviews right now, you’re getting my crib notes – normally scribbled in the back of an ARC or on one of those big Post It notes.  Sometimes even a cocktail napkin.  Served with good single-malt Scots whiskey, of course…

Highland Captive by Hannah Howell (author’s site is dismally out of date)
Historical romance released by Zebra 4 Nov 08

This was a readable, typically Howell book.  It was a little long (I read the ARC, so perhaps the final release will be shorter).  I kept thinking it was over but it kept going.  I really got to know both the hero and heroine.  Howell, in typical fashion, managed to create some very good characterizations, including the secondary characters.  There were her typical complete story arcs with very little meandering – you stay on the H/H the whole book.  I did have some temporal confusion after heroine is rescued and a couple of other moments in the book, but these were small prices to pay for a good meaty story.  Howell always brings an emotionally satisfying Highlands romance.

Grade: B-

Summary:

New York Times bestselling author Hannah Howell breathes life into the enchanting beauty of the Scottish Highlands in this epic romance between a strong-willed captor and the striking young woman he both confines and protects…

The windswept Scottish Highlands hold great beauty, but also great danger. So when Aimil Mengue is abducted by a feuding clan, she is right to fear for her life-and her virtue. For Aimil’s keeper is the infamous warrior Parlan MacGuin. Aimil sets out to hate him, but Parlan is more honorable-and infinitely more alluring-than expected. Though betrothed to another, Aimil cannot deny her startling desire for the man who holds her captive…

Parlan MacGuin knows well his reputation as a fierce warrior; he uses it to claim land and lovers. But beautiful Aimil is a different type of conquest. Now Parlan feels an unfamiliar longing for the woman he keeps at ransom as their forbidden passion threatens to spark an unstoppable blood feud-or forever fill their hearts…

No excerpt available at the time the review was written.

The Highlander (Medieval Warriors Trilogy, Book 3) by Heather Grothaus (holy crap! this author is Sybil’s TWIN!)
Historical romance released by Zebra 1 Sep 08

I found this book to be readable.  I didn’t hate it, but I’m not rushing out to buy more of Grothaus’s work.  I don’t have a bone to pick with her writing – it was excellent and the story was engrossing, if a bit long. It had some interesting paranormal elements, but isn’t strictly a paranormal romance. What I didn’t like was her lead characters.

I found the heroine, Evelyn, to be immature and prone to silly outbursts, and the hero, Conall, a bit wishy-washy.  Every time she got good and mad, she’d throw a temper tantrum and throw something at the hero – and not small somethings!  She threw a stool at him – nailed him right in the head and lots of crockery that in that day and age, I imagine was difficult to come by.  And Conall was a bit of a milquetoast about it all.  I’d have bent her over my knee and spanked her – and not the fun kind either!  I felt like she was a coward thru much of the book.

The last two or three chapters were the best in the book.  We finally got away from dealing with just the two lead characters and more into the mildly paranormal storyline and history of why these characters were in the situation they’re in.

The setting was interesting and new to me in a romance and an interesting study of early Scots life.  It takes place in the Scottish Highlands only ten years after William the Conqueror’s Norman conquest of the Saxons at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.  I think perhaps this novel isn’t an entirely accurate depiction of early Saxon/English life or peerage (the heroine is English, not Scots), but that’s a small price to pay for a fiction novel.

Nevertheless, I found this to be a readable, if forgettable, book.

Grade: C

Summary:

From Heather Grothaus comes a tale of desire and deception in Scotland, AD 1076, and of the couple whose love could bring two clans together — or rip them apart… When Evelyn Godewin departs from her native England, she’s looking for a new beginning. Yet fate has other plans in store for her when she’s left stranded alone in an unforgiving highland forest, hunted by wolves as winter sets in.

Determined to make the best of her surroundings, Evelyn seeks shelter in an abandoned cottage in the woods. But when Conall MacKerrick, a highland chief, bursts into the cottage and accuses her of trespassing, Evelyn tells him a lie she knows she will regret one day. Much to her surprise, she finds herself falling in love with the highlander… Conall MacKerrick believes his clan is cursed, and when he meets Evelyn he thinks he has found the key to lifting that curse. He must marry her — or at the least, get her with child. Seducing the striking beauty is the only way to save his people and his pride. Even as he begins to trust that she will heal not only his people’s troubles, but his own heart, he discovers the secret that could destroy their newfound love…

No excerpt available at the time this review was written.

Other books in the series:

The Warrior (Brotherhood of the Sword, Book 3) by Kinley MacGregor
Historical Romance released by on Avon 27 Nov 07

I went back and looked.  I never reviewed this book!  Nobody on the site reviewed it.  I dimly remember reading it – when I’m not sure, but I’m pretty sure I did.  Anyhow, here’s the review.  I loved it.

I particularly liked the heroine, Catarina (wasn’t the heroine in Taming of the Shrew also a “Catarina”) and loved how the hero, Lochlan, comes to love her – all her contrariness included.  Cat is accepted and loved for who she is and I so love to hear that in a book. Lochlan never tries to change her, despite his initial misgivings.

The story is involved and a bit twisty.  We travel all over France at the time of one of the Philip’s reigns (mid 1200’s?), pursued by various factions set on kidnapping Cat for one reason or another.  We end up in England by the end of the book.  The royal linkages were interesting and brought a surprising element to the story.

This entry in the series is not directly about one of the Brotherhood, but rather one’s older brother, Lochlan.  It describes Lochlan’s search for his missing brother, a member of the Brotherhood, and its heartbreaking end.  I loved how the hero and heroine come to love and respect each other.

All in all, a very entertaining entry in MacGregor’s world universe.

Grade: A

Summary:

Lochlan MacAllister was born to lead. Ruthlessly groomed to take control of his clan, he has given his life to his people. But when he learns that the brother he thought was dead might still be alive, he embarks on a quest to find the truth.

Catarina wants a life of freedom. But now Catarina’s royal father wants to use her as a pawn to ensure a treaty between conflicting lands. So much so that he’s willing to kidnap his daughter to force the issue. But when she escapes, fate throws her into the path of a man she loathes.

Lochlan is stunned to find the shrewish Cat being hauled away by unknown men. Unwilling to see even her suffer, he frees her only to learn that she has her own demons to fight. When their fates intertwine, two people who know nothing of trust must rely on each other, and two enemies who have vowed their eternal hatred must find common ground, or see their very lives shattered.

Read an excerpt (nice long one).

Other books in this series: