Tag: Highland Pride

Guest Review: MacLean’s Passion by Sharon Cullen

Posted June 28, 2016 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: MacLean’s Passion by Sharon CullenReviewer: Tracy
MacLean's Passion by Sharon Cullen
Series: Highland Pride series #2
Also in this series: Sutherland's Secret, Campbell's Redemption
Publisher: Loveswept
Publication Date: June 28th 2016
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Colin MacLean has always felt like a black sheep—especially after his brothers are slain before his eyes in the Battle of Culloden. A smuggler by trade, Colin makes for an embarrassing chieftain. He can’t even save his friends from their British pursuers without getting himself captured. But before he is martyred by the hangman’s noose, Colin escapes with his cellmate, a brave lad he’s come to admire. It’s only in the depths of the Highlands that Colin discovers the lad is a lass—and a bonnie one at that.

Raised by her older brothers, Maggie Sinclair can drink a pint in no time flat and wield a dagger with the best of ’em. Still, men have always excluded her and women have always shunned her. Colin makes her feel different. His wild spirit and rugged good looks have Maggie reconsidering her less than ladylike ways. For the first time, she’s tempted to put on a gown, just to see how Colin would react. She can only imagine what might happen next: a kiss . . . a touch . . . and perhaps enough sultry heat to melt a cold Highland night.

Colin is imprisoned after Culloden when he purposely puts himself in the path of the red coats to save a friend.  He’s in prison for weeks with a mostly silent young boy.  He is let free with the help of an unlikely helper and decides to take the boy with him.  Colin is quite sick when he escapes and soon collapses.  The young boy, who Colin soon finds out is actually a woman, Maggie Sinclair, nurses him back to health as best she can and then they set off for Sinclair lands.

Colin has what he believes is an unhealthy attraction to Maggie and that gets him into trouble a time or two.  He’s not happy with Maggie’s brother who tries to marry her off to an English sympathizer but he didn’t plan on marrying her himself.  That’s exactly what he ends up doing.  Maggie and Colin then set off for MacLean lands but is then informed that Captain Abbott, the man who took such satisfaction from beating Colin when he was imprisoned has taken over the MacLean stronghold.  Colin’s not sure he can get back what’s been taken but with the help of Maggie and his clansman he’s determined to try.

This was a lovely follow up to Sutherland’s Secret.  Though it didn’t have quite the same effect on me as book one in the series it was still good.

I’m not a huge fan of women in my historical novels dressing like men but in this case I thought it was well done.  Maggie had been brought up by her brother and since he was just about a kid himself when their parents died he did the best he could.  It amused him to see Maggie in breeches and he loved teaching her to fight.  Of course when she became a woman he realized his mistake and tried to change her.  She was determined to not let that happen.  I loved her fight and her strong-will.  Though her brother said some pretty hurtful things she was always willing to stand and make her opinion known.  I loved that about her.  She was also scared several times throughout the book but didn’t let that stop her from her goals.  She was a great heroine and I loved reading about her.

Colin, apparently, had been beaten down verbally by his parents and his siblings.  Because of this he didn’t have very good self-esteem and when it came to fighting for what was his he wasn’t completely convinced that he could do it.  He kept hearing his family’s voices in his head telling him how he was no good.  This bothered me some.  I’m not sure what it was about it but it just didn’t seem logical.  Yes, he’d been stubborn growing up from what I read and strong-willed, but to be told over and over that you’re no good and won’t amount to anything?  IDK it just didn’t seem right for as much as he loved his brothers.  Maybe it was me but it just seemed like something was off.  Anyway, Colin ended up being a strong character as well and I loved the way he adored Maggie for who she was and didn’t plan on changing her at all.

In the end the book was a good one with just a few issues.  I look forward to reading more in this series in the future.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

three-half-stars


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Guest Review: Sutherland’s Secret by Sharon Cullen

Posted January 21, 2016 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Sutherland’s Secret by Sharon CullenReviewer: Tracy
Sutherland's Secret by Sharon Cullen
Series: Highland Pride series #1
Also in this series: MacLean's Passion, Campbell's Redemption
Publisher: Loveswept
Publication Date: January 19, 2016
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

Terror reigns in the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden. As British troops obliterate the last traces of the Jacobite cause, Brice Sutherland, the Earl of Dornach, risks everything to arrange a covert escape route to Canada for his fellow Scots. But when he encounters a dying Englishwoman, hauntingly beautiful though scarred by manacles and unable to speak, Brice’s true courage is put to the test. Nothing but ruin could result from helping her, or worse: falling in love.

The pampered daughter of a Marquess, Eleanor Hirst was the talk of the London season when she wed the Earl of Glendale. Little did she know that his posting as an officer in Scotland would be their undoing. Now her husband is dead and Eleanor is a fugitive in a hostile country. Desperate for help, she throws herself on the mercy of Brice Sutherland, a handsome Scottish warrior who should be her enemy. Instead, he cares for her tenderly, reviving her shattered spirit—and awakening urges unlike any she’s ever known.

Brice Sutherland is traveling a road to his lands when he sees a pile of rags in the road. When he goes to investigate he finds that it’s a woman and he believes that she’s so close to death she won’t make it through the night. He decides to take her with him so that she won’t have to die alone and the woman surprises him and rallies. Brice takes her home but she’s skittish and he can tell that she’s been abused in more ways than one. It turns out that a colonel in the British army wanted her for himself so he killed her husband and then tried to take her for himself. She refused him so he imprisoned her but she managed to escape.

Though Eleanor can’t talk when she first gets to Brice’s home, Dornach, she is soon making herself comfortable by being useful. She finds herself loving being a different person than the insipid, naïve woman she used to be. She also finds herself getting quite close with Brice as he helps her sleep through the nights and survive her nightmares. They get closer and closer but there are many things standing in the way of the two being together. Eleanor decides she must leave for Canada as the colonel who is searching for her, Blackwood, will never give up the search for her and when he finds her she knows she’ll die.

This was a great story. The premise, the tension that is created between Brice and Eleanor, the unknown aspect of Blackwood, Eleanor and Brice’s growing love – it all coalesced into a well written book.

Eleanor had been a pampered London miss who was raised to be that way. She didn’t know any better and by her own admission had been selfish and snobbish. Once she sees the inside of dungeon and experiences the horrors there her world and priorities changed. When she meets Brice he changes her mind even further about what she wants out of life and I loved seeing the way she grew throughout the book.

Brice was a wonderful hero. He was kind and thoughtful, generous with his feelings and his time and I loved almost everything about him. Though he wasn’t involved in the battle of Culloden and hadn’t chosen sides he was sympathetic to the Scottish people who were being terrorized by the British soldiers. Because of that he was helping people leave Scotland for Canada. He risked his life for those he didn’t know and it made me love him even more.

The book was so good and kept me on the edge of my seat as well as warmed by heart with the romance. If you love a good 18th century Scottish historical then you won’t want to pass this one by.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

four-half-stars


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