Tag: Sue-Ellen Welfonder

Throwback Thursday Guest Review: Seducing A Scottish Bride by Sue-Ellen Welfonder

Posted July 30, 2020 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Features, Reviews | 5 Comments

Throwback Thursday Guest Review: Seducing A Scottish Bride by Sue-Ellen WelfonderReviewer: Tracy
Seducing a Scottish Bride by Sue-Ellen Welfonder
Series: MacKenzie #6
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: March 1, 2009
Format: Print ARC
Source: Publisher
Genres: Historical Romance
Pages: 366
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three-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

Gelis MacKenzie is one of the most desirable heiresses in all the Western Highlands. She is the youngest and much adored daughter of the indomitable Black Stag of Kintail, Duncan MacKenzie, who was the hero of Welfonder's novel DEVIL IN A KILT. Unfortunately, Gelis has been branded unmarriageable, but not for lack of masculine interest. No matter how lofty the ancestry, how deep the purse, or how mighty the sword arm, nary a one of her suitors is good enough for her father. Although he loves Gelis fiercely and knows he must someday see her settled and wed, Duncan isn't quite ready to let her go.

But now Duncan has received an offer for Gelis's hand in marriage that he is honor-bound to accept-and it comes from the worst possible quarter. The suitor, Ronan MacRuari of Castle Dare, is the last man Duncan MacKenzie would wish for a son-in-law. Known as the Raven, Ronan is the scion of a dark clan that has been marked by a deadly curse.

Ronan and Gelis are instantly attracted to one another, but they are immediately estranged. Ronan's last two wives have died abruptly and he doesn't want to see his vivacious newly-wed Gelis suffer the same fate, so he distances himself from her as much as possible. In the meantime, Ronan searches for the Raven Stone, a fabled treasure that he believes holds the power of the curse over his clan. But Gelis has fallen in love with her new husband, and she's determined to help him. Though Ronan doesn't know it, Gelis also has the gift of second-sight, and she has seen a future in which she is destined to help redeem her cursed husband.

*** Every Thursday, we’ll be posting throwback reviews of our favorite and not-so-favorite books. Enjoy! ***

This review was originally posted on March 5, 2009.

After Gelis’s vision of the man she is to marry she is very excited about the match. She knows nothing about the curse on the MacRuari clan at first but when she hears of it is bound and determined that she call aid in the breaking of it.

Ronan MacRuari is dead set against this arranged marriage – arranged by his grandfather. He is certain that he is cursed to the point of thinking bad things and having them come true. He doesn’t want to have yet another wife, his 3rd, die as the other two have.

This book was a little confusing for me. The curse was explained but until the end you didn’t know exactly what the curse was and even then it was sketchy. The Holders, who were the ancient Druids that were the ones who cursed the MacRuari clan were talked about but it was never definitely stated exactly who they were or where they came from. Now, this appears to be the 6th book in the series so these items may have been spoken about previously but as a newcomer to Ms. Welfonder’s work I was a tad baffled by things occasionally.

It was a cute book though. I normally like my romances to have a little more depth in them when it comes to the relationship between the hero and heroine but for a historical book with an arranged marriage it was nice. I also thought the book had a good mixture of reality and magic so if you like a tad bit of paranormal in your historical this would be a great book for you.

And can I just say I love the cover of this book! There’s just something about it. Maybe because we see so many “fronts” of people these days that it’s a nice change to see the back! lol

Rating: 3 out of 5

three-stars


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Guest Reviews are Posted

Posted March 5, 2009 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Head on over to The Book Binge and check out two of my reviews!

Life’s Breath by Nancy Wald
The prince usually saves the girl but can the girl save the prince? Fifteen years ago, sorceress Arlana created something evil. It now threatens to destroy the kingdom she calls home. To defeat it, she must fulfill her destiny. Not only does the future of the realm hang in the balance, so does the life of her beloved Prince Garrett.

Magic, treachery and loyalty gives Prince Garrett reason to doubt, to resist…and love Arlana. When she asks him to set honor aside and tie his blood with hers, can he sort through the scars left on his heart and accept the obstinate sorceress? Is love enough to save a kingdom in crisis?

Seducing a Scottish Bride by Sue-Ellen Welfonder

Lady Gelis MacKenzie, one of the most desirable heiresses in the Highlands, yearns for love. When a vision shows her a darkly seductive man, she knows she’s seen her future betrothed. But when she finally meets the handsome stranger, she finds a man who has endured more than any warrior can bear. She must use all her wiles to convince him that love is worth any challenge.

With his dashing good looks and smoldering eyes, Ronan MacRuari, known as the Raven, is every woman’s dream. Yet with his late wife newly buried and the MacRuari curse haunting him, he weds only to satisfy his clan. Refusing to believe in curses, Gelis trusts the magic of her second sight. As she kisses away the Raven’s doubts, she unleashes a torrent of desire. Yet Ronan knows that loving Gelis places her in mortal danger. Soon he’ll fight dangerous forces to protect her as only a Highlander can — with his whole heart, his honor, and his life….

Enjoy!!


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What I’ve Been Reading This Week

Posted March 2, 2009 by Tracy in Features | 10 Comments

Hey folks! Another week has gone by – and actually a whole other month. Where does the time go?

Life in Sunny So. Cal is just going along pretty well. My youngest did another poetry recital this past week – again not letting me record her (she really needs to stop that). I think she was less confident about this one. It was about Abraham Lincoln and it was 4 stanza’s 4 lines to each stanza – wow. It had words she didn’t even know and were hard for her to remember – poverty, slavery, Civil War (she kept saying silva war ;)) but she did well. She said she had to be prompted a little on the last stanza when she was doing it in class – but of the 6 kids who “recited” this week she was the only one who didn’t read it so I was pretty damned proud of her.

My oldest is doing well. We’ve temporarily stopped the tutoring which is sad (husband’s job is crazy). She’s improved tremendously though and it was well worth the money spent. Hopefully we can get her back in when life settles down a bit. Her big news this week (she wanted to make sure I wrote this) was that she got her bangs cut. lol Isn’t that cute? She’s crazy. We started growing them out when she was 4 so she doesn’t really remember ever having them. She loves them! I think she looks younger with the bangs – she insists she looks older – yay, just what I need. lol

I also went to the Bookstore today for the first time in almost a month (holy cow!) and bought 4 more books. Dear God they’re starting to take over my office! lol My hubby just rolled his eyes. Hey – if you don’t want me to buy books don’t buy me a Borders gift card! 🙂

So on to what I read this week:

First up was The Commander’s Desire by Jennette Green. Jennette randomly befriended me on myspace and I went to check out her page. This is her first published book (from what I can tell) and on a whim I decided to purchase it. I’m so glad I did. This was a great book that takes place in the Middle Ages. A king who is trying to take over another kingdom sends his sister to marry their king. Only the king doesn’t want a wife and gives her to his Commander – a huge, scarred man with a bent/broken nose. The problem is the sister is there under false pretenses and is supposed to murder the Commander – which she is willing to do because she hates him for killing her older brother. What happens between the two kingdoms as well as the romance that blooms between the sister and the Commander was well done. I was completely captivated and didn’t want to put my ereader down for a moment. I did, but quickly picked it up at the next possible moment. I’m looking forward to any other books Jennette comes out with.


Next I read books 2 and 3 in the Tall, Dark and Dangerous series by Suzanne Brockmann, Forever Blue and Frisco’s Kid. I have to say I’m really liking the series. The books are category short so there’s not a ton of story there but what is there is great. I particularly liked Forever Blue. I thought the banter and coming together of Blue and Lucy was very sweet.
In Frisco’s Kid Frisco is just a pain in the ass and feeling sorry for himself but the way that Mia and Natasha bring him around was pretty cool. This was one book where I didn’t mind seeing the hero cry. Oh and I love the cover there to the right. Humina, humina love those arms! 🙂


Seducing a Scottish Bride by Sue-Ellen Wolfender was my first read by this author. I read this one for The Book Binge so watch for my review over there. I’ll try to let you know when it posts.


Life’s Breath by Nancy Wald was a novella I also read for TBB so again, keep your eye out for the review.


I started Crate and Peril by J.D. Warren but just couldn’t get into the story after 5 chapters. It may have to do with the fact that I felt like I was missing stuff not having read book 1 in this series (which I didn’t know existed until I was completely annoyed and looked it up). Has anyone read this series and if so would you recommend reading book 1?


Sweet Release by Pamela Clare was my next read. Nikki had given me this trilogy a while back and I just hadn’t picked it up. Silly Tracy. This was a great book. An English shipping magnate who is kidnapped and shipped off to the Colonies under the guise of him being a “defiler and ravisher of women”. A woman who is running her father’s plantation buys the convict’s indentured servitude evne though he’s almost dead by the time he gets to America. Will the man who is supposedly a rapist be able to clear his name and can he resist the plantation owners daughter? I loved the characters and the story equally. I read this one pretty quickly as I was so engrossed in the story. I’ll definitely be picking up book two sooner rather than later.


Last up was Too Good To Be True by Kristan Higgins. I hadn’t decided until this moment to do a review on this book but I feel one coming on. lol Yes, I’m thinking I’ll post it Tuesday.

Have you read any of these books and if so what did you think?

Happy reading!


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