historical

The Hunter by Monica McCarty

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

The Hunter (Highland Guard, #7)

Grade-C
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-Highland Guard #7
Genre-Historical
Reviewed by Kay
380 pages

Ewen “Hunter” Lamont is a minor chieftain and part of Robert Bruce’s Highland Guard. He is also an expert tracker. He has been given the task of bringing Janet of Mar back to Bruce, which will bring an end to Janet’s being a spy. The two shared a pretty steamy kiss awhile back and neither of them have forgotten it.

Janet of Mar is head strong, loyal and very pretty. She’s also a very good spy. She has considered taking her vows as a nun so she won’t lose her freedom. She views marriage as serfdom. Ewen is a typical male of the times with his views on where a woman’s place is. He can’t stand that Janet is in danger all the time.

This is not Monica McCarty’s best work. I hope the next book in this series is back up to her usual standards. Very few people can write Scottish Highlander romance well. She is usually one of them but this one fell short.

Seducing The HIghlander by Michele Sinclair

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Seducing the Highlander (McTiernay Brothers, #5)
Grade-C
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-McTiernay Brothers #5
Genre-Historical
Reviewed by Kay
373 pages

Craig McTiernay is a highlander who is comfortable with his lot in life for the most part. He has a large and wonderful family. He has wealth. He’s good looking and he has his best friend, Meriel.
Meriel is a laird’s daughter and his sister-in-law. They have developed a true friendship since their twins married each other.

This story is about each of them falling in love with one another despite their vehement stance on not marrying. Both are headstrong and stubborn but very passionate about everything. When they finally give into their feelings, it is truly a realistic look at marriage. It’s ups and downs. It’s adjustment periods and the realization that we each have our faults.

My huge problem with this is that I had to wait for two years to get this book. The author, who, in her defense, writes great love scenes, started another series before she finished this one. I HATE that! I read a lot and in great number, so if I have to wait a long time for a book it’s hard for me to remember characters and such. Unfortunately, I never warmed to the book because of not remembering details and it pretty much ruined the series for me. Then I look up to see what the author is writing next and it is a book to the other series and that cemented it for me. Very sad because I love Scottish historical romance and she did it well.

The Taming of Ryder Cavanaugh by Stephanie Laurens

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

The Taming of Ryder Cavanaugh (The Cynster Sisters Duo #2)
Grade-B
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-Cynster Sisters Duo #2/Cynster #20
Genre-Historical
Reviewed by Kate
448 pages

Mary Cynster is the youngest in her generation. The last chance for other families to join their names with the Cynster name (which holds much clout). However, Mary is known to be a take-charge, bossy kind of gal. In fact, she has most of the eligible men of the ton rather intimidated. Ryder Cavanaugh is not intimidated though. He’s intrigued. He likes the challenge that Mary presents for him but most of all he likes that sense of family that she has, a sense that he didn’t have growing up. Things can’t be that easy, of course. Mary has set her sights on someone else (Ryder’s half-brother) and is resolutely ignoring the stirrings she feels for Ryder. Ryder knows Mary would be able to walk all over his half-brother. She needs someone more her equal, someone like him. Challenge accepted.

My first thought when I picked this book up was “Holy Crap! The family tree in the beginning is making my eyes cross.” Then I realized that I had managed to pick up the 20th book in this series. And finally I realized that somehow in my 6+ years of reading romance, I had managed to NOT stumble across one of the other 19 books. Amazing. And then I started reading.

Mary and Ryder’s relationship made me smile from the first page. Mary’s continued denial of her feelings for Ryder made the first part of the story drag a bit, but once she finally admitted her feelings to herself (about a 1/4 of the way in), the story takes off and never slows down. The relationship between Mary and Ryder was humorous, even if not out right laugh causing. There was such a sense of fate surrounding the two that you just couldn’t help but root for them. And for all you suspense fans, there’s a bit of that here too. If I had one complaint, it would be the epilogue. It seemed to be more of an epilogue for the series, and since I haven’t read the earlier books, it was a bit confusing trying to keep everyone straight. I’m sure readers of the earlier books would appreciate it though.

Reminding me of Julia Quinn, Stephanie Laurens has made a new fan. I will not hesitate to turn to her for my next historical romance fix. And although the thought of reading the prior 19 books is a bit daunting, it’s a task I will be undertaking.

Because once I start a series, I can’t stop, I’m not a huge fan of super-large series. I prefer a trilogy of books. How about you? What’s the perfect number of books for a series to contain?