The Raider by Monica McCarty

The Devil’s Enforcer and the English “Princess”.
The Raider (Highland Guard, #8)

Grade-B
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-Highland Guard #8
Genre-Historical Scottish Romance
Reviewed by Kay
432 pages
Robbie Boyd is a member of Bruce’s Phantoms, fighting for the Highland Guard. He’s a lethal weapon whether he has a sword or just his bare hands. The bloody and on going fight with the English to control Scotland has hardened him. He fights for what’s right and to avenge the death of his family at the hands of the English. He tries to kidnap his worst foe’s heir and ends up with his sister also.

Rosalin is the sister of Boyd’s greatest enemy. She’s unspeakably beautiful and innocent. She shares a close bond with her brother. She knows about the war between England and Scotland. She’s grown up hearing about the barbaric Scots. Robbie Boyd in particular. As a young girl, she freed Boyd and his friends after their capture because she sensed something in Robbie. And in that moment, she fell in love with him.

This novel is about two polar opposites, first love and the need for honor and revenge. Can the princess tame the Highlander? Can he see past his need for revenge? Does love conquer all?

Monica McCarty is back on top with this novel. Lately, she’s been hit or miss with this series for me, but this book was….wow. Great characters, great story, smokin’ hot sex and a happily ever after. Oh, and Highlanders, yum! I can’t wait for the next book in the series.

Married for Christmas by Noelle Adams

*Note: So, I have a thing for reading holiday themed stories.  The thing is, I generally lag behind by a month or so.  So, here I review a great story set at… Christmas.  Enjoy! ~Anne
18801516
Grade: A-
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, Marriage of Convenience
Series: Willow Park #1
Published: 12/1/13
Reviewed by Anne
140 ebook pages

Jessica and her best friend Daniel agree to a friendly marriage.  Jessica has had a long time crush on Daniel (unbeknownst to him) and is pretty reserved socially and is despairing of finding someone to start a family with.  Daniel is a pastor who is being considered for the job to lead their small town church, but his unmarried state is a bit of a drawback for the church considering him.  Jessica talks Daniel into this marriage between friends.

So, I was really intrigued by a non-inspy book that featured people for whom religion was a large part of their life – a pastor!  I was lucky enough to get a copy from NetGalley and fired it up on my iPad one night at 11:30.  I was immediately hooked, and very emotionally involved in this book!  I was near tears – and HATE to cry while reading – but I loved it.  So I stayed up until 1:30am finishing the book, despite the fact that I’d be home alone with my four children the next day!  And I don’t regret it!

The thing that had me near tears was watching Jessica truly love Daniel.  He loved her back, but it was more of a friendship love, and he seemed to be working hard to keep a boundary between them.  Then they’d have a moment where they truly seemed close, and he’d pull back and distance himself again.  Even though the story is told solely from Jessica’s point of view, it seemed clear that he was developing feelings for her.  It wasn’t too clear why he was sabotaging those feelings, though!  It was especially painful because his unintentional hurts seemed to pile right on top of some insecurities she was holding onto.

As a character, Daniel was very interesting.  Jessica was almost too perfect.  She was shy and not good at cooking, but, really, who cares?  She was emotionally perfect and a bit of a martyr.  It was believable to me because they were trying to apply logic to a very emotional situation, so I’ll give her a pass on being an emotional Mary Sue.

There was a drawback to the single point of view of the book, and that was that some revelations about Daniel’s character caught me off guard when I read them.  I really did feel like there was much alluding to them.

Despite these drawbacks, the story really worked for me.  And as the cherry on top of this emo romance, there was really well written explicit sex!  What?  Religious people who have on page sex?  I loved it!  I recommend this book and I’ll be watching for more in this series!  (I’m rooting for a book about Daniel’s brother, Micah!)

Lord of Wicked Intentions by Lorraine Heath

Lord of Wicked Intentions (The Lost Lords of Pembrook, #3)
Grade-C
Hotness Level-Blaze
Kink Level-No Kink
Series-The Lost Lords of Pembrook #3
Genre-Regency Historical
Reviewed by Kay
370 pages

Rafe Easton is one of the Lost Lords of Pembrooke. They were hunted to be killed as boys so they didn’t inherit the title that was theirs. The boys split up at very young ages with the promise to come back when they were older, to reclaim all they had to give up. Rafe was the youngest brother and went to work in the workhouses. His existence was horrific at best. Beaten regularly. As he got older he became of debt collector for a very dangerous man. He then became the owner of all that this man had. His life only cost him his soul and his heart.

Evelyn Chambers was the illegitimate daughter of an earl. After her mother’s death she came to live with her father and her half brother. Her life was sheltered and pampered but never public. After her father’s death, she is offered up to a group a gentlemen. She would go to the highest bidder. At the time, she thought her brother was trying to get her a husband.

Rafe sees Evelyn and knows he can’t let her to to one of those men in attendance at the get together. He offers for with the intent of her becoming his mistress. Evelyn is horrified at her circumstances but she possess no skills to speak of. She knows what this means. She has to become a mistress to man that doesn’t even seem to like her.

I loved the premise of this book and was pleased with the outcome. What I didn’t like was that I found parts of it very slow and boring. The parts that were good were very good but the others were tedious. I was looking forward to this read because historicals are always palate cleansers for me. There were emotional scenes but Rafe just left me cold. All in all, I enjoyed this series and look forward to Lorraine Heath’s next series.