Review: Much better than the first book
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 21, 2014
I see that this author appears to have worked out some of the issues that reviewers had with the first book and the result is a good read.Briefly, the H is sent by King Robert of Scotland to oversee the h's family issues. The h's father is seriously ill and his heir is missing and hasn't been seen for years (he left to go and fight in France). The H's dad appeals to the King for help and he sends the H, who is the brother of the H from the first book. When the h's father dies, the H advises everyone that he has been nominated as the new Laird. He has also been instructed to wed the h within 7 days. The H decides not to tell her immediately because they knew each other as children and didn't get on well. There are some critical facts that come out very early in the book and influence everything but that are not mentioned in the Amazon summary. I will put them under spoilers for those who prefer not to know.+++Spoilers+++The h was raped as a 15 year old and has a 4 year old daughter. She never told anyone who raped her but the clan openly accepted her daughter. I think if I'd read that before I bought the book I might have been persuaded not to buy the book. I'm not a fan of raped main characters and they seem all too prevalent in books these days. However I would have missed out on a very good story. One of the issues I had with the first book is the callous way that H treated his wife and how he practically violated his wife on their wedding night. In fact in my review I mention that things weren't good for awhile between those characters. This H on the other hand was incredible with the h, I can't believe how well the author wrote those parts. Everything happens fairly quickly in this book and yet the author manages to create believable intimacy between them. That isn't too say there isn't any drama, because there is. As gentle as the H is with the h in terms of physicality, he is not always careful with the way he speaks. There are a few misunderstandings but they get sorted out well.All in all this was a good story, well written with very few errors. It can definitely be read as a stand alone book, if you prefer not to read the first.