McCabe: Seduction of a Highland Lass

Seduction of a Highland Lass

Fiercely loyal to his older brother, Alaric McCabe leads his clan in the fight for their birthright. Now, he is prepared to wed for duty, as well. But on his way to claim the hand of Rionna McDonald, daughter of a neighboring chieftain, he is ambushed and left for dead. Miraculously, his life is saved by the soft touch of a Highland angel, a courageous beauty who will put his fealty to his clan, his honor, and his deepest desires, to the test.

An outcast from her own clan, Keely McDonald was betrayed by those she loved and trusted. When the wounded warrior falls from his horse, she is drawn to his strong, lean body. The wicked glint in his green eyes ignites a passion that will follow them back to Alaric’s keep, where their forbidden love draws them deeper into the pleasures of the flesh. But as conspiracy and danger circle closer, Alaric must make an impossible choice. Will he betray his blood ties for the woman he loves?

I have to admit, this series has come as something of a surprise. I looked at the cover and I read the blurb–for this book and In Bed with a Highlander–and was a little hesitant. As you know, I loved In Bed with a Highlander. But it’s been a while so I once again found myself judging a book by its cover. And once again, I was completely blown away.

Alaric is the middle McCabe brother. He’s not as serious as Ewan and not as grouchy and brooding as Caelen. He’s the nice brother. This isn’t to say that he’s any kind of slouch in the sexy badass department. His loyal to his family and his clan is absolute. There is nothing he values more in his life. Which is why, when Laird McDonald put forth the idea of uniting the McCabes and McDonalds through marriage, Alaric stepped up and offered to marry Rionna McDonald. He’s not totally enamoured with Rionna, but… she’ll do. Marrying her will also give Alaric the opportunity to be laird of his own keep, something that will be impossible if he stays with his family. In all, not a bad way for his life to go. But as it turns out, things don’t go exactly to plan. In fact, they go horribly awry with Alaric and his men being attacked in the dead of night. All of his men are killed and Alaric is gravely injured. He hops on his horse in the hopes of getting to safety as soon as possible.

Enter Keely. Keely’s been living on her own for years after being kicked out of her clan. She doesn’t get many visitors aside from those who seek her out for her healing skills. So you can imagine her surprise at seeing this huge ass horse riding up to her cottage and an unconscious man dropping to her feet. Keely’s a little uncertain. Which is smart given that she has no idea who Alaric is or where the hell he came from. But she can’t in good conscience leave him there so she manages to drag him into her cottage and nurses him back to health. Everything goes along swimmingly until the McCabes come to reclaim Alaric and insist on her accompanying them back to their keep. This is where Keely and Alaric are drawn deeper into their attraction to one another. Things are especially difficult for Keely once she realises that not only is he betrothed to another, but that this woman–Rionna– was once her best friend.

I enjoyed this book so very much. Keely and Alaric were wonderful characters. I especially enjoyed Keely. That girl had steel in her spine. She managed to survive after being kicked out of her home for something she didn’t do, she manages to heal the people who come to her for help and, especially impressive, she manages to hold her own with the McCabes. Despite knowing that the guy she loved was going to marry another, Keely had so much dignity. Alaric was… surprisingly sexy. I wasn’t too sure about him from the previous book. It’s not that I didn’t like him, I just wasn’t paying him very much attention. Trust me, all that changed pretty quick; it involved some sexy time featuring some light bondage. It may or may not feature for this week’s Holy Wow Wednesday…

I definitely recommend giving this book a try. Please, I know the blurb and cover are misleading, but this series is so definitely worth your time. You can get it over at Kobo, nice and cheap 😉    

McCabe: In Bed With A Highlander

In Bed With A Highlander

Ewan McCabe, the eldest, is a warrior determined to vanquish his enemy. Now, with the time ripe for battle, his men are ready and Ewan is poised to take back what is his-until a blue-eyed, raven-haired temptress is thrust upon him. Mairin may be the salvation of Ewan’s clan, but for a man who dreams only of revenge, matters of the heart are strange territory to conquer.

Though the illegitimate daughter of the king, Mairin possesses prized property that makes her a pawn-and wary of love. Her worst fears are realized when she is rescued from peril, only to be forced into marriage by her charismatic and commanding savior, Ewan McCabe. But her attraction to her ruggedly powerful new husband finds her craving his surprisingly tender touch; her body comes alive under his sensual mastery. And as war draws near, Mairin’s strength, spirit and passion challenge Ewan to conquer his demons-and embrace a love that means more than revenge and land.

In Bed With A Highlander is the first book of Maya Banks’ that I’ve read. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. This book had been sitting in my to-be-read pile for quite a while, and I’d sort of forgotten about it. When I got around to it and saw the title and the cover, I was like, “Oh, boy. It’s going to be one of those.” You know the ones I’m talking about: those types of romance novels that make some of us embarrassed to be caught reading the genre. Luckily, this was not the case.

The story is set in the Highland’s of Scotland. Our leading lady is Mairin Stuart, the Scottish king’s illegitimate daughter. Traditionally, illegitimate children get diddly squat from their father. However, Mairin is an exception to this rule: her father has given her one huge ass dowry, and it’s made her a hot commodity for Scotland’s eligible bachelors. I was a little bit… dubious when Mairin first came onto the scene, She seemed a little to damsel-in-distressy for me. The fact that we first find her hiding in an abbey until she could decide on Mr Right just had me a little, “Meh”. Unfortunately for Mairin, though, she doesn’t actually get the chance to make the decision because she’s kidnapped by the dastardly Duncan Cameron’s men. I find that sometimes authors go out of their way to make the villain as obviously evil as they can in all the cliche-ridden ways they can think of. Thankfully, Ms Banks refrained from doing this. Still, Duncan Cameron was evil and I wanted to stab him.

Enter our hero, Ewan McCabe, a man fully capable of making Cameron a bad memory. Ewan is the dashing laird of his keep and he has a major ax to grind with Cameron. So when Cameron’s would-be bride ends up on McCabe property after escaping from being forced into marriage, Ewan can see the merits in marrying the young lady himself. His way of giving Cameron the finger, I suppose. I know this makes it sound like Mairin was this passive lump just going along with whatever the men decided, but this was not the case. Granted, she didn’t have much control over the circumstances that were turning her life upside down but at least she was smart about how she reacted. She could have put up more of a fuss about marrying Ewan, but she knew that, at that stage, he was her best bet. But after the I-do’s are said, Mairin does not hesitate to give her new husband the what-for. An example of Mairin speaking her mind? The consummation of their marriage was quite a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am affair, one that Mairin has absolutely no desire to repeat. When Ewan broaches the subject of doing it again, Mairin very firmly puts him in his place:

 ” ‘Tis a well-known fact that a man is either skilled in matters of loving or matters of war. ‘Tis obvious that fighting is your skill.”

Ouch! All in all, I really enjoyed this book. It took me by surprise a couple of times and reminded me that the adage “don’t judge a book by its cover” really is true.