In a tale of strong ties and true love, Maya Banks' trilogy comes to its conclusion, as the youngest McCabe brother uses sword and seduction to save his clan - and seal his heart.
Caelen McCabe’s young, reckless heart nearly destroyed his clan. Now, putting family loyalty above all else, he steps up to marry his older brother’s jilted bride and salvage the uneasy alliance between two clans. While beautiful Rionna McDonald is a fit wife for any man, Caelen trusts no woman, especially not this sweet temptress who torments him with white-hot longing.
As the sacrificial lamb in her father’s power game, Rionna will do her duty but vows to protect her heart and her pride from humiliation. Despite everything, though, the heat in Caelen’s touch melts her defenses, and she craves the sensual delights of a husband who guards his emotions as fiercely as his clan. But when the ultimate battle for the McCabe legacy is upon them, Rionna’s true warrior spirit emerges. She will risk the wrath of her father, the fury of her enemies, and her life to prove to Caelen that his wife’s love is too precious to lose.
Review:
And finally it's Rionna's book! I was intrigued by Rionna's character right from book one when she stomped up to a group of warriors, in trousers and helm, and showed them just who was bitch with the pointy end of her sword. Oh, how that doth ticketh all my boxes. When she took her helmet off and they realized it was a lass? Hee hee! I love it!
And who has she been paired with but the surliest of the brothers, Caelen McCabe. And man who's convinced all women are treacherous wenches just waiting to strike after a betrayal when he was but a young lad. It's fair to say Caelen has a few issues to work through, and only someone as strong as Rionna could have possibly tamed this particular Highlander's heart.
“'Tis a universal truth that when a lass says she's been thinking, a man ought to be wary.”
It was another emotional book but I didn't cry quite as much as I did over book two (probably since that's impossible). And there was a lot more action than in the previous book too, which I like. I wouldn't have expected anything less from Rionna's book, really.
The overall story arc has been wrapped up nicely and I have to say this has been a really wonderful trilogy. Maya Banks will be an auto-buy author from here on out.
Highly recommended to all fans of Scottish romance.
4 Stars! ★★★★
Original Title Never Love a Highlander by
Maya Banks ISBN 0345519515 (ISBN13: 9780345519511)
Edition Language English
Series McCabe Trilogy #3
Three signs that something is very different with your new man:
1. He sleeps all day . . . which would be annoying except he's so attentive at night.
2. He's attacked by sword-wielding assailants, yet insists he can handle it on his own.
3. He never seems to age.
Heather Westfield has always lived a quiet life, but that all changes when she helps a very handsome, very mysterious stranger. There's something not quite right about Jean-Luc, but still, she's never been with a man so charming, so attractive . . . so wonderful. Now if only a murderous villain wasn't after them, they might get their happily-ever-after.
Review:
I admit I came to this novel with less than enthusiastic expectations when I found out it was Jean-Luc's book. You see, the impression I'd got of him in the previous books had made me think he was only ever going to be a secondary character. He just didn't seem like leading man/hero material. I think it's because he's a French fashion designer and whenever I see that description, I get this in my head:
Franck Eggelhoffer - Father of the Bride
Of course, now that I've actually read the book, I get something more like this:
*sigh* Bonjour, Jean-Luc ♥
He made an adorable hero. I couldn't have been more wrong if I'd tried. And the heroine, a full-figured red-haired beauty, was also a breath of fresh air. I loved the fact that after working with wraith-thin models for 30 years, the sight of Heather (Or 'Hezzaire' as Jean-Luc would say) reminded him of the great Silver Screen beauties from back in the day like Marilyn Monroe or Diana Dors, and he was totally smitten at first sight. Their courtship was sweet and often humorous. Heather didn't seem to realise how many of the men in her small town drooled over her. She was totally oblivious. I think she just assumed that because she wasn't as obviously beautiful or outgoing as her model BFF, Sasha, that she was somehow beyond notice. She was wrong.
As well as new men wanting her attention, she also has a couple of old flames who can't seem to let her go. Such as her ex-husband, Cody, whose only redeeming feature seems to be that he gave her her cutie-pie daughter, Bethany. Bethany almost stole the show along with Heather's fortune-telling, gun-toting neighbour Fedelia. They both provided many cute and funny moments and were excellent secondary characters.
Again, the story followed the same pattern as the previous books, of the reader knowing right from the getgo that Jean-Luc is a vamp, but then having to watch Heather slowly but surely figure it out. I'm kinda waiting for this to start getting on my nerves because it is becoming quite formulaic, but somehow the author is managing not to irritate with it so far.
My only fault with it was that the Big Bad made very little impact and was hardly on page save for a very brief intro and a somewhat anticlimactic exit.
A great continuation of the series, highly recommended. Next up is Ian's book which I've been dying to get to!
4 Stars! ★★★★
Original Title The Undead Next Door by
Kerrelyn Sparks ISBN 0061118451 (ISBN13: 9780061118456)
Edition Language English
Series Love at Stake #4
I don't do dangerous.
Smart, über-careful, ordinary Samantha-that's me. But I just couldn't pass up a surprise kiss from my number-one unattainable crush. A kiss that did something to me...something strange. Now I feel hungry all the time, but not for food. It's like part of me is missing-and I don't know if I can get it back.
Then there's Bishop. At first I thought he was just a street kid, but the secrets he's keeping are as intense as his unearthly blue eyes. If he's what I think he is, he may be the only one who can help me. But something terrifying is closing in, and the one chance Bishop and I have to stop it means losing everything I ever wanted and embracing the darkness inside me....
NIGHTWATCHERS
When angels and demons must work together, something beyond evil is rising...
Review:
First of all, I cry foul! Where's the Elvis hair gone? I was promised Elvis hair!
When the cover for this was first released the guy on the cover had this massive Elvis quiff that brought me no end of amusement. Seriously, you could have done a Half Pipe off the thing.Don't believe me? Check it out, here's the original:Elvis hair:
And here's the new one:No Elvis hair:
Now where's the fun in that? It's all, like, normal and stuff. B. O. R. I. N. G.As for the contents inside the book? Eh. It was okay. It was a decent enough story, but it had a lot of cliches, incredibly 2D cardboard cut-out characters, and a rather unlikable protagonist.The worst part for me was the characterisation of the main character, Samantha, which consisted of TELLING me (as opposed to showing me), that she was a bookish, nerdy type that incongruously, for reasons unknown to the world at large, kept banging on about how she'd once shoplifted and ran away from home and spent three nights sleeping rough on the streets. #troubled #introvertedShe was also quite bitchy and snarky, which was another thing she kept TELLING us about; that she had this incredible wit and had learned to fight people with her sharp tongue. Not once did I find any of her comebacks funny or cool in any way, but whatevs. #ohsnap #noyoudi'n'tShe was also a bit TSTL. Like, "Hee, hee! Let's follow the weird, clearly mental, homeless dude into a dark alley. 'Cause he's like, super hot!". #inspired #tinygeniusAnd that's really all the characterisation you get. #theendOh, but then there were the boys: One good but tormented. One bad but redeemable. One really sweet, the token friend. One bad as bad can be...I'm pretty sure the YAers will lap it all up, but I've read far too many books, including recently two brilliant YA books (Wilde's Fire by Krystal Wade and Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa), to accept this mediocre writing. It's all been done before so much better.Having said all that, I did read it all the way through and in pretty short order. Like I said, the story itself was not too terrible and could have been so much better if it had some decent characters to carry it. But alas, it did not.To sum up, it entertained me for a few hours, but I didn't like the characters enough to want more. I won't be reading the next one.3 stars ★★★Original Title Dark Kiss by
Michelle Rowen ISBN 0373210477 (ISBN13: 9780373210473)
Edition Language English
Series Nightwatchers #1
