Book Review: The Ranger (Highland Guard #3) by Monica McCarty

FIVE STARS

I loved this book from the beginning to the end. At just over 400 pages, it grabbed me and didn’t let go. I didn’t want it to end, but sadly, less than 24 hours later, it had to.

This is the third book of the Highland Guard series. I read “The Chief” and “The Hawk” and loved them, but this one has to be my favorite so far. And it’s all because of Arthur Campbell, known to his comrades as “The Ranger.” There are twelve guys in the elite Highland Guard and each has a war name for either a special skill or maybe it was given in jest.

Arthur is a tough guy, no holds barred. He’s big at 6’4″, muscular, handsome, smart, stealthy, lives on the edge, a loner, a spy, and thinks he’s unlovable. He had me near tears more than once because he was unwilling to accept that somebody could actually love him. He had a million reasons as to why Anna couldn’t and shouldn’t. But he was drawn to her and kept telling himself he wasn’t worthy of her, she deserved better, but she was like a light to moth to him. He wasn’t nice to her sometimes but she kept coming back and wearing him down.

Anna was the perfect fit for Arthur. She’s tenacious when it comes to him. She was smitten when he first arrived at her father’s castle with a group of men who were supposed to provide reinforcements against Robert Bruce, who is trying take back Scotland with a vast army and his Highland Guard. She tries to befriend Arthur, but he really wants nothing to do with friendship, not just with her, but with anyone. Soon that turns into he wants nothing to do with her at all, even though she dominates his thoughts. She’s the enemy’s daughter, after all. He’s got a job to do and there’s a little matter of exacting revenge on her father for killing his father and she’s a major distraction.

So much happened that made me wonder how this was all going to end. The odds were impossible and they were up against a wall, even if she didn’t know it. He did and he tried to thwart her interest, but she wasn’t going to have that. She was relentless with her desires and her curiosity. But she was a smart cookie, too. She knew that Arthur was different and rather than shame or shun him, she embraced it and him. She made him feel like he never had before, even when he wasn’t kind to her. It gave me warm fuzzies.

The tension between Arthur and Anna is off the charts. The chemistry between them jumps off the pages and the steamy scenes were pretty hot. There’s a love story here, though, too. It isn’t all about physical attraction, although there is a lot of that, but with Arthur’s vulnerability and her not giving up, there was a lot of heart involved. It was a beautiful thing to watch them fall in love.

I’d give this book a hundred stars if I could. It touched me. It moved me. It made me want more. I don’t think I’ll forget about Arthur or Anna any time soon.

~~~

Just a quick side note here: There are some painful torture scenes that might be a trigger to some. The book is set in Medieval times and it was a reality of the era. It was a little on the gruesome side, but not overdone. It could’ve been much worse.

*I borrowed this book from my local library but it’s available at online book retailers everywhere.

Book Reviews: What Would A Duke Do?: A Regency Romance (Seductive Scoundrels Book 4) by Collette Cameron

FIVE STARS

What would a duke do? Indeed.

Maxwell, Duke of Pennington, is bent on revenge for what Harold Breckensole did to his family. What he isn’t counting on is Gabriella, Breckensole’s granddaughter.

Maxwell or Max, is a duke, which is clear in the title of the book. Yes, he’s wanting to exact revenge for what Gabriella’s grandfather did to Max’s family, even if it didn’t affect him personally. It’s a matter of honor for him, but oh what a tangled web we weave when we set out to deceive. The secrets that were revealed were damning and painful for both Max and the Breckensole’s.

With one blue eye and one green eye and built like a brick house, he is something to behold, but there is so much more to Maxwell. He’s witty and intense yet sensitive and smart. At times my heart broke for him and the way he was treated when he was a child. It left him a little vulnerable, instead of hard and callous like his ancestors had been. I loved this guy from the very start of the book.

Gabriella was a bit enamored with him, but when she overhears him announcing to some friends that he was going to take her home, it was a deal-breaker. She avoided him and in the times they did meet, she was snappy and rude. He asked her numerous times, “What did I do to offend you?”

There was no chance for them to ever have anything together. He was a duke and she was a commoner and nobility didn’t marry out of their stations nor did they humble themselves to be benevolent to people who weren’t nobility. It was scandalous. Max didn’t care about any of that. He knew what he wanted and he was going to get it…or was he?

I loved the twists and turns in the plot and I loved the characters. I felt for Gabriella and her twin sister, Ophelia, because their grandfather was so frugal. They often went without, but they’d never lacked love or basic necessities. Both girls were happy and included in most everything. Max was raised by a stern father who was abusive to him before finally sending him off to boarding school. The contrast between the characters in that respect was clear and, considering how they were raised, they could have been very different people.

This is a story about love healing all, forgiveness, redemption, and even humility. It was beautifully written and left me with a sigh of satisfaction at the end. The story was fantastic, the characters compelling, and it was a great read overall. It had some real feel-good moments and a touch of steam.

*I received a free copy of this book and voluntarily left a review.

Available at Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/yxpkvlpv or your favorite online bookstores.

Book Review: Killing Justice (Fractured Minds Series Book #2) by Kate Allenton

FIVE STARS

Dr. Lucy Bray has me enthralled. I read the first book, “Stalked Justice” and couldn’t put it down. This was the same way with a far different case. The cast of characters is the same, only in this book, Carson is implicated in murders when five bodies are found in a lake near the town where he lives.

Lucy is witty, smart, and can make connections to crimes through touching the dead bodies of the victims. Often, she can see who the killer is. In this case, she holds back because she’s afraid Carson is guilty and doesn’t want anything to do with putting one of her friends in jail. She has to go back to good old-fashioned detective work, asking questions and doing research with the help of Sloan and his band of misfits.

I enjoyed every second of it. The plot was tight and the characters were easy to care about. It had twists and turns and a crime that involved more than just murder. I didn’t see that coming. I love a good surprise and plot twist and this story had it. As a matter of fact, this story had everything a good mystery should have, plus a shade of romance between Lucy and Sloan. I’m waiting for that part to burst open, but I wasn’t disappointed that it didn’t happen here. It’s adding to the tension between them.

Fantastic book and a fantastic series. I’m anxious to read the next book.

*Although this is the second book in the series, it can be read as a standalone novel. But why start here when the first book was awesome, too?

**I received a free copy of this book and voluntarily left a review

Available at Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/y2otl562

Book Review: Eight (Love by Numbers Book 6) by E. S. Carter

FOUR STARS

This is a story about a man who lost his wife shortly after she gave birth to their son and how he slowly got his life back.

Josh and Laura met in high school (it seemed like high school anyway), got married, had a little girl and then later, a little boy. I wish I could’ve seen more of their life together rather than just the first time they met. I don’t care about how they were dating in high school or college, but I wanted to see some of their family life. I wanted to see their routines, how they worked together and just their lives overall. I had no trouble feeling Josh’s grief, believe me, but it might have been more poignant if I’d known more about Laura other than his reflections.

This book is a real-feel book. I grieved with Josh and feel sorry for Arthur, his newborn son because Josh can’t find it in his heart to warm up to this little guy. He tries and tries, but he just can’t do it. His family, especially his brother, are picking up the pieces and standing by him, but he knows he’s never going to recover living where he lives and moves to an island where he meets Halle.

Halle is a bartender and singer in Josh’s brother’s nightclub. Her first meeting with Josh was pretty terrible. Josh was incredibly rude to her. So when they meet up again, it’s awkward. I could see the attraction between Josh and Halle, but I never felt it throughout the book. I felt his grief. I felt her feelings of inadequacy. I saw what they were physically seeing in each other, but I didn’t feel the chemistry between them. I think it would’ve been better for me if I’d seen more of Halle’s life before she met Josh rather than have it summed up all at once.

This book had more than a few sad moments, especially for Josh. It also had some happier moments. It had a couple of steamy scenes that were well done, although I wanted to chase Josh down after their first encounter and give him a good shaking, but I had to keep in mind what was going on in his life at that point.

Overall, the story is great. I loved watching Josh transition from grieving widower to a happier man. I think we missed out on Halle, though. Bummer there. But it was still a good book.

About the cover: I love the cover to this. Too bad it’s a bit deceitful. Read the book to find out what I mean.

Purchase at Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/y4sfbm4l

The Hawk: A Highland Guard Novel (The Highland Guard Book 2) by Monica McCarty

FIVE STARS

This book hooked me from the very beginning and didn’t let up for a second. Bruce watching the spider try to weave a web only to fail again and again has bearing on this story, although it isn’t revealed to nearly the end.

Hawk–oh man, I loved him right from the start. He was introduced briefly in “The Chief”, the first book in this series, and he flew right into my heart and into my mind. He’s witty, clever, made me laugh more than once, was a daredevil, and gave zero thought to failing. It wasn’t going to happen. In his own words, he had “the wind at my back”. He’s a sailor (the captain actually), a lover, a fighter, is honest, noble, and loyal, even if Ellie doesn’t see all of those qualities at first. He’s handsome, an incurable flirt and makes no bones about being good with the lasses. He’s proud of it.

That’s all Ellie sees for the longest time. She knows she’s no raving beauty. She’s rather plain, small, and not at all his type. She spurns Hawk at every turn. She doesn’t want to become one of his harem of women. She lets him think that she’s a nursemaid rather than a Lady. He saved her life when she swam into a private meeting between Hawk and some others. Hawk whisked her away rather than let the other guys kill her. She’d witnessed something she wasn’t supposed to and the other guys didn’t want to risk that she’d heard anything. She figures she owes him for that, but Ellie is like all of us. She wants to feel special; like she’s number one to somebody. Everybody wants to be loved for who they are instead of what they can provide. She knew Hawk wasn’t capable of that. I felt bad for her when she thought maybe he did care for her and she decided he didn’t. He was using her. She was convinced of it.

Hawk didn’t think he would ever fall in love. He knew he’d marry someday, but he knew he’d never love his wife. It would be a business deal like most marriages were back then. He wasn’t looking for anything like that any time soon. He had a mission to complete. But he connected with Ellie on a level that was so foreign to him. She wanted to know him rather than be-bop with him like the other women did. No woman had ever wanted to know about his past, his hopes, his dreams, or just what the heck was going on his life. Ellie did and it was disconcerting to him. He’d never had to answer to anybody and he still wasn’t, but she was smart and figured out a lot, which rattled him even more.

I laughed and I cried while I read this. I loved all of the characters, except for Thomas Randolph (ugh!). Ellie and Hawk were yin and yang; the tension between them taut, but when they got together, the passion and the steam rolled off the pages. Hawk was everything I look for in a hero and Ellie fit him perfectly, even if neither of them thought so.

I loved, loved, loved this book and can’t wait to read the next one in the series.

*I bought this book at an online used book dealer, but it is available at Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/y2764owu