The Border Lord's Bride (Border Chronicles) [Mass Market Paperback]

Bertrice Small (Author)

Book Description

Series: Border Chronicles | Publication Date: October 5, 2010

When a marriage is arranged between a Highland heiress and a border lord by King James, the price to be paid by these two strangers is higher than they can imagine. And more dangerous than the passion-and betrayal-that could consume them.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Small's second Border Chronicles novel (after A Dangerous Love) opens on the disruption of the Scottish highland home-and happiness-of pretty, 16 year-old Ellen MacArthur: cousins want her grandfather, Ewan, to change his marriage and inheritance plans, and marry her to rough young Balgair. "Grandsire" Ewan sends Ellen to King James's court to wait out the crisis. Ellen gains the friendship of the king and his aunt, and when word comes that she's to return, she's given border lord Duncan Armstrong, the laird of Duffdour, as an escort home. The two return to find Balgair has murdered her grandfather and fiancé, and plans to make her life miserable in marriage. As a vicious border war and an assassination attempt by the Tudor Henry VII on James's life ensue, the pace is slower than most readers will want, and the sex may be more graphic than some will expect. But Small's vivid characters are worthy of her first-rate plot.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Bertrice Smallhas written thirty novels of historical romance and two erotic novellas. She is a New York Times bestselling author and the recipient of numerous awards. In keeping with her profession, Bertrice Small lives in the oldest English-speaking town in the state of New York, founded in 1640. Her light-filled studio includes the paintings of her favorite cover artist, Elaine Duillo, and a large library—but no computer as she works on an IBM Quietwriter 7. Her longtime assistant, Judy Walker, types the final draft. Because she believes in happy endings, Bertrice Small has been married to the same man, her hero, George, for thirty-eight years. They have a son, Thomas, a daughter-in-law, Megan, and two adorable grandchildren, Chandler David and Cora Alexandra. Longtime readers will be happy to know that Nicki the Cockatiel flourishes along with his fellow housemates, Pookie, the long-haired greige and white, Honeybun, the petite orange lady cat with the cream-colored paws, and Finnegan, the black long-haired baby of the family, who is almost two.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Signet; Reprint edition (October 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451227352
• ISBN-13: 978-0451227355
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #453,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bertrice Small is a New York Times bestselling author with more than 34 novels in print. She lives in the oldest English-speaking town in New York state. Her website is bertricesmall.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not really a Romance, October 26, 2007

By 

Misuzmama (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Border Lord's Bride (Border Chronicles) (Paperback)

This is not exactly a romance book. That's the problem. Oh, don't get me wrong, there is romance here. Just very little. I agree that its mostly a history lesson. So if you like to know a bit of history about the Scottish/English border in the 1490's then this may be for you.

I just can't recommend this as a romance. Its basically a story about a highlander lass is who forced (by the Scottish King) to marry a Border Lord (a lowlander). I was hoping for more of a book similar to Garwood's The Bride. This isn't it. There is no sexual tension what so ever here. And what is the point of the H/H telling each other I-love-you in the middle of the book? I didn't want to read after that. Whats the point? There is no great climax and most of the characters were irritating to me. Why oh why are 'ladies' using the f-word when they speak to each other? Men maybe but women? And a fourteen year old wh*re? ACK! That maybe what was normal for the time period, but I don't read romance for reality. This was more like reading a diary of daily activities than a story with a beginning, middle and end. Lags a lot.

Chock full of history which, unfortunately completely overshadows the romance.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Historically Romantic let down!, August 19, 2009

By 

D. Elder "Faira" (Albany, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Border Lord's Bride (Border Chronicles) (Mass Market Paperback)

Don't be fooled by the size of this book, it gets the extra pages by constantly repeating itself. You will hear what happened and then you will hear what happened... repeated in it's entirety... to the King, to Duncan's brother, to Duncan's sister in law, to the Queen and so forth, until you have heard it repeated a hundred times!!! I hated this book. About the only thing I liked about this book was the picture on the cover but even it wasn't accurate as the book always referred to Ellen as rounded.
Ellen was very likable in the first part of the book but soon became shrewish and aggressive. Ellen was very unbelievably telling the king and her husband how to plan all their attacks and run everything, unmanned them actually. She became vengeful wanting to see people die, slapped her nursemaid, she just became someone totally different from the girl she was. She complained more than once they were unimportant people with no power, as if she were discontent with Duncan because of this. I did not 'feel' the love she had for her child or for Duncan.

I also felt Duncan Armstrong fell short of being the loving hero type, he cared mainly for building up the walls of his home. He was not a good strategist or protector and I just never felt like Duncan actually loved Ellen.

One of my biggest dislikes besides the repetitive history lesson, meal descriptions and poor characters was the constant crude sexual acts. I do not like the F word, and it was a constant, both by male and females. The type of sex in this book made a mockery of romantic sex.
There was no build up, no passion just this sexual crudeness throughout. I felt absolutely no warm fuzzy feeling of awe, at the end of this historical Romance. Just a historically romantic let down!!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ready for a History Lesson?, October 25, 2007

By 

Cecilia Sheppard (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Border Lord's Bride (Border Chronicles) (Paperback)

I love Bertrice Small's books, but I haven't loved her latest series. As one reviewer said, Ellen is fairly unremarkable, and Duncan is not nearly as memorable as some of her other heroes. This is your fault, Ms. Small--you've spoiled us by creating Skye O'Malley, Geoffrey Southwood, Adam de Marisco... I don't mind a bit of history with my escapism, but unfortunately, these books seem like a history lesson with a little romance tossed in. Still, it was a good read and kept my interest.