Customer Reviews

Bound to a Warrior

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Donna Fletcher's newest book, Bound by a Warrior, is the first tale of four brothers, sworn by an oath to protect the future king of Scotland. This is a road adventure with a twist; the leads are shackled together, prisoners of the King.

Duncan Alpin is a chivalrous man and enemy to the King of Scotland, whom he feels in not the rightful monarch. He is captured by the King's men and his right wrist in chained to a lovely young woman who is also wanted by the King. Mercy is pretty brave and she recognizes Duncan's leadership ability and survival skills, so when he asks her to trust him in a daring escape she does so wholeheartedly. Duncan's plan is to make his way back to the Highlands to the bosom of his family where he will be safe from royal machinations.

Duncan and Mercy's road is not an easy one, they must traverse rugged territory with the king's soldiers following them and they have the added burden of their shackled state. Along their journey they open up to each other, or rather Duncan does with Mercy. He tells her of his beloved family and through his tales and his thoughtful actions Mercy begins to fall in love with him.

One of the conflicts with this novel besides the chase the king's soldiers give the leads are the secrets that Mercy keeps and the constant barrage of her mother's admonitions running through her head. Apparently, Mercy's mother was a mistress and her mother warned her about men with the usual trite phrases so often echoed in novels like "don't fall in love or, men want to own you" etc. Mercy's mother plays a big part in this novel as her voice is what steers Mercy throughout most of this story. It's almost as if Mercy did not have her own thoughts until much later in the book.

There are some good scenes in this story laced with some sweet humor like how the leads cure their grouchy natures and Mercy does come around to being her own woman and not the woman her mother has admonished her to be. Sometimes Mercy is mercurial, especially when she is with Duncan's family. Duncan's mother, by the way, is incredibly bossy and I never warmed up to her at all. I did not find her pushy and domineering nature endearing which is what I assume the author wanted the reader to feel.

Overall this novel is a fair read. There is excitement with the ground chase the leads have to endure but the emotional tension between the leads was not as strong and engrossing as their flight to the Highlands.

Duncan MacAlpin finds himself shackled to a woman he's never met, Mercy, and about to be killed by the false King. He manages to escape, taking Mercy with him. The King is determined to recover Mercy and force her to tell him the secrets he believes her mother told her. Duncan has sworn to see the rightful King placed on the Scottish throne. With soldiers hunting them, Duncan and Mercy are trying to reach safety even as they fall in love. But Mercy hasn't told Duncan her most dangerous secret of all: she's the false King's illegitimate daughter. Can their love stand up to the truth she's hidden?

With Bound to a Warrior Donna Fletcher delivers a sexy adventure spiced with the mystery of exactly who the true king is. While I admit that The Irish Devil is still my all time favorite Donna Fletcher book, Bound to a Warrior is a treat that shouldn't be missed!

Melissa
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

In 1005 Scotland, the four MacAlpin brothers are trying to raise an army to return the rightful True King to the throne of Scotland. However, men of the usurper capture one of the siblings, Duncan. He is manacled to a tired disheveled woman.

Duncan needs to escape and has no time for a female even one as courageous and beautiful as his fettered mate Mercy. They escape and he admires her spunk and soon they become lovers. As they fall in love, Duncan learns who he was bounded to with chains and now hearts, the illegitimate daughter of the ruler the MacAlpin clan wants to overthrow.

The first MacAlpin Dark Ages Highlander romance is a terrific tale that starts off with a strong opening sequence of having the lead couple chained to one another trying to escape and never slows down from there. Duncan is a courageous warrior willing to risk his life for his cause, but he believes Mercy is even braver as she proves her guts while they struggle to survive. Historical romance readers will relish this delightful action-packed early eleventh century Scottish romance.

Harriet Klausner