Customer Reviews

Highlander Untamed: A Novel

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is my favorite kind of romance novel; a book that sucks you in and you just can't put it down. I especially loved that the romance between these two was allowed to evolve into something deep and emotional, not just a lusty superficial attraction that so many romance authors try to pass off as 'a love story'. Now this was a true love story! I can see why this book is such a run-away hit. Rory is the ultimate alpha male, and the author does a great job at balancing his warrior persona by making him tough, raw and flawed, but not going overboard and turning him into some superhero or unrealistic savior type. There was everything in this fast pace book; deep intrigue, action and suspense, love and steamy sex scenes (I loved how Rory became playful in bed toward the end. Yum!), betrayal and risk,...etc. Bravo to this new author. I highly recommend this book to fans of romance.

Intrigue abounds in this satisfying novel. Isabel MacDonald is forced into a handfast marriage by the king and her nefarious uncle. Her groom is Rory MacLeod, Chief of a rival clan. Isabel must spy on her husband and find a special banner hidden in the keep.

Rory has agreed to this one year marriage with every intention of repudiating it at the end of the promised year. Isabel is beautiful and hard to resist. She is under pressure to seduce the secrets from her husband. Rory suspects something is afoot but without evidence must rely only on his intuition.

Isabel is pressured from all sides; her father's clan, her husband's clan, her uncle, the king. She falls in love with her husband and knows she can never betray him. Her greatest concern is being exposed as the spy she is.

Isabel is incredibly kind hearted. She is forgiving and even though she occasionally has a stubborn streak, it doesn't become annoying. Rory is determined to protect his clan and his family. His divided loyalty between his family and Isabel has him in a quandary. An added bonus was that some of the events in this book are based on actual events, so there is a nice little history lesson in this novel too.

This story has everything you want... A powerful hero, strong but loving female, great love scenes, exciting battle scenes, enthralling plot... you name it.

The MacLeod and MacDonald clans are in the midst of a brutal clan war. Seeking an end to the bloodshed, the king handfasts Isabel MacDonald to the MacLeod chief, Rory.

Rory already has plans to secure an alliance with another clan through marriage, but has no choice other than to follow the king's command for "a year and a day". He plans to spend the year ignoring Isabel. When the handfast time is up, he will send her home and marry the other woman.

Isabel is the perfect pawn for her uncle's treacherous plans. He uses threats to Isabel's brothers and father as a means of forcing her compliance. Isabel must use all means available, including giving Rory her virginity, to make Rory fall in love and share his clan's secrets with her. Uncle Sleat has two tasks that he demands of Isabel: Find a secret entry to the MacLeod castle, and steal the clan's "Fairy Flag" (A cloth said to have been given the clan by a fairy, it is believed the clan can never be beaten when caring it.)

When Rory and Isabel first meet, they are instantly attracted to each other. This is where the book had me skimming through page after page of "He's perfect", "She's perfect", descriptions of the hero and heroine... We get it... they both have perfect bodies and flawless faces. Too much time is also spent on Rory getting an erection every time she enters the room. This goes on throughout the book, but after the first few chapters it gets less frequent.

Over the course of the year, Rory and Isabel fall in love. Isabel must find a way to save her family without betraying Rory's clan. She is afraid to ask for his help, thinking he will reject her for taking part in a scheme to destroy the MacLeods. Rory is bound as clan chief to put his people before his own happiness. As much as he wants to keep Isabel, his clan needs the alliance with the other woman's family.

All in all, this was a great story. There are more to come in the series. I'm looking forward to reading another of Monica McCarty's books, but hope she will make her characters less perfect and more human.

As a mere woman, spirited Isabel MacDonald is constantly seeking ways of gaining the approval of her clan. So when her treacherous uncle, under the guise of peace, arranges for her a handfast marriage (probationary marriage that may be repudiated unlike a true marriage) to his sworn enemy, Isabel eagerly agrees. Her mission is to seduce the highland chief into revealing his fortresses secrets.

Rory MacLeod is bound by the order of the King to accept the handfast, but no more than the required year. For then he will return the lass to her family and continue his attempts of revenge against the MacDonald. Meanwhile he must avoid the periling beauty who reeks havoc on his mind, body and heart.

A great debut. It reminds me slightly of Kinley Macgregor's Master of Desire (a great book btw). You know these two are doomed from the beginning, Rory can't possibly resist Isabel for an entire year and Isabel can't help falling in love with the man and his clan. So they must find a way to be together permanently. There's revenge, lies, blackmail, sword fights and lots of love scenes. Very good characterization with writing and dialog that kept me turning the pages. Yes there are annoying points (like when after an attack Rory thinks Isabel never looked more beautiful -mind you that is not the case in the least), but those are relatively few. I also enjoyed the secondary characters and hope to see them in the sequels.

One interesting caveat is that some of the book is based on historical fact. The author's note at the end was very interesting. There are also various quotes scattered throughout the book pertaining to the chapters. I loved those.

So I really enjoyed this and recommend it. It seems that if you slap the word highlander or put a picture of a tartan on the cover of a book my reflexes to grab my wallet cannot be stopped. I'm glad it was worth it. Incidentally if anyone likes these types of books I highly recommend Garwood, Howell, Sands, Paula Quinn and Kinley Macgregor.

Rory MacLeod is an Honest, caring, powerful Highland Chief who cares deeply for his clan . Duty demands that he take a bride for a year. A bride that he does not want and has no intentions of keeping... but, Isabel is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside.
She shows Rory such love and gives even though she knows the love may never be returned. Isabel's love makes Rory realize how impossible life would be without her. He felt more love for her than he ever thought possible
*sigh* I couldn't help but fall in love with Rory. I can't wait to read " Highlander Unmasked" and " Highlander Unchained"


I couldn't help but to fall in love with Rory.

This book is a MUST READ for those who miss the sweeping "old school" romances of the 80s (and I'm not talking about forced seduction here, just high emotion and big stakes). I'd honestly forgotten how much I loved some of those books until I read this and it all came flooding back . . .

I can't wait for the next two!

There was lots to like about this book - the 'world' that the author created with its political intrique and warring factions is well done and based upon historical fact. However I just couldn't get beyond the fact that both protagonists are sooooo perfect. Isabel is an incomparable beauty, and Rory is hot, not to mention Laird and wealthy. I had a hard time suspending my disbelief that they would consciously try not to fall in love. And the way they did not communicate honestly with one another was cliche and trite.

That being said, I did like the world enough to want to read more by this author, and I found I really liked the next book - Alex's story quite a lot (where neither protagonist is quite as perfect as in this book). I think Monica McCarty will prove to be an author to add to the must read pile in times to come.

I was torn between three and four stars because although I found the story formulaic and it reminded me of too many other Highlander/Clan dispute romances I really enjoyed Ms. McCartys writing style. Albeit Ms. McCarty uses some of the same phrases one too many times all in all she paints a vivid picture of the time and characters. The sex scenes were good but didn't overtake the whole story as sometimes they can. What ultimately made me decide on the three stars was I don't think I will remeber any details from this book a year from now to set it apart from other Scottish romantic historicals. There was nothing unique or particularly creative about this story or Rory and Isabelle's relationship. You've read this before.

There was too much repetition of the characters' storylines. I tried very hard to stick with this, but gave up half way through. Although the heroine spends almost all of the first half inside the castle, we learn little about the personalities of the inhabitants. Her new sister in law is stereotypically good and her new brother in law is stereotypically mischivious. I've seen these characters many times before in previous novels and they are interchangeable between novels. I could find nothing to suggest why these two should engage my interest. For example, the heroine supposedly befriends the cook, but there is not one scene of interaction between the two.

She is set on a course of betrayal to win her family's love when it is clear they care little for her. Once she is accepted by her new brother and sister in law, and it is clear she is finally getting the family love she needs, there is absolutely no convincing explanation as to why the heroine still plans to betray her hand-fasted husband, the laird, Rory. Over and over she goes into great length about her dilemma and her internal musings as to what action she should take.

the interior of the castle is described as having a number of interior decorating details that rang false to me. For example, in her tower bedroom the wooden walls are painted pale yellow. I looked in several sources and could find no evidence that stone castles were being lined with wooden walls at that time. And I especially found no evidence of painted walls.

In fact, as Rick Steves notes, "A real castle had all the romance of a fallout shelter. Sure, it had a lofty tower or two, but only to spot trespassers and to give attackers second thoughts. When the bad guys came knocking, a negotiated ransom was the typical outcome -- not a swashbuckling battle."

It was not until the 19th century that the remaining castles were fancied up. Again, Rick Steves: "What travelers see today is a muddle of Middle-Age bunker-mentality and 150-year-old romantic renovation, which also happens to be real. While confusing, this weird mix makes for great sightseeing." Occurring in the 1600's, this story was much to early for the "romantic renovation" period. It was jarring to try and picture this medieval maiden in what sounded like an 19th century drawing room.

In summary, the settings did not ring true, the characters were stereotypical and the two main characters spent too much time repeating the same internal musings.

this was the most frustrating book i have read in a long time...Rory and Isabella are deemed physically perfect beyond belief and while Rory has been given more depth of personality in the beginning of the book as the Chief of his clan, Isabella is about as vanilla as you can get...I wouldn't think this except that she cries and LIES on one breath to Rory and then tells him she loves him in the next...it is so redundant and drags on and on and on and on and on with the same LIES and issues that i got fed up half way through the book...love should be truthful and trust that the truth will set you free, how can she say she loves him and sleep with him with so many lies in her heart...don't bother with this book there are sooooo many other Highlander books that are better!!!!