Customer Reviews

Lord of the Isles (Warner Forever)

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LORD OF THE ISLES by Amanda Scott
July 30, 2005

Amazon rating 4/5


LORD OF THE ISLES by Amanda Scott is a historical romance set in Scotland in the late 1300's. Lord Hector Reganoch, Lord of Lochbuie, finds himself out in a thunderstorm and goes to the home of Lord Macleod and his many daughters, seeking shelter. He meets the lovely Mariota, the second oldest daughter, and he falls in love with her. Unfortunately, when he asks to take her as his wife, Macleod tells Reganoch that he cannot allow this. Because of superstition, his oldest daughter must marry first.

Christina is not as fair as the lovely Mariota, and has not had many men attracted to her as Mariota has, but she would make a good wife. She is eighteen years old and is ready to start a family of her own. She already takes care of her father and her sisters, with the help of Lady Euphemia, her father's sister. But all this does nothing to impress Hector. He insists on marrying Mariota.

So, Macleod and the rest of the family (excluding Mariota, who has shown no interest in the man) help create a deception, and Hector ends up marrying Christina, while drunk. The two share the wedding bed that night, and by morning, Hector knows he cannot annul this marriage that he was tricked into. He still yearns for the beautiful Mariota, but does not know what to do now that he's legally married to the older sister.

Christina had fallen in love with Hector on first sight, but she feels that he will never love her, since he loves Mariota. But what Christina does not know is that Hector is slowly getting to know Christina and Mariota, and is realizing that there is a lot more to a marriage than staring at a very beautiful face. And while Christina is not as beautiful as her sister, he sees qualities in her that are deeper than mere beauty, and finds that he is falling in love with his wife.

Mariota in the meantime is now set on annulling her sister's marriage so she can marry Hector, a man she had no interest in until he married Christina. Obviously, she wants what she can't have. This is one crazy woman, as the reader will find out.

While it took me a while to get into the story, once the story was set up the novel started to pick up. The book was a lot of fun, and the author did a good job creating such diverse characters such as the various Macleod sisters. One thing I enjoy about historical romances is the backdrop, and the beauty of Scotland stands out. I would definitely read more of this series (I think this is a series). THE LORD OF THE ISLES is recommended to fans of historical romances with a bit of humor in them.

Any good story is best told by the author, and not retold by the reviewer. The best that I can do is highlight some of the elements that make LORD OF THE ISLES a five-star read.

#1 - The story takes place in the 14th Century -- an era in which fans of historical fiction do not often get to read about... a fantastic time in Scottish history. This is a time when the kingship of Scotland was coming to the Stewarts, and Ms. Scott explains how that came to be. Fascinating stuff, considering there were older Celtic families still in the mix.

#2 - Her prose is that of a classic story-teller, and one that can be appreciated by fans of literature. The standard "romance" formula does not apply here, and that is really quite nice, considering that many people are very frustrated with the new "standardized" romance books.

#3 - Rich in history, but not so overdone that it bogs the story down. The characters' personalities come through and are well defined without long amounts of dialog or narrative. Pacing is perfect.

#4 - Excellent plots, mixing historical facts and events with the internal turmoil of the characters. Life is, for all of us, something to be experienced in good times and bad... consistency and change... and we grow from those experiences. The same is true of the characters and events in LORD OF THE ISLES - and it comes across quite well.

Let me boil this down... LORD OF THE ISLES is an easy, enjoyable read, but it also suspenseful, intriguing and exciting. It's a book you'll be glad you picked up.

www.catherinescott.net

With a strong beginning, the story promises to be enticing, well written and solid. As the story progress though, both characters, although well defined in the first few chapters, slowly begin to disintegrate and the reader is left with too much meaningless dialog which both weakens and undermines the once strong characters. It's also a little hard to believe that a warrior as powerful and savvy as Lord Hector could be duped in the manner he was (did not want to reveal the story line here for new readers). There are solid secondary characters, such as Isobel and her Aunt, but in the end, it all becomes too convoluted and busy and the core of the once promising story, is all but lost. I couldn't help but think what Julie Garwood could have done to improve this once promising story!

In 1370 Scotland, Hector "The Ferocious" Maclean races home with information to share with his brother when the storm gets so bad he needs shelter. He chooses Castle Charlamine, home of widower Murdoch Macleod of Glenelg. Hector arrives in time to rescue the beautiful seventeen years old Mariota from receiving a terrible burn. Besotted with the teen, he asks her father Murdoch for her hand in marriage; Murdoch says no as he believes that if any of his eight daughters wed out of chronological birth order, his clan will be cursed. Instead he offers his oldest child Cristina. Hector insists on Mariota and finally Murdoch apparently acquiesces.

At the wedding reception, Murdoch gets everyone drunk and substitutes Cristina as the bride. When Hector awakens in the morning and realizes who he married, he lives up to his nickname roaring annulment. Cristina stays calm and persuades him for their individual reputations they need to leave together. Not long afterward, he flirts outrageously with Mariota, but becomes irately jealous when he thinks his wife is seeing someone else because he loves Cristina who loved Hector even before she became his substitute bride.

Hector seems to have calmed down as if he is on Ritalin compared to the prequel (see HIGHLAND PRINCESS); still he remains a viable force that one does not mess with if they want to remain healthy. With that calling card, the duplicity of the superstitious Murdoch and Cristina's courage to face him make for a fine fourteenth century romance. Though Mariota is spoiled to the degree of a caricature and deserves her fate, fans will appreciate this tale of marriage starring the wrong bride.

Harriet Klausner

Amanda Scott did an excellent job in blending history and romance in this novel I enjoyed both very much. I loved Christine as a heroine she was not the typical spoiled brat that you read in other romances. There were times where you wish she would slap the hell out of some characters and stop being so nice but that was part of her character of being an adult and being in control of her feelings. At the beginning I disliked Hector because while married to Christine he still flirted with Mariotta and wished he had married her instead and I very much disliked that when he made love to Christine he was insensitive to what she was feeling he kept on going while she was pushing on him since she was a virgin she wasn't quite enjoying it. Than I began to like him when his character changed towards Christine and he began to love her for who she was. Mariotta was total brat and the Amanda Scott did a good job in making the reader really dislike her. I loved this story and can't wait for her next one in the series which is about Christine's sister Isobelle.

The main man of the story is a very selfish man who thinks only with his groin. Even after he marries and starts bedding Christina (which he was tricked into) he has his way with her but never lets her have any sexual satisfaction until the end of the story.

Having read Highland Princess, I of course was eager to consume Scott's next tale in her new series. Though it has nothing to do with Sir Walter Scott's famous poem of this title.
Here we have the story of Hector MacLean (twin brother to Lachlan of the previous tale) and his bride by trickery Christina MacLeod. Hector, while pursuing the affairs of the Lord of the Isles, takes shelter during a storm with the MacLeods. MacLeod has seven daughters, the second being the beautiful Mariota who immediately catches Hector's eye. Soon he is asking her father for her in marriage. He, however, has other ideas. First, he thinks his stunning daugher could aim far higher to profit the family and second, he is superstitious and believes his eldest daughter, Christina should marry first. So he appears to agree with Hector to marry Mariota, but deviously manages to hand him his eldest.
Christina, for her part, has nursed a yearning for Hector since first seeing him months ago. She is honestly reluctant to aid the deception, but puts up little real fight to her father's bullying exercise of authority.
Once Hector awakens the next morning, after falling into the bridal bed drunk, he is livid and all set to annul the marriage.
The story moves at a fair pace and keeps one interested to follow the developing attraction and relationship between the pair. A strong political plot underlies it and holds well.
Both main characters are well drawn and we get cameo appearances from Lachlan and Mairi. Christina's sister, Mariota, is revealed as a selfish shrew with a nasty turn of mind.
A good, solid read, strong in romance and adventure

I picked out this book while browsing my local library, and I could not put it down. I got so enveloped in the characters and their respective stories. Once I had finished the book I realized that there are other books that continue the story. The books can definitely be read individually they all have their own plots and characters but I was fortunate enough to started with the second book, not even realizing there was a book before it. I'm so excited to read whats next that I'm onto the 5th book and still haven't read the first one! It's a fantastic read, and its fun to get the next book and continue the story. I definitely recommend this book or any other book by Amanda Scott

~Annette