Customer Reviews

A Rogue In A Kilt (Zebra Historical Romance)

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Angus McDougall, aka Angus the Blood, has cultivated a reputation in battle unsurpassed in his clan (and others). He is said to eat the livers of those he kills in battle. Now if you think that sounds like an unlikely hero for a romance novel, you couldn't be more wrong. Angus is a perfect hero for this book.
He has taken the challenge from his Laird, Duncan McDougall - the hero from A Man In A Kilt, to find a bride in 6 months. If he does, he gets Donaleigh, a castle of his own. If he fails, he forfeits his wages for 6 months. Thinking this is no challege at all, he accepts the wager. After all, he has no trouble bedding women. However, after several months have passed and with no luck in sight, he's on his way to his last hope, Beal Castle.
However, before he can reach his destination, through a series of unfortunate (well, maybe not totally unfortunate) events, he finds himself running from a rival clan, handfast to a woman he barely knows, Birdi, and finding more trouble in a few days than he's had in years. Trouble seems to find him and Birdi on their journey.
Birdi is a sweet, innocent young woman who knows nothing of men and love. She was orphaned at a very young age and before her mother's death, she was not taught anything about relationships. She has been alone for a long time except for her friend, Wolf, a loyal companion whose life she saved when he was a pup. She has a special gift of healing that she keeps hidden from all for fear of the Church's wrath.
As we all know, a good romance always ends with the couple winding up together. If you love romance, you know that its not the destination, its the journey. Well, let me tell you, that this is one journey not to miss! It's truly a wonderful book. If you read A Man In A Kilt and loved Duncan and Beth, you can get caught up on their lives here as well! If not, this one is a great book all by itself!
Don't miss Sandy Blair's stories!

Angus the Blood has made a bet with his friend Duncan(Man in a Kilt). He has to find a suitable bride within a certain amount of time and he gets his own keep. However, his formidable reputation has been scaring off all of the well born damsels in Scotland, even the crazy and ugly ones. He is on his way to the castle at Beal when he runs into Birdalane, a spae. Pretty much without thinking about it, he tries to save her from her pet wolf and thinking her gravely injured, takes he with him. They have a few adventures and fall in love, even though neither one wants to be tied to the other. Angus has to have his castle and Birdi has her own reasons.

The various characters are vivid and amusing and the story line makes the book very hard to put down. Only one criticism, a glossary of medieval Scottish words would have helped greatly, at times the dialog can make you so wode you want to greet. Otherwise a really great book.

If you enjoy the historical romance genre and haven't read anything by Sandy Blair, please do so. In A Rogue in a Kilt, Blair has written an inviting, exciting, intriguing and tender love story. It is the story of Sir Angus McDougall and Birdalane.

A hasty bet has Angus McDougall scouring the countryside to find a bride. He must do so within three months in order to claim the prize of a castle. Should he fail in his quest, he will lose six months' salary and be humiliated as well. Of course this strong and bold man has no fear of failure. Yet, after two months of searching, Angus is no closer to finding a bride than when he began. He decides it might be time to step up his search and broaden his criteria.

Birdalane lives alone in the woodland. She has a mystical gift that allows her to heal others, but not without cost to her. A chance meeting with Angus and a careless phrase binds them to each other for a year and a day. Birdalane bravely leaves the only home she has known to follow Angus throughout Scotland. Their travels are filled with danger -- there are gifts that are received and selflessly given, joy and grief -- all before they reach their destination and accept the truth of their hearts.

I wiped a tear or two, laughed more than a little and felt warm and satisfied when the story ended.

Setting - Scotland, 1410 --- Sir Angus MacDougall wanted desperately to be liege of Donaliegh keep and had accepted the wager of his best friend Duncan to find a willing `lady' bride to be chatelaine of the keep - and he had three months to do this or forfeit six months pay. Well, it seemed easy enough, Angus had never had trouble before bedding the wenches but his nickname of `Angus the Blood' a name he had cultivated, was not helpful in attracting the fair `ladies'. With less than a month left in which to find his bride, Angus came upon a vision emerging naked from a pool and when a wolf came out of the woods towards her he threw his dagger to save her.

Birdalane, a healer, lived alone in the forest glen since she was a child. She had the ability to heal through a remarkable but painful process absorbing injuries and sickness into herself. Seeing her pet wolf wounded she immediately pulled the dagger out and laid her body across him to absorb the injury. By the time Angus arrived at her side, he thought he'd missed the wolf and hit her instead. Knowing he was responsible he raced her from the glen to find help in the nearest village. A mission, which proved to be very strange as most people recognizing Birdalane, and frightened of her powers, slammed the door in his face! With no one to take care of her but himself, plus being in enemy territory, Angus was forced to take her along on his journey, knowing he had little time left to find, woo, and wed a `lady' in order to win his wager. Along their adventurous journey, Angus who had inadvertently hand-fasted with Birdie to save her, discovered that the only female he'd truly like to take as his wife was the accident prone and incredibly infuriating lass at his side.

*** Well, I am happy to say that this second novel proves what I said of Sandy Blair's first novel MAN IN A KILT - "...this is an author one should keep their eye on..." In this, connected novel she has again brilliantly created a most unusual and absolutely wonderful heroine in Birdie. Not only is Birdie lovely, she has unique gifts for healing, as well as being quite myopic - a condition that the author uses to generate both humor and compassion. She crafted Angus' anguish at finding Birdie both so intensely desirable and innocent that he was being driven completely bonkers in attempting to do the right thing by her after mistakenly thinking he'd wounded her. The different adventures they encountered on their journey kept a plethora of emotions going from sadness to pure unadulterated joy. You'll laugh, you'll cry but you will so totally enjoy this author's latest offering that you'll just have to agree with me that this author is definitely on her way to becoming a star in the making in her sexy, funny and tender love stories!

Angus the Blood is on a mission to find a bride, but his hopes of finding his perfect lady-wife are hampered by Birdalane - a myopic, pagan healer -- whom he accidentally marries.

Enjoy this book immensely. Fast paced, fun and hard to put down. But if the series continues (Ian next please), consider adding a glossary for the Scottish terms. There were too many to keep track of, and by the end of the book I was going "wodey". I never figured out what "sheet" meant (some kind of curse word), and it took a few pages before I figured out why the guy kept worrying about his "sweeties".

Refreshing. Creative. Interesting. Action packed.
Romantic. Original. Be sure to start with the first book,
"A Man In A Kilt." The same characters are woven through the trilogy.
This is the second in the series.
It is followed by "A Rogue in a Kilt," which is equally good.
Great series. Sandy Blair please write more!

This book was well written. I'm glad that I can read it any time that I want to.

If you enjoy spicy romantic novels, this one is for you. Sandy Blair tells a great story, set in historical accuracy. There are three stories thus far in the "Kilt" series so start at the beginning, "Man in a Kilt", then "Rogue in a Kilt" and most recently "Thief in a Kilt." Don't miss one of the, and lets hope she will continue the series.

In 1410 Scotland, Duncan MacDougall bets his best friend Sir Angus MacDougall that the latter cannot find a wife in three months. If Angus succeeds Duncan will give him the keys to Donaliegh; if he fails he owes his pal six months in "knight" pay. To obtain a castle, Angus figures marriage is worth the price though he would prefer not to wed anyone.

However, as the clock ticks, Angus soon learns how difficult obtaining a wife truly is as no one seems to want him. As he continues his quest, he tries to protect a young woman from a wolf, but she moves and his knife hits her. He soon learns that he has wounded Birdalani a healer who is friends with the wolf. As she heals she agrees to a handfast to Angus so that he can earn his title. To the shock of Angus and Birdalani both want to make their arrangement permanent as they have fallen in love, but neither will say so out of fear of rejection even as they trek to their new home together.

A ROGUE IN KILT is an amusing medieval romance starring two delightful protagonists. The storyline never takes itself seriously as Sandy Blair shows a flair for tongue in cheek. Readers will laugh with Angus' constant rejections even from hard up females until he meets Birdalani. She knows they belong tighter as she is more than just a gifted healer, but does not want to show her skills for fear she will drive him off though the future reads otherwise to her. This is a fun historical romance that those who enjoy a more lighthearted romp will appreciate.

Sir Angus McDougall has one chance--if he can marry a Lady within three months, his Lord will grant him a fief of his own. The only problem is, Angus's reputation goes before him. 'Blood' is known for eating his enemies' livers on the battlefield and few women are prepared to put up with that--expecially the kind of noble woman he needs to win the bet and his property. Things only get worse when he runs across a beautiful woman in the woods--a woman he believes he's accidentally injured when he tries to save her from a wolf.

Birdie 'Shame' is among the last of her kind--a pagan, worshipper of the Goddess, and a Spae/healer, using the Goddess's power to take the injuries of others onto herself. Weakened by saving her friend the wolf, Birdie can't resist when Angus drags her from her safe glade and sets off across Scotland.

Angus doesn't know what he has in Birdie--other than a beautiful woman who just doesn't meet the qualifications he needs for his fiefdom--but others do, and they want her back. A witch/healer is a useful tool for a medieval Scottish lord--especially one who intends to make war on his neighbors. Killing Blood McDougall would just be a bonus.

It doesn't take Birdie long to fall in love with Angus, but that only makes her problems worse. In Medieval Scotland, being a Pagan isn't a choice, it's an execution waiting to happen. Hidden away in her glade, she was safe, but Angus insists on dragging her out in public. Unfortunately, although he claims her as his 'woman,' he remains steadfast on his goal to find a noble woman to wed. Naturally, life doesn't make that easy for him.

Author Sandy Blair combines humor and adventure in an exciting second novel. Birdie is the perfect innocent, brought up by herself, protected from the world but now a woman and ready to experience it. Although Angus has seen the world, he too retains a sort of primative innocence that makes him a perfect match for the feisty Pagan. Blair's wit shines through in the continued confusion and miscommunication between the Knight and the Pagan--I found the scene where Birdie became convinced Angus was merely fattening her up to eat her especially funny.

Fans of Blair's first book, A MAN IN A KILT (see our review) will be happy to see Duncan and Lady Beth again--as they cope with combining modern ideas and industry with the charm of Medieval Scotland.