Customer Reviews

Taming the Highland Bride

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was really a 3.5 stars. Taming the Highland Bride is an easy, fast-paced story about mistrust and misunderstandings. This page turner was filled with obstacles that the main characters had to get past to find love. This was my first book by Lynsay Sands and I have to say that her writing style is very light and creates an easy flow.

Alex is patient, sweet and loyal man and I liked that a lot. Even though he had misgivings about Merry from rumors that she was a shrew, from the beginning he was attracted to her. He wanted to make her happy to be his wife. My only problem with Alex is that he was not portrayed as a warrior. For the better part of the book, Merry ran the household and held the men together, while Alex was constantly in harm's way and banged up.

Merry is a strong, independent and caring woman. After suffering through years of taking care of her drunken brothers and father, she is desperately seeking a new life. I honestly felt Merry's disappointment at her first encounter with her Alex, knowing she felt as though she left one horrible situation for another.

As they both try to move forward from their awkward first encounter, they both have to learn to let go and find love. I enjoyed the way Alex worked to get Merry's guard down to prove that he was not like the men in her family. He took his time not to force her but rather show her that he was a man of honor. Sure enough, slowly as they are on an adventure to Scotland, Merry sees her husband for the man that he truly is and allows him to slowly enter her heart.

While they are both discovering their newfound feelings towards one another, mystery and danger is lurking around every corner. I felt the mystery incorporated throughout the entire story was interesting and at the end I was a little surprised at the villain. I wanted them to dig around to find out who was behind the "mysterious" incidents but I was a little disappointed that they just happen to stumble across the truth. No one took real interest that they were in real danger except Merry.

Overall, I would recommend Taming the Highland Bride to anyone who wants to enjoy a quick and enjoyable read. I look forward to reading further along in this series.

Merewen Stewart is anxious to meet and marry her betrothed, Alexander d'Aumesbery. She wants to leave her home and start a new life. Merry's father and brothers are drunkards and while Merry works hard to keep the castle running, they only work hard trying to get the whiskey she hides from them. Merry's hopes are dashed when she arrives at Alex's home to find her betrothed as drunk as her father and brothers usually are. All is not what it seems though, and with his life in danger, Alex must prove that he is the man Merry has been waiting her whole life for.



Taming the Highland Bride is a story shrouded in mystery and misgivings. Danger follows Alex and Merry at every turn. Merry's disappointment when she first sees Alex is genuine. My heart broke a little for her then. She is stoic and capable and was able to move on, although you can feel her sadness at having to. Alex is exactly the kind of man Merry needs. It takes a while for him to prove it to her. Their relationship becomes passionate and heartfelt in the process. While Taming the Highland Bride is second in the The Devil Of The Highlands series, I read it after book three - The Hellion and The Highlander. The series may be read out of order without much lapse in continuity.


Nannette
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Merewen Stewart, occasionally called a shrew, is fed up with her drunken father and brothers... and with the man she's supposed to marry who's been off on crusade. When she hears her betrothed, Alexander d'Aumesbery, is home from crusade, her father and brothers take her to marry him. Although Merry isn't particularly sad to wave goodbye to her drunken family as she has hopes that her husband may be a sober and worthy gentleman, she's vastly disappointed to first lay eyes on her betrothed when he's dead drunk. The following days aren't much better as he stumbles and is clumsy and appears to also have a drink problem.

Alex has heard the rumours about his shrewish betrothed but finds her a refreshing surprise. But as soon as she arrives at his home strange things start to happen. Is she responsible for drugging him and for some attempts on his life? As they travel to visit Alex's sister and her new husband, it seems that the danger is coming along with them. Can they get to the bottom of events and build a true relationship?

Lynsay Sands has a simple but readable writing style. Although I find her books rather lacking in characterisation and plot, largely driven through dialogue, they aren't boring. This book was the same, and despite its rather misleading title (there wasn't really any 'taming' to be done to Merry) it was a reasonable read. There were an awful lot of places where I had to suspend disbelief, for example the efficacy of some herbs which would make Viagra's makers rather excited, and the mystery side of the plot wasn't particularly gripping, but for those who like Lynsay Sands' books this is another of a similar level and will appeal to those who like historical highland romances.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2010

I give this book three stars because the mystery is fun to figure out and somewhat unexpected. Unlike some reviewers, I found the going a bit slow, especially because the hero (Alex) spends quite a bit of time unconscious due to multiple attempts on his life.

Unfortunately, the narrator is simply awful. Her Scottish accent is probably OK, but she reads with very little inflection. I would have to call her a Scottish zombie. This probably added to my feeling that the book dragged on a bit.

Since her mother died six years, Merewen "Merry" Stewart has been the chatelaine for her family. However, her biggest mission is dealing with her always angry intoxicated father and brothers. Watching them, she pledges to herself she will not marry a drunk.

Her betrothed Alex d'Aumesberry sends for her. However, when she arrives she finds him as incapacitated with drink as her family. Merry is unaware that the blacksmith got his lord intoxicated in order to pull a bad tooth. When she sees him wake up every day with a hangover, Merry rejects marriage to Alex as she refuses to leave one set of drunks for another. However, he is kind to her and others and she realizes she never sees him imbibe. Merry soon believes someone with close access to Alex is trying to kill him; she investigates.

This is an entertaining Highlander amateur sleuth romance starring a strong women and the beleaguered man she is supposed to wed. The fast-paced story line is owned by courageous Merry who refuses to go from the frying pan into the fire, but soon realizes something's afoot. Fans will relish this enjoyable historical romantic whodunit.

Harriet Klausner

STORY BRIEF:
Merry's father and brothers are drunk most of the time. Merry manages the laird and the household and oversees the men's fight training. She is known as the Stewart Shrew because she's so tough on her father and brothers when they are drunk. A marriage was arranged years ago to Alex. He was fighting in the Crusades and just now returned. Merry's father and brothers take her to Alex's home for the wedding. When they arrive, they see Alex drunk. No one tells Merry that he was given whiskey for the purpose of pulling a bad tooth. Then each day someone drugs Alex causing him to appear drunk. Later there are repeated attempts to kill Alex.

REVIEWER'S OPINION:
This book did nothing for me. I stayed with it out of curiosity, but it wasn't engaging. It felt like the author was just getting out another book for the year. Story was predictable. There is a lot of conversation, but it was ordinary. Then we have stupidity. After everyone knows someone is trying to kill Alex. Alex's friend wants to post guards around Alex's tent at night. Alex says no. Then the bad guy sets the tent on fire while Alex and Merry are sleeping inside. Author doesn't explain why Alex said no. There are several sex scenes, but nothing special.

Instead of an interesting discovery process about the mystery, we have the convenient long explanation by the bad guy at the end, just before the bad guy will be striking the final killing blow.

Slight annoyance with the cover picture. Alex has long blond hair. Cover guy had short dark brown hair.

The title was misleading. There was no taming of Merry. After he saw her in action, Alex quickly fell in love with her.

I do not understand why this book won the RT Reviewers award for Scotland-Set Historical Romance.

DATA:
Story length: 371 pages. Swearing language: mild. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 8. Estimated number of sex scene pages: 18. Setting: unknown time during the Crusades probably 1100 to 1600, in Northern England and Scotland. Copyright: 2010. Genre: historical romance.

OTHER BOOKS:
To date I've read the following Lynsay Sands books. Dates are copyright dates.
3 stars. The Switch 1999
2 stars. Sweet Revenge 2000
2 stars. Always 2000
1 star. Love Bites 2004
2 stars. The Perfect Wife 2005
5 stars. Love is Blind 2006
2 ½ stars. Taming the Highland Bride 2010

Reviewed at Another Look Book Reviews

Another fun historical read by Lynsay Sands. I kick myself for reading them out of order because Taming the Highland Bride is book 2, not book 1 like I had thought. I should have checked Goodreads first instead of the inside covers. Oh well. I have book 1 The Devil of the Highlands and I also already have book 3 The Hellion and the Highlander so I'll just have to step back one book and start it.

Taming the Highland Bride was a very enjoyable read that included a bit of a mystery too. Someone was out to hurt or kill Alexander and unfortunately Merry was even a suspect. It was creative to have the villain so obvious yet there was always a thought that perhaps that person was not necessarily the true villain. Right up until the end when I saw I only had a few pages left, I still wasn't sure who the culprit was.

Poor Merry grew up having the need to take an adult role her entire life. Her father may have been Laird Stewart but due to his drunkenness and his lazy sons, Merry seemed to be the true laird of the clan. She really didn't have anyone to rely on before.

Not having the need to depend on anyone, made it difficult to accept Alex and even something as simple as heeding his advice of taking her time to walk after dismounting from a horse made her suspicious.

Since someone was constantly out to hurt Alex, Merry seemed to save him from peril more than a few times. Being a brave warrior, that was hard for him to accept that his hero was his tiny wife. It was nice to read how smart Merry was in each of these rescue situations.

I enjoyed the journey of their blooming love and was piqued by the mystery of who was out to get him. Excellent read and I can't wait to step back to book 1.

Teasers - Stewart Shrewd, big claymores, draining the dragon, genius horse rescue by Merry

Not as good as the two companions to this story, the whole drinking misunderstanding between the hero and heroine seemed stretched and hard to believe. But, it was still an easy way to escape for a couple of hours.

Lyndsay Sands writes with flair. How she is able to include passion, mystery, adventure, heartache and laugh out loud comedy into one book is totally amazing. I love her writing and recommend any of her books. I've read this series and many of her Angeneau series too. All are of the same quality.