Customer Reviews

Under a Wild Sky

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

What can I say? I loved...this book!! I had grown quite bored with reading historical romance novels for a couple of years, because they all seemed so similar in plotting, and just couldn't hold my interest! I don't know how I discovered this author, but I'm glad that I did! The characters had their own unique personalities,it wasn't difficult at all to become swept into the story. However, the first few pages were VERY difficult for me as it goes into details of what had happened to Ronin's family, and how they were murdered. Beyond that, the story really moved along and I couldn't put it down. Now, I am anxiously waiting for the sequel that Amazon has already shipped. Yes, the sex scenes were pretty explicit, but this just builds to their growing attraction to each other. Maybe some people don't have that kind of strong, fierce, once in a lifetime love for that one special person in their life? If you desire a well written historical romance that has EVERYTHING to offer, including the "sex", than by all means you must read this book! Enjoy!

Ronin McTaver's whole family has been killed by Lothian the Serpent who wants to get his hands on a tapestry which will lead him to the Scottish Gold. Ronin manages to escape into the mysterious Loch Nidean Forest which is guarded by its forest inhabitants. There he does battle with the forest people and captures Kal, a dirty young lad, as a hostage until he reaches the saftey of the edge of the forest. Little does he know that Kal is in fact Kalial, the forest princess who is sworn to protect her forest. Confused, Ronin, finds himself attracted to the young "lad".

Ronin takes Kalial to his cousin's to find back up to attack Lothian and reclaim his lands. However, he finds out that his cousin Percy is not the man he used to know. Together Ronin and Kalial help train an army of young men to do battle with the Serpent. Along the way they find themselves falling for each other.

I found the first half of the book very promising but lost interest in the plot half way through. I found neither Ronin nor Kalial very endearing and couldn't really care for these two characters. However, the sex scenes were very graphic and very hot, although sometimes out of context of the story. I found myself speed reading just to read the sex scenes. There's even a scene where Ronin and Kalial's horses have sex. Enough said! If you love animals and magical forests I recommend Jill Barnett's "Wild" instead of this book which is much better written and more romantic.

Lea Ling Tsang

At Castle Roseneath, Ronin McTaver survives the murders of his family though he feels haunted by the cries of his one sister who did not have time to receive the poison from their desperate mother to stop their betrayer Lothian from raping and torturing them. An earthquake saved his sister with death and Ronin escapes without revealing the secrets of the tapestry of the Second Hunt that is a roadmap to the Scottish Gold.

Ronin flees to the "safety: of the evil Loch Nidean Forest. Inside the forbidden forest, Ronin faces a new foe, but captures the boy leader of his attackers. Using his prisoner as a hostage he forces the forest fighters to cede him safety to the ocean. Ronin is stunned that he is attracted to a male especially an underage lad. He is unaware that his prisoner is a she. As an inferno threatens the forest, thinking that Lothian's mercenaries caused it and how he failed his siblings, Ronin vows to keep the lad safe even from his own unwanted desire, but what will happen when he learns that Kal is a female who wants him too?

UNDER A WILD SKY is a tremendous Scottish historical romance that fans will appreciate and place immense pressure on debut author Sasha Lord to match the intensity of this descriptive novel. Ronin is a wonderful protagonist struggling with guilt for living and with his growing attraction towards his too young "male" prisoner. Kal seems mystical as she lives in a forest feared by outsiders with her only true friend being a Scottish wild McCat. This is a winner for sub-genre readers.

I had never really thought to write a review, until now!! I just have to let people know that they SHOULDN'T pass over this book!! I always hope to find a romance book that has a great story, passionate love scenes, a twist of the magical or fantasy, powerful leading characters!! This book gave me everything I look for. A glorious and strong hero and a magical heroine. The passion between them is mind blowing!! If you don't like sex scenes being too explicit..this is not for you!! It is HOT!!! I can't stand those books where, in the love scenes they start to kiss and then.....voila....it's the next morning. I'm greedy....I like the full shebang!! (Wink!!) This book DEFINITELY has it. The mystical qualities of our heroine are beautiful; our hero....to die for!! (As usual) And the story itself truly is a great one. I'd love to tell you more but I just don't wish to give anything away!! Please.....take my word for it (and those of the other reviewers)....READ THIS BOOK.....you'll honestly LOVE it!! Just beware......keep a fan handy for those VERY STEAMY love scenes!! And they truly are LOVE scenes!!

I'm going to check out more 'Sasha Lord' books!! I just hope Ms Lord isn't like some authors who manage a brilliant first book with all you require for a marvellous read....then the following books become so different.....less love scenes......stories become bland etc. PLEASE Sasha Lord.....keep the imagination you have now and embroider on it!! Please don't take away from it!! Bravo for a truly stunning book!! And THANK YOU for giving us romance readers a true gem of a book!!

Full of adventure and fantasy, this was a wonderful and compelling debut novel by Lord. Ronin and Kalial make a great team, once they learn to overcome their own distrust and stubbornness. Both strong-willed and passionate, they manage to build an unconventional love and trust for one another, and have no qualms about displaying it. I have yet to read a story that involves so much action both in and out of the bedroom. Extremely heated sex scenes mixed with deceit, and a lot of action make for one of the best reads that I have ever experienced. I could not put it down.

This is the first book I have ever reviewed, and I am doing so to let people know how great this book is. It is filled with a great story and exciting love scenes. I dislike reading books that skim over the good stuff and Sasha Lord does none of that. I read this book straight through one evening. It is long- but I could not put it down. I cannot wait for her next books to come out. Usually I order older books because I cannot find any current romances that really capture me. For a first book, this was amazing and I just want to say thank you Ms. Lord for bringing romance novels back. Excellent book!!!

Being Scottish, I am drawn to tales set in the country and, especially in the medieval period. This book shows some promise, the fantasy elements of magical tale are very imaginative, the storyline well through out. However, it was jarring to have this very near "faerytale story" slip into graphic sexual encounters between Ronin and Kalial. It put me in mind of two different writers penning this, so "different" the two parts of the books were, and how they undermined the other. This tends to take the reader of "out the flow" of the prose, as if Snow White wanders into Ellora's Cave. This book will please some; others will likely be very upset by this dual nature of the tale and the bit too graphic sex. One needs to recall in writing "Romance" to leave the romance in.

Ronin is the only survivor of an attack on his family by evil Serpent, and flees into the forest with a tapestry that is a key to a legendary treasure. Kalial is the princess of the forest, so when she and her men see Ronin enter their realm they attack him. However, it is Ronin who ends up taking Kalial hostage. They soon feel attraction, despite Robin thinking Kalial is a boy. The Serpent pursues them through a serious of adventures and misadventures, even and ocean voyage.

Since this is a debut novel for the author, I see great potential in her skill, and the strong faerytale quality of her writing. Just hope she learns to tone down the portions of this book that works against it, and learn that sex is NOT romance.

The base notion for this book is a wonderful love story between the warrior, Ronin, and the mystical princess Kalial. The "raw crudeness" by which the love scenes between these two is written felt more like reading pornography than a romance novel, and absolutely detracted from what could have been a very romantic and beautiful love story. Being more used to the romance novels of Jude Devereux and Nora Roberts, where scenes are written more metaphorically - setting the scene and emotions without being vulgar, and leaving the reader feeling the true romance between the characters. Time and time again the scenes by Sasha were described using very vulgar terms and descriptions (there is a lot to be said about leaving a little to the imagination - and there was no imagination left with these scenes). I was extremely disappointed with this book as a "romance novel" and actually ended up throwing the book away without reading the last third of it - just couldn't keep hoping for the story to get better.

most books that fail for me start slow and never get better. Under A Wild Sky is different as it started well but turned skanky halfway through. Unlike other reviewers, I had no issue with the graphic love scenes, what was disturbing to me was when the hero finally, secretly figured out that Kal is a woman, he leaves her to be punished repeatedly, still acting as if he thinks she's a boy. The crew abuse Kal to the scene where I quit in disgust, where the crew are viciously beating her with a cat of nine tails! That is not romance-I'll try another of this author's books but I wouldn't recommend this one.

This book cover description describes the heroine Kalial, as the princess guardian of a legendary forest, dressing in male garb who is mental-telepathy bonded with her companion, a Scottish McCat. She also `speaks' to other forest animals who along with her band of forest men help her to keep people fearful of entering the darkly haunted forest of Loch Nidean.

Ronin, a battered warrior, on the run from enemies who have brutally slain his family seeks refuge from his enemies in her woods. Kalial and her forest men attack him, but being a much larger and much stronger warrior, Ronin skillfully repels his attackers. Outnumbered, he boldly seizes their `boy-leader' as a hostage to hold them off. He does not realize until much later, that this small, stubbornly fierce `boy' is actually a beautiful woman who kindles in him a passion that sets them both aflame. As they travel the land together, they will defy their enemies, share numerous adventures, and finally come to realize that along the way they've developed a respect and trust in each another that bonds their true souls in a pre-ordained destiny.

For a debut novel of 400 plus pages I was truly thrilled that it captured my imagination so quickly and I became so enthralled with the characters and the adventure that the pages just flew by. Both central protagonists were complex yet skillfully developed. The use of the animals and the mind links will definitely be appealing to the animal lovers out there who enjoy this type of fantasy. Who amongst us wouldn't like to have a little mind link with their pets. In so far as some rather explicit sexual encounters - they do push the envelope a bit but the love story between the two central characters is so great that the raw sensuality was for me extraordinarily written and felt. I am sincerely looking forward to future endeavors by this new author and based upon the sneak peak excerpt of her next novel featuring the daughter of these two amazing people, it is sure to be a winner! --- Submitted by Marilyn, ...