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So how do you rate a romance novel where the romance part was exceptional but the side story was wholly unnecessary? Once again I’ve managed to pick up a story where the author seems to think that it’s a good idea to include a history of sexual perversion on kids. What’s with this? The young girl that was abused was not the heroine this time but the side character who ends up doing unspeakable things herself on innocents and sinners alike in the name of justice seemingly unable to tell the difference. Why include this? I mean really? Who wants to read this? I don’t!

Most of this stuff is hinted at throughout the novel about the hero’s father being such a sleaze ball, a building that the son had to remind himself was not a fault for what happened, etc. The bastard is dead mind you at the start of the novel so we don’t see a continuance, just back story. It’s becoming gratuitous to the point of being like a retarded bathroom scene in a movie. Anyway you are warned ahead of time if this is not your cup of tea to deal with topics like this in a novel.

Now that that is out of my system, the romance between Grant and Gillian was a wonderful unfoldment. The Scottish Companion starts with Grant’s return to Scotland when his brother dies of a blood disease following shortly after their other brother died of the same cause. Dr. Feyton is worried that Grant may be suffering from the same disease and Grant decides if this is true he must marry immediately. Not wanting to go through the hassle of finding a bride he asks about Dr. Feyton’s daughter. A marriage arrangement is agreed upon and they go their normal ways.

Arabella would rather play at being a physician than be civil to anyone. She doesn’t like to be touched, talked to, interrupted, or forced to do anything. So right off the bat she hates the idea of marrying Grant and does her best to be disagreeable. Everyone finds her to be exactly that and many make asides to Grant about his foolishness.

Grant himself is feeling foolish because immediately upon seeing Gillian he finds himself attracted to her. She is a magnetic force on his life and he can’t seem to stop himself from seeking her out. He knows she’s hiding something and desperately wants to be let into her world. She makes him forget his losses, and overwhelming duties; she challenges his authority and is an intelligent companion who he seeks to impress with his experiments.

Gillian for her part knows that as the companion to Arabella, Grant can never be hers. She was foolish once in love and paid the price with her innocence and virtue. She lost the protection of her family, the love she thought was hers, and was censured by society. Only under Dr. Feyton has she received a modicum of protection and sense of purpose. She knows the price of love and passion so how come she can’t seem to resist the handsome earl? She wants to experience his kisses, she wants to be his, and she wants what Arabella is so blithely willing to toss away.

Rating: 2.5-3 Stars

Originally posted 2008-10-17 05:10:30. Republished by Old Post Promoter

• Love Romance Audio Books
• Love Romance Books

The Diamond King has got it all: Highlanders, pirates, lost souls, and love.

Alex Leslie used to be a noble in a world that seems to have existed long ago before the war between Scotland and England. Now he is wanted, without honor or hope for a life that had once been held so promisingly before him. Siding with the bonny Prince Charlie cost Alex far more than his pretty face, now scarred, and two strong legs, one now damaged and aching all the time causing him to limp.

Alex has seen horrors of war. The Battle of Culloden turned the tide of war against innocents as the redcoats and turncoats followed mercilessly on the trails of fleeing women, children and wounded – killing and raping indiscriminately. Stripped of his title but not his own sense of moral rightness, Alex came to lead a parcel of helpless Jacobite children out of Scotland to France. There he swore revenge… and two children swore not to be parted from him no matter the cost.

They followed him onto a ship that he was captaining under letters of Marque. Alex was planning to divest the British of their spoils on the sea and he could not do that for fear of the children. All attempts however to divest himself of the brats were pointless. They were far too crafty from their time on the run with him in Scotland to be forced to do anything they didn’t want to do. And truth be told, Alex did not want them to go. He would miss them.

His surrender to their wishes makes it all the harder on him when poor Meg gets wounded in the capture of Charlotte. To make matters worse, there’s a bloody Campbell on board. The Campbell family was the worst of all the turncoats and all the cruel deeds of the war could be laid at their uncaring, guilty feet.

Jeanette Campbell, never knew the horrors of the war. She was safe, sequestered at home where no tales of cruelty could reach her. This does not sway Alex to relent toward her. At least his hate of her is different than the hate she has felt at others hands. Jenna, as she prefers to be called, has been quite unloved by her aristocratic family and society at large. She has been spurned because of a birthmark she cannot help. Born with the Devil’s Mark on one arm from shoulder to wrist, Jenna has known only fear and instant loathing.

Given the choice of being disowned or marrying a man she’s never met, Jenna chooses to find a haven in Barbados. Certain the widow was not told of her birthmark, Jenna is fearful of her future. The thought of mothering his children is the only thing that kept her going. So when the Charlotte is captured, Jenna cannot help feeling helpless and angry that her one chance at happiness has been ripped from her. For what man will take such a bride; even a desperate one?

Rating: 2 Stars

Originally posted 2008-10-10 08:49:41. Republished by Old Post Promoter