Bride of a Scottish Warrior by Adrienne Basso
Released: July 1, 2014
Historical Romance
Kensington Publishing Corp.
Reviewed by Sheena
I knew at once that this may not be the book for me. I adore historical romances, however, a little voice told me that the heavy Scottish prose and traveling, battling clans would be a little too niche even for me. Well thank goodness I didn’t listen to that half-witted voice – she must have been drinking! Bride of a Scottish Warrior turned out to be a fun, escapist tale of discovery and second chance love between an endangered widow and an honorable and extremely likable warrior hero.
The story opens in the Scottish Highlands with the heroine, Lady Grace Ferguson tending to her dying husband, Sir Alastair. Childless after seven years of marriage, Alastair has no heir to lead Clan Ferguson and his death later ignites a feud between his brothers, well-liked Douglas and the evil, power thirsty Roderick. Grace finds solace and protection with her brother, Brian McKenna, a powerful Clan chief in his own right who unknowingly sets off a chain of events that will change the trajectory of her life forever, when he puts her in the way of Sir Ewan Gilroy, warrior without a clan who recently received a Knighting from the King.
Ewan. Hummammm- Ah, pardon my unbecoming drool. He is my kind of hero. Big, sexy, confident, brave and honorable. Though, handsome and virile as he is, has had a devil of a time finding a suitable wife. Son of an Earl but born a bastard, fathers throughout the land, discriminate and decline his offers of marriage to their eligible daughters. All offers. Turned down. Flat. So poor Ewan, with all the right stuff finds himself considering Brian’s offer of marriage to Grace…and so they meet. Ewan wants her for his lady wife at once and Grace decides she will accept Ewan’s offer…of an escort….to a convent. Yes. My jaw dropped too. Seriously Grace. [Insert disapproving gesturing and utterances]. Grace was no easy campaign to win and later only accepted her attraction and betrothal to Ewan under the most dire of circumstances, literally running for her life from Roderick who planned to use her in the most horrific way to further his own ambition.
This was a very steady love story. There is action, danger and the engaging journey that these two take toward their life together. It starts with Ewan’s declaration of marriage to Grace’s push and pull with deciding to live her life at the convent to Ewan saving her life to Grace accepting the union to Ewan’s steadfast and stubborn gentlemanly notions to Grace’s tentative acts of desire to Ewan’s surprise to Grace’s cleverly resorting to goading him into tumbling her into bed. And I enjoyed every minute of it!
“Grace, ye are not just any lady, ye are my lady wife, I canne take ye while my men sleep so near and we’ve only the thin fabric walls of this tent to muffle the sounds of our lovemaking. ‘Tis disrespectful to ye.”
“I had no idea ye were such a prim and proper man. Nor was I aware that yer soldiers are so sensitive.”
“I need to protect ye…and that includes yer reputation”
“We’ve never done more than kiss. How do ye know I’ll make any noise when we couple?…Have ye any actions to prove yer words?”
The wicked laugh bubbled up inside him…”
The sensual buildup was very rewarding and once Ewan finally did let go well let’s just say neither Grace (nor I) were at all disappointed.
“I can wait no longer, Grace” Ewan rasped. He dropped his head and grazed her breasts with his teeth…”
She could feel the tip of his hard penis seeking entrance. Ears ringing with a surge of anticipation, Grace reached and cradled Ewan’s face between her hands…By all the saints, the man had not exaggerated his skill or falsely boasted about his prowess.”
Author Adrienne Basso really hit the mark for character and plot development. There is even the requisite mother in law from hell and I greatly enjoyed watching Grace battle wits with Ewan’s mother the lady Moira. Dare I say their verbal combat over Ewan, rivaled scenes where the nefarious, Roderick, was at his most dastardly in his quest to manipulate and harm Grace.
Bride of a Scottish Warrior is a recommended read. It is a bit of a slow start and evolves into a slow burn, but has more than enough substance to make you damn glad you stuck it out and enjoyed the ride. I especially appreciated that there were no superfluous passages of narrative text that could have taken away from the story. None of that boring rigmarole! The anticipated danger and romance intertwine nicely and the story arc and conclusion is more than satisfying. It even ended with my all-time favorite romantic resolution. Score!
If ye like a tale of lasses and lads and all the trouble their love had, read Bride of a Scottish Warrior. I dinnae say ye be disappointed. (I fully expect the Scottish prose to wear off soon aye?) hehehe.
Grade: B
I love Scottish accents, just downloaded a sample of this right now.
I love Scottish accents, heh, just downloaded a sample of this right now.
He heh he took me a moment to get used to using the accent in my head!!