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Showing posts with label Monica McCarty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Monica McCarty. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 5, 2022

Remembering my Very First #BookReview: Highland Warrior (2010)

Wednesday, October 05, 2022 0 Comments
I decided that after over 12 years, I would go back and remember a few of my first book reviews. I will be giving them a re-read and posting my new review and thoughts on a few of these books. How will my reviews change? Be watching. For now -- my very first review from May 2010!



Summary from GoodReads: The ruthless enforcer of Scotland’s most powerful clan, Jamie Campbell is the most feared man in the Highlands. Raw physical strength coupled with cunning political acumen make him a powerful force with whom few men will dare to reckon. Determined to see the Highlands tamed of its lawlessness and unrest, Jamie’s objectives are clear: under the guise of seeking the Chief of Lamont’s daughter’s hand in marriage, discover whether the Lamonts are harboring any outlawed MacGregors. But guise turns to desire when he meets the beautiful spitfire who rules the household with a dainty iron fist. The fierce Highlander never expects that the woman he wants above all others will test his duty and loyalty to his clan to the breaking point. Cosseted and adored by her family, Caitrina Lamont has no intention of abandoning her beloved father and doting four older brothers for a husband—especially a Campbell. But Jamie Campbell is nothing like the parade of suitors that Caitrina’s father usually traipses across their hall. His raw masculinity threatens her in a way no man ever had before. But when Caitrina’s idyllic world is shattered, could the man she blames for her tragedy become her only hope for the future?
My Review: {This book is for adult readers due to sexually detailed situations} -- Who doesn't love the idea of a knight in shining armour, there when they need him? Jamie Campbell is definitely a figure to not cross and Caitrina Lamont is stubborn, yet spoiled. Both of these characters come out so strongly in the book. You feel like you know them.
Caitrina, even though spoiled and catered to by her father and brothers, managed to not make you hate her because she is still strong and independent...stubborn, yet not whiny. So many other characters in books that are similar to her, have you hating them from start to end of the book. Not Caitrina.
This books makes you love the idea of men sporting at games of strength and skill simply to gain your hand in marriage {*sigh* if only...}. And the first meeting of Caitrina and Jamie is a wonderful laugh.
The author manages to draw you so into her characters. You feel the frustration and the fears of the characters...the heartbreak and tears...the love and steaming sex...the loneliness and fulfillment. It's like you're there.
Monica creates the perfectly clear setting for her readers to lose themselves into the Highlands. A book you'll want to read again. **Campbell Trilogy #1**
Review copy of this book purchased by me.




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Saturday, June 5, 2010

Book Review: Highland Scoundrel

Saturday, June 05, 2010 3 Comments


Summary from GoodReads: Duncan Campbell is a natural born leader, possessing all the attributes for a Highland chieftain except for one: legitimacy. Forced from the Highlands for a crime he didn’t commit, Duncan has earned a reputation as the fiercest, most skilled mercenary on the continent. Vowing to restore his name and clear the cloud of treason hanging over his head, Duncan returns to the Highlands to find the one person who might hold the key to his freedom: the woman he’d once loved who’d betrayed him. But when he surprises her swimming in a loch, he finds himself facing the bad end of a pistol.

Told she was impulsive her whole life like her mother who’d destroyed their family when she’d run off with an Englishman over twenty years ago, Jeannie Grant had never believed it—until she met Duncan Campbell. The bastard born son of a chieftain was not a suitable husband for the daughter of a powerful Highland chief, but Duncan made Jeannie willing to risk everything. She gave him her innocence and he failed her, forcing Jeannie to learn the hard way what happens when you follow your heart. Now Jeannie is shocked to find that the brigand she’s shot is the same man who broke her heart all those years ago. But the hard, ruthless man is nothing like the charming young scoundrel she remembers. When their attempt to prove Duncan’s innocence uncovers a deadly secret, not only their lost love, but their lives hang in the balance.

My Review: {This book is for adult readers} --Campbell Trilogy #3: With book 3, we yet again focus on another couple. Others from the previous books make appearances, but aren't in as much as I'd like for them to be.

We finally get to meet Duncan Campbell. After being in hiding, he's made quite the name for himself on other soil. He comes back ten years later to seek out the only woman who can help him clear his name so that he can return to his rightful life in the Highlands.

Ten years ago, when he left, he felt that it was Jeannie, his love, that had betrayed them, along with her father and the man she married soon after he left. A war is starting out and Jeannie finds herself with some information of the plans her clan has to betray the Campbells during battle. Should she have backed her father as she did? Should she have backed the man that she loved and was to marry? Does Duncan flee all those years ago for the right reasons?

This, of course, rekindles the spark of love they once shared and gives him new light on if she really betrayed him or not. He also gets another quite interesting surprise.

This book, of course, contains some hot scenes as do the others in this trilogy. I still find myself wishing that all three books would have focused on Jamie and Caitrina. No other character in her books has grabbed me quite as Jamie did.

Definitely a read for you if you like Highlander books.


Pages: 404
hardcover

Review copy of this book purchased by me.
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# Book Review # Monica McCarty
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Saturday, May 29, 2010

Book Review: Highland Outlaw

Saturday, May 29, 2010 0 Comments


Summary from GoodReads:Patrick MacGregor is a hunted man living on the edge. With his land stolen and clan outlawed, Patrick and his MacGregor clansmen have been forced into hiding—blame for which Patrick puts squarely on the shoulders of the hated Campbells. Patrick will stop at nothing to save his clan from destruction, and marriage to Elizabeth Campbell, whose quiet beauty he’d admired from afar, just might be the answer. Arranging an attack seems to be the perfect means to win the trust of the protected lass, but soon Patrick realizes that it isn’t just his life at stake if she discovers the truth of his identity, but something he’d thought lost long ago—his heart.

Elizabeth Campbell has never done anything reckless in her life. Shy and dutiful, Lizzie has always tried to do the right thing—even suffering through the humiliation of two broken engagements without complaint. But behind the serious façade is a passionate woman fighting to get out. So when a handsome mysterious warrior rescues her from an attack, Lizzie boldly asks him to stay. Seduced by his kiss and mesmerized by the edge of danger that surrounds him, Lizzie succumbs to the promise beckoning from behind his shadowed gaze, believing she’s found the perfect man. But soon Lizzie wonders whether in risking her heart, she’s lost everything.

My Review: {This book is for adult readers} --Campbell Trilogy #2: Even an enemy can feel badly for another enemy. Is that sympathy wrong? Well, that would depend on which MacGregor brother you are asking. Lizzie Campbell, sister of feared Jamie Campbell can seem to get engaged, but never married. Three engagements and aging quickly, she still has not married.

The MacGregors are still outlaws and part of a huge feud with the Campbells.

Jamie Campbell is still the most feared henchmen in the Highlands. However, this book focuses more on Lizzie and her engagement and marriage troubles. To my disappointment, he's hardly mentioned and his wife Caitrina mentioned even less. Jamie doesn't even make an *appearance* until page 98.

Patrick MacGregor realizes that he has feelings for Lizzie the moment he lays eyes on her and also knows that they are something that cannot be. Or can they? The first meeting and feelings he thought were a fluke, the second time he wasn't so sure. What can he offer her? A life on the run? It's no way to want the person that you care for to live. Little does he know, Lizzie feels the same for him.

Through the book they struggle with right and wrong and love and status...the things that can happen when you don't spell out your feelings completely.

Overall, this book was a good read once you got going. However, after reading book 1, since it is a trilogy, I had assumed it would be based on Jamie and Caitrina again, so I was definitely disappointed in that.

Pages: 361
hardcover

Review copy of this book purchased by me.
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Monday, May 17, 2010

Book Review: Highland Warrior

Monday, May 17, 2010 0 Comments

Summary from GoodReads: The ruthless enforcer of Scotland’s most powerful clan, Jamie Campbell is the most feared man in the Highlands. Raw physical strength coupled with cunning political acumen make him a powerful force with whom few men will dare to reckon. Determined to see the Highlands tamed of its lawlessness and unrest, Jamie’s objectives are clear: under the guise of seeking the Chief of Lamont’s daughter’s hand in marriage, discover whether the Lamonts are harboring any outlawed MacGregors. But guise turns to desire when he meets the beautiful spitfire who rules the household with a dainty iron fist. The fierce Highlander never expects that the woman he wants above all others will test his duty and loyalty to his clan to the breaking point.

Cosseted and adored by her family, Caitrina Lamont has no intention of abandoning her beloved father and doting four older brothers for a husband—especially a Campbell. But Jamie Campbell is nothing like the parade of suitors that Caitrina’s father usually traipses across their hall. His raw masculinity threatens her in a way no man ever had before. But when Caitrina’s idyllic world is shattered, could the man she blames for her tragedy become her only hope for the future?

My Review: {This book is for adult readers due to sexually detailed situations} -- Who doesn't love the idea of a knight in shining armour, there when they need him? Jamie Campbell is definitely a figure to not cross and Caitrina Lamont is stubborn, yet spoiled. Both of these characters come out so strongly in the book. You feel like you know them.
Caitrina, even though spoiled and catered to by her father and brothers, managed to not make you hate her because she is still strong and independent...stubborn, yet not whiny. So many other characters in books that are similar to her, have you hating them from start to end of the book. Not Caitrina.
This books makes you love the idea of men sporting at games of strength and skill simply to gain your hand in marriage {*sigh* if only...}. And the first meeting of Caitrina and Jamie is a wonderful laugh.
The author manages to draw you so into her characters. You feel the frustration and the fears of the characters...the heartbreak and tears...the love and steaming sex...the loneliness and fulfillment. It's like you're there.
Monica creates the perfectly clear setting for her readers to lose themselves into the Highlands. A book you'll want to read again. **Campbell Trilogy #1**

Review copy of this book purchased by me.
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# Book Review # Monica McCarty
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