Devil of the Highlands review

Devil of the Highlands

Lynsay Sands

384 pages

Ratings:

Challenges: 100+ Challenge, 144 Books in 2010, 2010 Romance Challenge, Romance Reading Challenge 2010

Synopsis:

They call him the Devil . . .
He is the most notorious laird of Scotland: fierce, cold, deadly . . . and maybe even worse. Yet Evelinde has just agreed to wed him. Anything, she thinks, is better than her cruel stepmother. Though Evelinde should be wary of the rumors, she can't help but be drawn to this warrior . . . for the Devil of the Highlands inspires a heat within her that is unlike anything she has ever known.
They may call him whatever they wish, but Cullen, Laird of Donnachaidh, cares only for the future of his clan. He must find a wife, a woman to bear him sons and heed his commands. He has no need for beauty or grace, but one taste of his lovely bride's sweet lips and the sultry feel of her skin arouse an untamed passion. Perhaps there's more to marriage than he thought . . .

Review: I picked this book up after reading Taming the Highland Bride because it made references to this book in certain parts of the story. I am very glad that I picked it up because I was most definately NOT disappointed! It totally had me guessing right up until the end!

Evelinde is promised to "The Devil of Donnachaidh" and all she has heard about him are EXTREMELY horrible things. Assuming that these stories are all true she assumes that she is headed for a life of abuse and a great big FAT ZERO on the love scale. A fluke accident has her meeting Cullen under very unusual circumstances which leads to an equally unusual explaination of who he really is.

After the wedding (which goes SOUTH FAST) Cullen does what he needs to get Evelinde out from under her evil step-mother's fingers fast. After Cullen and Evelinde reach Donnachaidh Evelinde realizes somethings about her husband....1. He doesn't talk much, but he does grunt and growl A LOT. 2. He's really not as bad as everyone has made him out to be. 3. He is a pretty great lover. and 4. That the deaths that have happened in the past at Donnachaidh may or may not have been accidents.

But the more time that Evelinde is at Donnachaidh things start going down hill....Random accidents keep happening to her. Some of which she barely escapes with her life from. But Evelinde keeps asking questions about the deaths that have taken place at the castle and Cullen keeps rescuing her when the next accident happens.

In the end, some very interesting things happen (which I'm not going to give away). Each of the main character's learn a little something important about the other and all the miscommunications that they had had in the not so distant past are easier to understand.

What we're really thinking:

Jamie - I really liked this book a LOT! It was rather difficult for me to put this one down. There was a lot of humor, drama, and UBER HOT (in my opinion anyway) love scenes to keep the story very fast paced. The only little quirk I had with the book was the language...again this isn't a genre that I usually read so that may factor in quite a bit.

GnL - Oodles and Oodles of "Team Cuddle" time! Only downside to the story was when it made Jamie giggle...It kept waking us up from our peacful slumbers!

Taming the Highland Bride review

NOTE: A BRAND NEW COPY OF THIS BOOK IS BEING ADDED TO THE BOX!
Taming the Highland Bride
Lynsay Sands
384 pages
Rating: 4/5

Source: Purchased
Challenges: 144 books in 2010, 100+ Challenge, 2010 Romance Challenge, Romance Reading Challenge 2010,

Synopsis:

She was ready to let her heart run wild . . .

Merry Stewart has had enough! Enough of her brothers, whose behavior would make even the most improper lady blush. Enough of their Highland home, which would surely have fallen to ruin were it not for her. She dreams of escaping into the arms of her betrothed, Alexander d'Aumesbery-even though they haven't yet met. But when they do, Merry is devastated. It seems he's no better than the men in her family. So beautiful, so brazen . . . From the moment he meets Merry, Alexander is determined to make her his.

Desperate to convince her he's nothing like the members of her roguish clan, he will prove he is every bit the well-mannered gentleman. Yet, beneath it all beats a heart as intense and uncontrollable as hers. And finally, when his life is threatened, Merry realizes he's the husband she's been waiting for . . . and their passion becomes the one thing that cannot be tamed.

Review:

I picked this book up while I was out one morning running some errands. I hadn't read any of Lynsay Sands books up to this point and I thought I'd give it a shot. I am very glad that I did! I guess my only "gripe" with the book was some of the dialogue was a little hard for me to follow, but that might be because I don't usually read this genre of romance.

Merry Stewart has had it! Her brothers and father are drunks. She vows to never have anything to do with drunks again. She's been promised to a English royal who is drunk as a skunk when she shows up. Which obviously does not sit well with Merry and she takes an instant dislike to her new husband. Alex on the other hand has almost and instant attraction to his wife. He make a vow to show her that he's NOTHING like her father and brothers but there is a small problem...he is constantly feeling and acting like he's drunk.

While on a trip to visit his sister Alex's life is threatened and Merry comes to the realization that maybe her husband isn't the jerk she thought he was and that maybe someone is making him act this way and is out to try and kill him while they're at it.

What I was really thinking:

Beginning: Her brothers and father are A$$es!

Middle: I see it how come Merry doesn't see it? Or, does she and she just doesn't want it to be real?

The End: I NEED MORE!

Hondo Review

Hondo
Louis L'Amour

Synopsis - 9/10
Plot - 10/10
Characters - 9/10
Overall Story - 9/10
Conclusion - 8/10

Overall Score - 45/50

Synopsis: He was etched by the desert’s howling winds, a big, broad-shouldered man who knew the ways of the Apache and the ways of staying alive. She was a woman alone raising a young son on a remote Arizona ranch. And between Hondo Lane and Angie Lowe was the warrior Vittoro, whose people were preparing to rise against the white men. Now the pioneer woman, the gunman, and the Apache warrior are caught in a drama of love, war, and honor.

Review: Louie does it again in my opinion! This is another one of his novels that was turned into a movie featuring my favorite actor of ALL TIME John Wayne. There really is a lot going on in this book...The Apaches are uprising....Angie Lowe and her little boy have been left to fend for themselves on their ranch (which is on a watering hole that the Apaches frequent), the army is trying to get the Apache situation under control while trying to save the lives of the families around the fort and Hondo Lane is in the middle running dispatch for the army while trying to keep not only himself alive but also Angie and her little boy.

Lots of drama....Lots of gun play....Lots of all the things that make a Louis L'Amour western a Louis L'Amour novel.

The Shadow Riders Review

The Shadow Riders
Louis L'Amour
224 pages

Synopsis -10 /10
Plot - 9/10
Characters - 9/10
Overall Story - 10/10
Conclusion -10/10

Overall - 48/50

Synopsis: Dal and Mac Traven left Texas young and idealistic. They came back from opposite sides of a living hell, a war that had torn the nation in two. They wanted only to reclaim their old lives…but one man held their future hostage.

Colonel Henry T. Ashford had gathered an army of criminals and renegade soldiers, leading them on a path of destruction and kidnapping through Texas to the Gulf. Among Ashford’s captives were the Travens’ sister and Dal’s tough-minded fiancée, Kate.

Now Mac and Dal must take up arms once again and ride together against Ashford’s army—ready to fight another war, if that’s what it takes to win the freedom of the women they love.

Review: I am a big fan of Louis L'Amour. He writes a story that when you start it you feel like you're actually there while it's taking place. Like a couple of his other novel's this particular book was made into a movie...Which I too enjoy. Naturally, I saw the movie before I read the book but I was equally happy with both.

The Traven brothers - Mac, Dal and younger brother Jesse - all head off to the war between the states. When the war is over they head for home only to find that a whole 'nother "war" has taken place before they even get home. A tough confederate Colonel who refuses to let the war end has taken to assembling an "army" of rouge soldiers and outlaws and proceeds to lead them on a path of death, destruction and kidnapping across Texas all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.

Now what this Colonel doesn't know is that he has taken the Traven's sister and Dal's tough-as-nails girl, Kate, hostage. The Traven's don't take to kindly to that thought and take up arms to get back their family as well as the other's who have been kidnapped. What happens next is a pretty AWESOME story of determination, love and some "ha, ha sucks to be you."

Gone With The Wind - Review

Synopsis:

Margaret Mitchell's epic novel of love and war won the Pulitzer Prize and went on to give rise to two authorized sequels and one of the most popular and celebrated movies of all time.

Many novels have been written about the Civil War and its aftermath. None take us into the burning fields and cities of the American South as Gone With the Wind does, creating haunting scenes and thrilling portraits of characters so vivid that we remember their words and feel their fear and hunger for the rest of our lives.

In the two main characters, the white-shouldered, irresistible Scarlett and the flashy, contemptuous Rhett, Margaret Mitchell not only conveyed a timeless story of survival under the harshest of circumstances, she also created two of the most famous lovers in the English-speaking world since Romeo and Juliet.

If you've seen the movie then I highly recommend reading the book to see all the "little" details that were left out of the movie. I guess in the end I'm fan of "bad boy" Rhett. I wasn't a real big fan of Ashley Wilkes....Don't know what it was...just didn't care for his character. Overall I really liked the book. I'm going to grade this one on a few different things though....

Length: 3 out of 5.....I know it's a classic but it was just a tad too long for my liking.

Dialogue: 3 out of 5....I really didn't care for the way that the "slaves" were written....was really difficult for my ADD brain to wrap itself around.

Overall: 5 out of 5