This historical romance was all right. It had a common theme about two feuding highland clans. The hero and heroine's love-hate relation swung too far to the extremes. It was a reread and forgettable. McKay clan leader's daughter Gillian is given as wife to enemy clan leader Ross to end long time feud.
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donated to the library ( )

SYNOPSIS
Battle between the MacKenna clan and the MacKay clan. Sunclair clan is allie to the Mackay clan.
A marriage agreement to bring MacKenna and MacKay clans together and end the battle.
Seana is a trouble maker and will play to any side for her advantage
Angus always up to his dirty tricks
Ross is stabbed; Gillian is exiled
Gillian goes after Angus to kill him and is captured
Angus and his warrior kin go to Edinberg to become mercenaries for the King.
Sinclair Keep is abandoned and reclaimed as Wickham
The bringing together of the clans is sealed.

FAVORITE PART: Marriage consummated. I cannot imagine how embarrassing for the bride.

LEAST FAVORITE PART: Gillian at the Sinclair Keep. Somebody help her. What is he going to do to her?

SEX SCALE: Of the following five options: 1) NOT very descriptive and requires imagination' 2) WILL make you wiggle a little) 3) WISH it was me; 4) OH boy, do not have to use my imagination at all; 5) EROTICA and well over the top
******THIS BOOK GETS A TWO FOR "WILL MAKE YOU WIGGLE A LITTLE" rating because there is enough descriptive passion amongst all the plots and ploys to make it exciting******

YOU WILL LIKE THIS BOOK IF YOU LIKE: How clans stop fighting and killing each other and the way that they are brought together. Major bad guys always running around with one plan after the other to achieve a major goal. One person that hates the other but ends up being involved with the other. The woman who continuously sees what others cannot see and gives warnings but in most cases is ignored and not taken seriously.

FOUR STARS because once again did not reach to the level of my favorite authors, Hannah Howell and Alexandra Ivy. ( )

“Defend yourself or die!” is now one of my all time favorite book quotes. Connie Mason brings together two memorable fighting Scottish clans in this tumultuous romance. Soon these brave Highlanders find out that it is hard to feud when ones heart is involved in an all-consuming love.

As a woman, Gillian McKay should never have been on a battlefield wielding a sword. Yet there she was in the thick of things, challenging Ross of clan MacKenna with a loud war cry. Thankfully for Gillian’s safety, The MacKenna didn’t wish to fight a woman; a fact which angered her deeply because she wanted to be respected as a fighter in her on right and help her clan against their hated enemy. That day as in each brutal encounter of the generation long feud, both sides of the clans lost precious loved ones. Laird Angus McKay had had enough. He was not about to lose his only daughter in the futile feud as he had lost sons. The flame-haired warrior had to be dragged away from the battlefield by her father. Gillian vowed to meet the MacKenna again.

Later after the dead had been buried, Angus traveled to Ravenscraig Tower, the MacKenna stronghold to make a desperate deal with their Laird. He proposed to the MacKenna that he and his daughter unite in marriage to end the feud.

Surprisingly, Ross was agreeable to the match, Gillian as expected was not. But once married, she takes her vows seriously and begins to open up her heart to Ross. The thing I liked most about this book was the insight into the struggles of their marriage. Desire though plentiful, was not enough to build a life together. Trust had to come into play. Once they realized they wanted a real life together, Ross and Gillian had to truly work out their marital problems. Their main problem was the distracting interference from their clans. As they found out, marriage isn't easy. Their journey together is tumultuous. Ross is the one who can’t trust Gillian or his burgeoning feelings for her. As determined as she was on the battlefield, strong-willed Gillian puts that same energy into trying to save her marriage and the future of both clans. Her character kept the book lively.

The story is filled with plot twists, intrigue and suspense. Someone doesn’t want peace between the Mckay’s and the MacKenna’s. Outside factors threaten to destroy the fragile truce between the clans that is apt to disintegrate at any moment. Connie Mason shows that anything is possible in love and war. ( )