Julie Johnstone

How a Scot Surrenders to a Lady (Highlander Vows: Entangled Hearts Book 5) by Julie Johnstone is another exhilarating Scottish Medieval Romance. Although, #5, each book can be read as a stand alone. Highly recommended reading for fans of Scottish Romance.
First, let me say, I absolutely loved this story! ! I think it is one of my favorites of this amazing series, thus far.

Well written with a cast of characters that are engaging, realistic and believable. A breathtakingly, high octane, story show more of love, treason, betrayal, romance passion, family, clan turmoil and the power of true love. Can love overcome doubt, low self esteem, to overcome a lifetime of struggles, self doubt and still find a HEA?
The plot flows seamlessly and effortlessly to bring readers to a most impressive Scottish Romance. An edge of your seat story of love, sacrifice, bravery, courage and letting go of past hurts and self doubt, to find what you always wanted. ...love, acceptance and a HEA.
Another masterfully and brilliantly written tale by Julie Johnstone! Breathtaking, thought-provoking, seductive, compelling and powerful. What would you do if you knew your father and brother were traitors and murderers to the crown? Pick up Julie Johnstone's latest book, HOW A SCOT SURRENDERS TO A LADY, and found out for yourself, you're be amazed and thrilled from beginning to end. Well done, Ms. Johnstone!! I can't wait to read the next adventure of this grand Scottish Romance. Oh, I hope it will be the sister of this powerful Highland clan. Highly recommended for fans of Scottish Romance, brawy highlanders, high octane stories, and fiery lasses.

Rating: 5
Heat rating: Mild
Reviewed by; AprilR show less

This was an excellent read even though I hadn’t read the first two books in the series. I felt perfectly comfortable reading this as a stand-alone. The writing is excellent, the plot is well developed and the characters were interesting.

Eve Decres lost her entire family eight years ago when a group of brutish Highlanders was allowed into her home by a traitor. The Highlanders murdered her father and mother right before her eyes and abducted Eve and her sister Mary. Eve’s lady’s maid show more managed to help her escape and they’ve been hiding in the Sisters of Saint Cecilia Convent for the last eight years. The castle and leadership of the clan is her inheritance – when she turns eighteen years – and she has just done that. Now, she must choose a husband, one who loves her, and go back to her castle in order to claim her birthright.

Before Eve can find a man to love and who loves her in return, she is abducted from the Abbey by a cruel Highlander who plans to marry her in order to obtain her castle. Were all Scots – particularly Highlanders brutish barbarians? Eve believed that must be the case because all she had met seemed to be that way. This particular brute also had two boys as captives and unmercifully used the whip on them. Eve knows that the boys will soon die from the whipping if she doesn’t do something to stop it. So, she does the only thing she can – she promises she’ll wed her captor if only he’ll let the boys live.

Grant Fraser is a Highlander. He is honorable, brave, brawny and, of course, very handsome. He’s just managed to capture the man, Laird MacDougall, who is responsible for taking his brother’s life and he plans to capture MacDougall’s son, Aros, next. Yet, he soon learns that Aros has captured Grant’s young brother as well as the younger brother of Grant’s best friend – and – Aros is willing to trade the two boys for his father.

The prisoner exchange, betrayals, escapes, and romance that follow make for some exciting reading. The times were dangerous and turbulent, but love managed to bloom and lead to a HEA for our hero and heroine.

This book could have easily been a 5-star read for me. However, I didn’t manage to work up a real affinity for Eve because, frankly, she seemed to be one of those TSTL heroines because she kept taking foolhardy and thoughtless actions that just got her into trouble. I also thought the end was just too abrupt. I would have preferred less of the details at the beginning of the book in order to add more detail to the end – particularly winning Eve’s castle, Linlithian, along with the soldiers there. Then, I also had to wonder about nobody being concerned about the whipping the boys took. They were beaten to the point of dying – and yet, when they were returned home, nobody even mentioned cleaning the wounds.

As I mentioned, I haven’t read the earlier books. I’m sort of glad I haven’t read them because had I met Simon in those books I would have been grossly unhappy about his outcome in this book.

I hope you’ll give this book a read and enjoy it as much as I did.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. show less

Eager to get away from England with her sister, Gillian schemes to marry an American, the problem is, she’s already betrothed to a loathsome Brit and on top of that there’s a very mutual attraction between Gillian and Alex, who for his own reasons, agreed to help Gillian land her American husband.

There’s something in Gillian’s past and another something in Alex’s past affecting each of them in the present which I had mixed feelings about, on the one hand, I understand Gillian show more feeling protective and I understand Alex experiencing guilt, but at the same time when the facts were laid out, it seemed like unnecessary drama, unnecessary blame and there were some extenuating circumstances in both cases that maybe could have been explained and accepted through clear eyes years earlier.

I liked Alex and Gillian’s chemistry, though their courtship while entertaining so often involved being on horseback, being caught out in the rain, or Alex happening to be there whenever Gillian needed rescuing, that I just craved a bit more variety in the scenes.

The meddling family members and friends were easily my favorite aspect of this book, whenever Gillian’s Aunt, sister, or childhood friend entered a scene it brought a jolt of energy to the proceedings, the dialogue tended to take on a more bantering vibe, a fizzy bit of humor that had me thinking it might be interesting to see what this author might do with a full-on regency romantic comedy. show less

I read this book because one of the reviews i saw said it was like Judith McNaught's Something wonderful which i absolutely loved ( its among my top 3 favorite books)so i figured why not give it a try. Im giving this book 2 STARS because it was so similar it became annoying. I mean c'mon a little twist would have been great but i couldnt help substituting the names from SOMETHING WONDERFUL into this book. It was as though this author gave different names but wrote the same story, from the show more botched attacks,the mishap at sea to even the deaf butler!. If i had read this book before Judith McNaught's i would have given it 5 stars for its originality but seeing as i have already read her's i was a tad bit underwhelmed . I enjoyed the first book in the series and i'm looking forward to read the next one. show less