The Guardian (The Return of the Highlanders)

The Guardian begins a fascinating new series from the very talented Margaret Mallory. The story primarily focuses on the story of Ian and Sileas. They were forced to marry before he left Scotland for five long years. He planned to return and encourage Sileas to find a new husband, but when he discovers what a beauty she has become he begins to change his mind. Sileas finds it difficult to trust Ian after the hurt and humiliation he caused her, but after loving him her entire life she hopes the man she once knew is still inside him. She doesn’t want to spend her life in a loveless marriage and has concocted a plan to end their union if Ian can’t love her the way she deserves, even if it will break her heart to see it end.

I was show more completely drawn in by the story of Ian and Sileas. Sileas is a character with so much heart. After being dealt so much pain in her life I wanted to see her find her HEA. Ian is a character who managed to be both frustrating and endearing. As the circumstances that set their forced union into motion came to light, it was so much easier to understand Ian’s frustrations and Sileas’s fears. Sileas was just a child when the marriage took place, and Ian was a young Highlander ready for a life on the battlefield. I was wholeheartedly rooting for them even when Ian’s actions were less than noble.

I also fell in love with Ian’s family. There was so much development of not only the key players, but also the secondary ones. This story left me longing for more time with the fascinating characters the author created. If you like strong and sassy heroines you’ll love this book. There is a scene involving an angry Sileas and a frying pan that is not to be missed ;) The Guardian is a stellar series debut, and I can’t wait to get to know the other Highlanders as it progresses. The romantic elements paired with a bit of political intrigue and laugh out loud moments, created a thoroughly engaging look into the Highlander life.

Margaret Mallory takes a mix of fact and fiction, and weaves a magnificently romantic tale. Her love of Scotland and history is apparent when reading her stories. She was one of my first experiences with historical romance, and one of the reasons I’m hooked today. If you are a fan of historical romance this is an author you do not want to miss! show less

The Guardian
By Margaret Mallory
Return of the Highlanders Book #1

Here is an author who can toy with the emotions of her readers which is a very good thing in my opinion. I felt so bad for the heroine in this story because the hero was such a jerk to her in the beginning of the book.

Sileas escapes her house at age 13 after her horrible step-father tries to marry her off to his son from another marriage just to gain control of her castle and lands because she is the rightful heir. She runs into her friend, Ian MacDonald who she has adored since she was a wee lass. He allows her to travel with him towards his home and even shares his plaid with her to keep warm when they camp but in the morning, his uncle rides into camp and thinks Ian has show more defiled Sileas and forces them to marry.

Ian is livid and despite knowing Sileas was in a bad situation and a good kid, believes she has trapped him into marriage. He thinks Sileas is too homely and skinny with wild red hair so he will never be attracted to her. He does not consummate the marriage and runs off with his friends to France to fight. He is gone for five years and never writes or asks about how Sileas is doing.

Five years later, he and his friends are back from France to discover their clan is in trouble. Their chief is dead, killed at the Battle of Flodden, and his brother has taken over but does not care for the welfare of the clan. He only cares about power and his own comfort. Ian’s father lost a leg at Flodden and has taken to his bed, depressed so now Ian has to become the man of the house and figure out a way to help the clan.

Sileas has lived with Ian’s family, working her finger to the bone, trying to help them out and she has grown into a beautiful woman. Ian notices right away and all of the sudden is interested in her which irked the heck out of me. What a tool!

I can tell this is going to be a great series. The other characters are interesting and the ongoing struggle of the corrupt chieftain will definitely be entertaining.

www.paranormalromanceslut.com show less

The Guardian
3 Stars

When visiting a soothsayer, four young highland boys receive prophecies of their future brides. Ian MacDonald is told that he will marry twice - once for hate and once for love. Years later he is forced to wed a childhood friend and deserts her to fight in France. Upon his return, he discovers that gangly Síleas has become a beautiful and spirited young woman with little patience for a man who chose war over hearth and home. Is it too late for Ian to prove his love for her?

Ian has to be one of the most self-centered, obnoxious and irritating heroes ever to disgrace the pages of a historical romance novel. He returns home and expects the woman he deserted to welcome him with open arms and kiss the ground he walks on . show more . . Well, he is in for a big surprise!

Síleas is a charming heroine - beautiful, caring and independent. The only problem with her character is her love for the undeserving Ian. It seems that love truly is blind…and deaf … and stupid!

The rest of the plot revolving around a struggle for leadership of the Clan is well developed with some exciting action scenes. Unfortunately, it never quite succeeds in compensating for the weak romance.

The rest of the series focuses on the other boys: Alex the womanizer, Duncan the tormented and Connor the leader. As their characters are far more likable than Ian, I am willing to give their books a chance. show less

Reviewed by Valerie
Source: eBook provided by NetGalley for review

Blurb: Four fearless warriors return to the Highlands to claim their lands and legacies. But all their trials on the battlefield can't prepare them for their greatest challenge yet: winning the hearts of four willful Scottish beauties.

PASSION IGNITED
After years of fighting abroad, Ian MacDonald comes home to find his clan in peril. To save his kin, he must right the wrongs from his past . . . and claim the bride he's long resisted. As a young lass, Sìleas depended on Ian to play her knight in shining armor. But when his rescue attempt compromised her virtue, Ian was forced to marry against his wishes. Five years later, Sìleas has grown from an awkward girl into an show more independent beauty who knows she deserves better than the reluctant husband who preferred war to his wife. Now this devilishly handsome Highlander is finally falling in love. He wants a second chance with Sìleas - and he won't take no for an answer.

Review: When the cover makes you swoon, what’s a girl to do??? READ! After the blurb definitely got my attention and I started reading, I fell hard for the characters in this book as I read and am so glad that there will be more books in the series.

One of the things I really loved about the sassy red-headed lass, Sìleas, is that she never gave up on her one true love, ever. She and Ian grew up in the same area and she often tagged along as he and his friends and cousins played. Time and again he would get her out of one mishap or another, until even he didn’t realize the impact it would have on their lives. Finding oneself sleeping under the stars with an impressionable unmarried girl is a no-no. Sìleas and Ian find themselves married in the blink of an eye so that her reputation is saved...

Fast forward to five years and Ian’s returning to a beautiful, bitter, lonely wife that ignores him yet she’s also the treasured daughter his parents never had and the sister his brother needed. To say Ian is confused is an understatement. I laughed when he realized the young girl he married had grown up in his absence and had other admirers. When his mom would mumble under her breath about men being thick skulled, I was chuckling with her. No matter how good his intentions, Ian is clumsy and continually puts his foot in his mouth anytime Sìleas is around him. This constant ring-around-the-rosy between these two characters was very entertaining.

Besides the tug-of-war happening between the supposed husband and wife, add in jealous suitors, naked maids, overprotective family members, interfering friends, and lots and lots of enemy clansmen from all around the region. Everyone seems to want Sìleas’ birthright, Knock Castle, including her husband. People get injured, killed, and betrayed as the power shifts between Ian’s cousin and his half-uncle throughout much of the story.

As well as having the area details and accents accurately portrayed, several customs and beliefs from the time are mentioned including women that have the power to heal and ghosts who make their intentions known. Will Sìleas and Ian ever come to an understanding and be happy? Who will ultimately become the head chieftain? show less

Wow! Wow! And wow, again! Margaret Mallory's work is phenomenal!!! Not only did I love her writing, I loved the feeling of traveling to another place in time, and seeing the characters come to life. This is one rockin' hot book! It's filled with love, humor, and a little suspense and rolled into a book that kept me up long into the night, turning page after page, to see what the clansmen would be doing next.....

The Gaurdian is filled with both lovable and not-so-lovable characters. Ian's character was my favorite. And, no, not just because he was the hero of the story. I loved his character for the way he grew in the story. Sileas' character was a sweet one, and I loved her part in the story as well, but, well, Ian really tugged my show more heart strings. Sweet Ian as a lad (it's Scotland...gotta throw the terms in and make it real!), the way he involved the wee lass Sileas in all the adventures that he and his cousins partook, was so sweet! It was passion way back then! Of course, the cousins were funny and sweet and added some kick to the story as well.

I'll warn ya....this book is full of wonderful love and deep passion. Ian and Sileas have sparks flying all the time around them. But, when Ian takes of for 5 years to France, just after a forced wedding to a young Sileas, will she be able to forgive him and still claim him as her husband? Will he accept the fact that she is the one for him, even during the warring between clans?

Yes, I most definitely recommend this 5 star start to a sure-to-be-a-hit series, to all you romance and historical lovers. Let Margaret Mallory's amazing skills and words, take you on a far away trip to a land of clans and cheiftans, love and passion in this historical romance novel! I can't wait until The Sinner (book 2) releases in November! show less

Due to circumstances, Sileas is forced to marry when she is 13. Although she does marry the "boy" who she has adored forever he does not want the match and resents her for it. He takes off for battles in France with his three friends and does not return for five years. When he returns he does not even recognize the woman she has become. Does Sileas want him after she feels slighted, embarrassed and ashamed of his behavior? Ian is also coming to terms with whether he wants to have her as a wife or have a wife at all.

I really liked how Sileas found herself while living with Ian's family for those five years. I also liked the character of Ian and how he comes to realize his feelings for her. I did have difficulty with the smaller stories show more that are woven throughout the main plot. The author is setting us up for future romance novels but it made some of the side plots difficult to follow. show less

This review is also published at http://thebookaholiccat.com

The Guardian is the first book of The Return of the Highlanders Series by Margaret Mallory and it’s also my first book by this author.

Ian MacDonald has always taken care of the young girl Sìleas as if she were his own little sister. But Sìleas has never seen Ian as a brother, since ever she has been secretly in love with him.
When Sìleas learns her abusive stepfather is planning to marry her the following morning to his disgusting and deprave son, she escapes from her castle in the middle of the night. Soon after escaping, she crosses path with Ian who is returning to his home from Stirling. Ian listens to Sìleas accusations against her stepfather and promises to take her show more the following morning to his father and uncle who is the chieftain of their clan, they would be able to help her better than him. As it’s very late at night they decide to camp and sleep couple of hours before continuing with their journey. In the early hours of morning they are awaken by the sounds of horses. The riders are Ian’s father, uncle and others clansmen. When they see them sleeping together they ask who he is with, Ian tells them and explain the circumstances, but they tell Ian he has to marry Sìleas because he compromised Sìleas virtue at sleeping together. The last thing Ian wants is to marry her, Sìleas is just a feeble child of thirteen and Ian is a young man of nineteen who doesn’t feel any inclination towards her. But his pleas are not listen and he is force to marry her. Ian blames Sìleas for the situation and doesn’t want to be with her, he decides to leave Scotland the next day of his wedding and go with his best friends Alex, Connor and Duncan to France. Ian and Sìleas didn’t consummate their marriage.
Upon receiving notice from home of the disastrous Battle of Flodden these young men decide to return home after five years of absence.
In these five years, Ian hasn’t thought about Sìleas once and has lived as if he was not a married man. But now with his imminent return she is brought back to his mind, he is just waiting to arrive home to request an annulment of the marriage. But when he arrives home, things are not as they were. Their Chieftain has died in the battle in suspicious circumstances, his father was also seriously injured and Sìleas is not the same scrawny girl he left behind. She is a beautiful grownup woman who has help to keep his family together in his absence. And if he doesn’t want her, that is not a problem, half the male population of the town would kill to have her as a wife.

Sìleas is a great heroine; she is a very strong, lovable and determined girl. She has been psychical and emotional abused by her stepfather. Also she has been the laughingstock of the town for five years because “she wasn’t woman enough to keep her husband”. But any of these things have deterred her, she continue to walk with her head high and despite everything she still loves Ian. But now she is mature and values herself enough to know that if he wants her, he has to prove it and make up for everything she has suffered because of his actions.

Ian is a handsome, sexy and interesting character, who is also somehow naïve, he didn’t have a clue of how to win a woman’s heart and sometimes I wanted to hit him in the head and scream at him what was he thinking. He was so innocent that it was funny to watch. Ian is also a very loyal and caring friend.

Sìleas and Ian’s romance was believable, and well paced. It was very nice to see them discover their feelings and see how their love grew even more.

The supporting characters in this book are awesome. Ian friends Alex, Connor, and Duncan are all so very different, but they are great together. Connor is all serious and responsible, Alex is the womanizer with a very colorful personality and Duncan is the good hearted gloomy one. Their friendship is very valued and protected, almost as a brotherhood and I really liked them.
I also liked Ian’s little brother Niall, I love how he takes the man of the house roll. And how he loves and tries to protect Sìleas.

I love books about Highlanders and Mrs. Mallory delivered with The Guardian. It was a terrific read, with a nice pace, a good plot and rich characters that will make you fall in love with them.
Each of Ian’s friends will have a book. The next book of the series The Sinner will be release in November 1, 2011. It’ll be Alex book and I can’t wait to read it. I’m dying to see which woman will be the brave one to tame him. I hope Niall gets his own book too. After everything he has done he deserves his HEA.

I recommend this book to all Highlander and historical romance lovers show less