The Raider

It's been ages since I read a Highlands novel. I cut my teeth on Amanda Scott's Lairds of the Loch and have always loved an alpha male in a kilt. One reason I stopped reading romances set in the Highlands was that the heroines always seemed childish or silly, and the political conflict between the English and the Scots was presented as black and white or a cardboard conflict between the hero and the heroine. Monica McCarty not only delivers all the rich historical details that I love, but she gives us deeply emotional characters who come alive on the pages. Lady Rosalin's reasons for helping a Raider escape are complex, and she's not afraid to question her own motivations. I loved, loved, loved how the political conflict between Rosalin show more and Robbie Boyd wasn't over-simplified. Next time I need a kilt fix, I'll definitely be looking for more Raider books! show less

Raider- Highland Guard #8

Why do all the ladies from this series have to be virgins? Except for one, all of the eight women in this series have been virgins and there is a big importance and emphasis put on it. I know that the setting is in the early 1300s but all the men in the series have bragged about the many lasses (in some cases hundreds of lasses) that they have been with so there must have been a lot of women who were not virgins. Of course, the heroines in this series are usually noble women so that might make a difference since noble born women have only two choices in life; get married or become a nun. For some reason, their noble born husbands want virgins. I get that part but I wish one of the heroes of these books would show more fall in love with a regular lass who isn’t a virgin or a noble. It’s such a double standard that the men can have hundreds of lovers but the women have to be virgins.
Okay, my rant is over.

Robert Boyd is said to be the strongest man in Scotland. He is idolized by the men and women of Scotland but he feared and hated by the people of England. They call him the Devil’s Enforcer among other names. He’s part of Robert Bruce’s secret Highland Guard, a group of warriors who are the greatest Highland warriors in Scotland. Nobody knows who they are and most believe they are myth and some think they are ghosts or phantoms, appearing out of the mists and then disappearing just as mysteriously. Boyd fought alongside William Wallace and has been seen with the Black Douglas so he is a wanted man by the English.

Robert Boyd along with a few of his friends are imprisoned when the English break a truce. Some of the men have already been executed. The English have the rest of them doing hard labor, tearing down a stone wall at Kildrummy Castle but the men know they will be executed once the job is complete or they will die from the poor conditions. One of his friends is slowly dying from lack of food and too harsh of conditions.

Lady Rosalin Clifford can see the prisoners from her tower bedroom. Her brother, the Baron of Clifford has been named the overlord of Scotland and is in charge of the prisoners. She is not yet seventeen but has become infatuated by one of the prisoners. She watches the huge, muscle-bound prisoner takes care of his friends by taking on their work, giving water rations to the weaker men and even taking on punishment meant for the others. She thinks he is the epitome of what a knight should be. She feels bad for the prisoners and starts secretly leaving food for them but when the men get caught with it and one gets severely beaten, the huge prisoner intervenes. He gets sent to the pit and Rosalin’s brother sentences him to death but Rosalin helps him escape.

Six years later, Clifford raids a village where Robert Bruce stores his grain so Robert Boyd and his men go on a mission to get it back during a fair. Rosalin is at the fair with her fourteen year old nephew, Roger, who is a squire and her seven year old niece. Some of her brother’s soldiers, along with her brother try to fight off Boyd’s men when one of the men notice who Roger is and grabs him, thinking that they can use him to negotiate with Clifford. Rosalin latches on to her nephew and won’t let go so Boyd puts a burlap sack over her head and grabs her to make her let go of Roger. He plans on letting the lass go until he finds out who she is.

Now, Robert Boyd has a way to force Clifford into a truce. He has Clifford’s son and his beloved sister. Rosalin tries to talk him into letting them go and tries to appeal to the man she thought he was six years ago but she is starting to think she made a big mistake by helping him escape because all she can see is a man bent on revenge for what her brother and the English have done to him, his family and his countrymen.

The anger Boyd had for the English was so strong that he never fully connected with his Highland Guard partner of over six years because he was born in England. He never let Sir Alexander forget that he was English. Even though Seton had fought alongside him for so many years, Robert Boyd treated him with hatred and distrust. They fought all of the time; Seton didn’t like the pirate techniques of the Highland Guard, believing in honor and chivalry while Boyd was more realistic knowing that wasn’t always possible but Boyd always belittled Seton which bugged me. I was routing for the two to work things out once Robert Boyd realized his hatred for the English blinded him.

My favorite part in the book was when Robert Boyd is mad at Rosalin and basically orders her to wash him as he bathes and she says, “I’m afraid I’ve not much experience bathing men but it isn’t much different than washing a pig before market.” It set him right in his place and rightly so.

The author really knows her history of Robert Bruce’s struggle to free Scotland from English tyranny. She has a way of writing that makes me believe I am right there riding along with the heroes and heroines. The men of her stories are strong warriors and a lot of times they are misogynistic as they would be in those times but the heroines always break through the macho behaviors because their love for each other is so strong. Half the time, I feel like strangling the male characters because of their chauvinistic ways and double standards but it is what makes her books so enjoyable and believable because men back then would have been just like that.

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Rosalin was finally getting the chance to visit her brother in the Scottish Highlands. For her own safety, he kept her confined to her room as much as possible. Rosalin was fascinated with one of the rebel prisoners her brother was currently holding at the castle. As she watched, she could see the prisoners weren't getting enough to eat. Rosalin decided to secretly give them more food without her brother knowing. When the prisoners were found out, punished and put in the prison pit, Rosalin knew it was all her fault and she had to do something about it. She knew in her heart the prisoners didn't deserve the punishment and plotted to set them free. She only hopes her brother never finds out the part she played in their escape…

Ms. show more McCarty is a skillful, historical romance author who has a knack for giving us the detail needed for the story in a painless, quickly absorbed, sneaky sort of way. She's so deft at it that we don't even realize it was anything but entertaining and exciting! The characters were so romantic I almost wanted to back up and read certain parts again and again, even before I finished the book. There have been some of this series I've missed, but now that I've had the chance to read The Raider, I'm definitely going back and finding out what I've overlooked. I adored the hero, Robbie, and wanted him for my very own…yum! He's sexy, romantic, and very protective. Even though he thinks he's not very chivalrous, Rosalin knows he really is…and so do I! The Raider is just scrumptious and I'll be reading it again I know, along with each and every book in this series. It's a keeper! show less

My second book by her and I'm wondering if Ms McCarty can do no wrong!

There is so much going on in my head about this book that I've started and restarted this review at least half a dozen times. All of a sudden I seemed to have lost my ability to put together something (anything) that truly makes sense. A review shouldn't be this difficult so I'm forgoing my usual paragraph review style and just doing bullet points.....

1) Robbie--an amazing hunka burning Highlander Love. The strongest man in Scotland and completely smitten with someone he should hate. A bit too pigheaded when it came to his hatred of the English.
2)Rosalin--a tad naive but in an endearing way, she quickly understood that the war between England and Scotland was not show more completely black and white. Her compassion for all, regardless of nationality or rank, was one of her greatest assets. She was smart and I never wanted to thwack her in the head because she did something to stupid to live.
3)The rest of the Characters--extremely real and well drawn.
4)Rich in history--love McCarty's additional information after the Epilogue. She lets us know where she has taken liberties and why. Her usage of real places and people in her books add much more to the story than a typical historical romance. Those pale in comparison.
5)The Sensuality--I'd say through the 70% mark the sexual tension between the H/h was pretty amazing. There was one bath scene in particular that I thought was a whole lot of awesome sauce although it was not a typical sex scene as Rosalin remained fully clothed. However, once Robbie and Rosalin actually had sex they had so much of it during the last 25% of the book it no longer felt sensual but more gratuitous.
6)The Forever Be Thine Enemy shtick-- it made the book feel longer than necessary to be truthful.
7)Robbie's declaration of Undying Love--I would have liked to have seen him brought to his knees in a more literal way when trying to prove his love for Rosalin. As it is written, I think it's a bit lackluster.
8)Rosalin's acceptance of Robbie's declaration of Undying Love--she should have let him squirm more.
9)The Ending--all resolved quickly with little fanfare. How did Clifford's and Robbie's negotiations effect the war? I'm not sure they did other than to help us get our HEA.

In A Nutshell: Such an enjoyable book despite some minor issues I had with it. I will 100% continue reading this series because I love me some Highlanders and Monica McCarty knows how to write amazing ones. show less

I received this book as an Early Reviewer. It's the latest in the Highland Guard series, but I haven't read the others. It's the story of the leader of the Scottish rebels, Robbie Boyd, aka "the Raider," who was trying to enforce the truce between the Scots and the English border lord entrusted with keeping the rebels under control. Clifford, the English lord, captured a bunch of the rebels, but his younger sister, Rosalin, got a crush on one of them who seemed to be a good guy, and she started sneaking food to them. When the English discovered it, one of the Scots was beaten almost to death because he didn't know who had done it. The leader was thrown in the pit when he went to his companion's rescue and scheduled to be executed later. show more Rosalin felt very guilty and confessed to her brother, but he didn't change his mind. So Rosalin went down that night and helped them escape. Fast forward 6 years. Robbie is furious because the English lead by Clifford, have been decimating the Scottish villages, raping and killing everyone. He makes a raid into English lands and inadvertently captures Clifford's young son, and then also Rosalin when she came to her nephew's rescue. Robbie and Rosalin are shocked to realize that they know each other, and why. Rosalin still has a crush on the Scot she remembers. Robbie realizes he owes her for the escape. However, they can't find common ground, except for his lust for her, so they bicker and accuse, and Robbie in particular is too quick to believe the worst of Rosalin. He's pretty nasty to her, but somehow she still manages to fall in love with him, of course. Things only turn out right close to the very end of the book. That's why I didn't like it enough to give it more than 3 stars. I really don't get much enjoyment from these stories of enemies who mistrust and hurt each other constantly and only get along while they're having sex. I can't believe that the couple actually would fall in love, and I don't like the feelings I pick up from the characters as I read, since they're almost all negative. It may be well written, but if it makes me irritated or angry, I don't like it and it won't get many stars. show less

The Raider by Monica McCarty is a 2014 Ballantine Books publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

As a teenage girl, Lady Rosalin Clifford freed Robert Boyd and saved him from execution. Now six years later, her lofty ideals and prinicples are being put to the test. Rosalin and her nephew have been taken hostage by Boyd the infamous "Raider". Rosalin recognizes him at once, but Boyd is a little slow to catch on. Once he realizes that the sweet angel that freed him six years ago is a Clifford, he can't comprehend it. Boyd HATES the English with a passion. Having Rosalin and her nephew as hostages couldn't be better. That is until he finds he is beginning to care for show more Rosalin.
Rosalin spent the past six years feeling guilty about freeing Boyd. She thought she saw something in him that was honorable and of course her romantic inclinations at that age also played a role. Now, Rosalin is sadded to see that the man she freed has changed. He fights only out of bitterness and hatred. He has forgotten the reasons behind this war and has lost perspective. While Rosalin, who is bethrothed, finds that after six years her feelings for Boyd haven't wavered, she is ready to throw away all she has ever known for the love of this one man.
Boyd, however, continues to struggle with the fact that Rosalin is English, that he hates her brother, and that she makes him feel something he has never felt before. As a result he is at once romantic, passisonate, and a stubborn jerk that only thinks of himself and his situation without once considering what Rosalin is prepared to do on his behalf.
Ultimately, a show down will force The Raider to make a decision between this war and the lady he loves.
Rosalin is a strong willed and principled woman with a clear set of values she tries to stick to. She doesn't understand all the politics of war, and of course she has been protected from the ugliness of battle until she finds herself kidnapped and at the mercy of this rather brutish group of people. Rosalin will learn first hand the horrors of battle as she sees things from Robert's point of view. She will fight against the physical violence she sees perpetrated against the women she is encamped with, and she will show Robert what true unconditional love is really about.
Boyd has held onto his hate for so long he doesn't know how to feel anything else. It consumes every part of his life until he finds himself not only in a battle against the English but a battle within his own self when a new unsettling feeling begins to grow in his heart. These feelings will come between him and his long time comrades and force him to reevaluate everything he has known for most of his life. This is not an easy thing for this hardened warrior. When he stands to lose the woman he loves it will be Robert's turn to decide on what side he will stand on- his pride or true love. Which one will he chose?
A wonderful Scottish romance featuring characters taken from the pages of true history. Monica McCarty is always coming up with great stories and romances that have authenticity, humor, steamy romance against the backdrop of the Scottish Highlands. It's a combination that is hard to resist. This is another wonderful outing for Ms. McCarty. Overall this one is an A. show less

What a great historical romance! This novel is the first book I've read by McCarty and she doesn't disappoint. The characters (many based on real historical figures) are very likeable and the story is set during one of the most important and turbulent times of Scottish history. Even the female MC is strong and smart. The romance between the leading characters is hot! I'm hooked. Going to check out the other books in this series first thing tomorrow. You can read it as a stand-alone.

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