Highlander Untamed – MacLeods of Skye Trilogy #1

I’m on a Monica McCarty marathon. I’ve finished her Highland Guard Series and am impatiently waiting for the next in the series and then because I just couldn’t get enough, I read her Campbell Trilogy. I was going to read a book in a series that was just released from another author that I’ve been waiting for and actually started it but I set it aside because I couldn’t switch modes for some reason so I downloaded the MacLeod of Skye Trilogy. I bought the bundled set because it was less expensive than buying each individual book

The MacLeods of Skye and the MacDonalds have been feuding for years, ever since the MacDonald of Sleat cruelly repudiated his handfested bride, Margaret MacLeod, after an accident blinded her in one eye. He paraded her through the village on a one-eyed horse led by a one-eyed man and followed by a one-eyed dog. Handfesting was a trial marriage of sorts where a couple agrees to be together for one year and a day before deciding to marry or not, usually done for alliances between families. Sleat put Margaret MacLeod aside not only for her injury but to marry a MacKenzie for an alliance with the MacKenzie clan.

King James is tired of the constant feuding between clans so when the MacDonald of Sleat goes to him under the ruse of wanting peace, offering his beautiful niece, Isabel’s hand in marriage to the Chief of the MacLeods, King James agrees. Rory MacLeod the Chief of the MacLeods of Skye refuses to marry her but is forced by the King into a handfesting to Isabel MacDonald.

Eager to please her family who have basically ignored her throughout her whole life, Isabel agrees to be their Trojan horse and handfest to Rory MacLeod. Her uncle has told her father and brothers that he will only support her family against the impeding battle against the MacKenzies over their land if Isabel accomplishes her goal of seducing Rory MacLeod to get the location of any secret entry to his castle and she has to steal the MacLeod’s Fairy Flag (legend says the flag is what gives the MacLeods their power and if it falls out of the hands of the MacLeods, they will be powerless to hold their castle and lands against their enemies) which is hidden somewhere in the castle. If her uncle does not help her father against the MacKenzies, they will certainly lose their home and lands.

Rory MacLeod is the chief of his clan. He has only agreed to marry or rather handfest to Isabel MacDonald because the King demanded it. He fully intends to give Isabel back to the MacDonalds at the end of the year. He plans to be polite and treat her with respect but she will be leaving as a maid just as she arrived. He has a prior alliance with the Campbells and plans to wed the cousin of the Earl of Argyll, said to be almost as powerful as the king. Rory hates the MacDonald of Sleat for what he did to his sister, Margaret, and wants revenge on him.

Before the end of the year, both Rory and Isabel are falling for each other but each has their duty to their clans. Unless they can find a way to get strong alliances to help their clans, they will both be heartbroken at the end of the handfesting.

I enjoyed this book but at times I found it dragging. I skipped paragraphs and paragraphs of romantic garbley gook where the characters would over think things or where an almost kiss became so drawn out that I would lose interest in it. I think over describing things is monotonous and annoying and it seemed to repeat itself a lot throughout the book. I also have a hard time believing men lose control of their manly parts just by merely being near a woman or brushing up against their arm or leg. I would like to give men a lot more credit than that. But that is the only criticism I have of this book and it’s the first time I have ever criticized anything about a Monica McCarty book.

I adored Isabel and thought Rory was h-h-hot. Rory’s brother, Alex, was also drool worthy but for some reason I found myself drawn to their guardsman, Colin. I have a weak spot for quiet, broody men and the fact that he looked like a blond Viking just was icing on the cake.

The next book is about Alex…I peaked. Actually, I started reading the first page and forced myself to stop in order to write this review. Now that I’ve finished, I’m going straight to reading it.


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This was considerably flawed. The plot is incredibly transparent (even for a romance lol), everything can be seen from a million miles away, so much so that you're already bored with an event by the time it eventually rolls around. And the characters are flat and one dimensional. The heroine is a complete nit-wit whose daft choices generally create all the drama in the story. And, what would be her semi-redeeming skills that are mentioned, never show up, even when they're needed! She is said to have once killed a man with an arrow between the eyes!, but then when there are attackers, even with some warning and her bow at hand(!), she just bumbles into further endangering herself and the person she's with and *never even tries to use her bow*. Wth?! She also supposedly has tons of experience sneaking about- but then is caught every single time she tries it. And is quite the horsewoman- but only ever rides quickly once (needlessly and right into danger) and then the rest of the time she lags behind or thinks how her bum is sore. *Facepalm* The hero is Scottish He-man, practically perfect in every way. But then is incredibly quick to turn cruel when doubt is cast on the woman he supposedly loves. (Why is that so often a thing, especially with new writers, in historical romance? Adversity reveals your true character. If even the appearance of a betrayal of loyalty makes you entirely disavow your feelings and seek to hurt them, then you are not actually as nice or as in love as you seemed when everything was easy. And definitely not particularly loyal yourself! An "oops" later does not actually undo the damage and should not negate the huge red flag raised when you were angry. It's annoying when authors just paint over that and claim 'and they lived happily ever after!') *Sigh* Often authors get off to a rough start though, so I will read another later book before I give up on McCarty. ( )

I had read pretty good reviews about this so my hopes were a bit high which might have lead to my slight disappointment. It was an alright story - I am not really a fan of a plot where one of the leads are out for betrayal, but i read past that. I found that the author repeated herself a bit which made me less interested - however I did find that near the last half of the book her repetitiveness stopped, and it moved along smoother for me,which was nice and I found myself enjoying it. I believe this is the author's first book, so I am going to give the second book a try. Alex story sounds intriguing. ( )

AWESOME! ( )

AWESOME! ( )