Pearl's World of Romance - Reviews with a Passion: Kinley MacGregor

Showing posts with label Kinley MacGregor. Show all posts

January 23, 2008

Born in Sin - Kinley MacGregor

10:05 PM |

A sinful passion
Though few can equal her skill with the sword, Caledonia MacNeely fights an unfamiliar shiver when she is offered in marriage to the infamous "Lord Sin." Though Callie fears this mysterious, unreachable stranger -less for the dark whispers that damn him than for the heat of his touch- she is under the order of the English king. And with the fate of her troubled clan hanging in the balance, she has little recourse.

Banished as a child, "Sin" MacAllister learned to despise his Scottish heritage. Yet now, to unmask King Henry's foes, he must return to the hated Highlands -wedded to a bewitching lass whose flaming red hair match the fire of her spirit. A cold, hard heart has always been the key to Sin's survival, but this beauty awakens in him a perilous need he's never known.

A forced marriage between Sin MacAllister, illegitimate and unloved son, and Callie MacNeely, hostage of the English King Henry marks the end of a lifetime of him being spurned, rejected and used.
Will his ice-cold heart melt under her kindness and love or will his word and loyalty cause him to lose the very thing he's yearned deep inside for all his life?

What a wonderful book delivered by Kinley MacGregor. My heart broke for Sin, I laughed with Sin, I cried for Sin and ultimately I fell in love with Sin.
He intrigued me in "Claiming the Highlander" but never could I have imagined the way he moved me from the very first page of the prologue in his own book.
A few pages into chapter one I was praying for his happily ever after.
His story grabbed me from the very first word until the very last, stirring several strong different and conflicting emotions: One moment I was (almost) in tears for Sin and his suffering, another moment I was cheering on Callie's fierceness and the next moment I was swept away by their passion.

Sin is deliciously arrogant but still a man of his word and an honorable man. He is strong and powerful, a force to be reckoned with. He possesses a dry wit that managed to plaster numerous smiles on my face while reading the book. I really enjoyed the bantering between him and Simon, him and Callie and him and his brothers.

Sin broke my heart with his yearning for acceptance and love, his yearning to belong. He is lethal and cold but he's also a man who -although he thinks he can't- can be gentle and tender given the right incentive. This incentive is Callie. Brave, fearless, stubborn, outspoken, kind and loyal Callie. He has never known love or compassion and doesn't know how to deal with Callie's kindness and care. She represents something he has never known. Someone who is kind to him and not afraid of him. She is also his weakness, a weakness he eventually embraces after first uselessly trying to fight it.

The last few chapters were breathtaking and heartbreaking. I cried my eyes out when Sin was presented with the dilemma of choosing between his word and loyalty to Henry and his love for Callie and the way he tried to solve his dilemma. I can tell you I tear up a lot reading books but crying my eyes out is something that only happens when my emotions are really rattled.

Written with humor and flair I really enjoyed this MacAllister-novel. Combining light humor with intense primary characters with deep emotions and adding a collection of wonderful, compelling secondary characters who are endearing and funny and who complement both story and main characters makes it the best in the series so far for me.
MacGregor captured my attention and kept it in a firm hold with a delightful and heart-wrenching story of love, honor, passion and loyalty.

Quotes:
Sin to one of Henry's knights: " My idea of amusement is disemboweling those who contradict and annoy me. What say you that you and I have a bit of fun?”

She looked like a goddess standing there. A breathtaking angel come to save his rotten soul.

Rating: 10 out of 10

Labels: HarperCollins Publishers, Historical Romance, Kinley MacGregor, McAllisters Series, perfect reads, reviews | 0 comments |

July 3, 2007

Claiming the Highlander - Kinley MacGregor

5:40 PM |

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Determined to end a long-running feud, a fiery young Scottish woman convinces the women of her clan to refuse their men everything until they lay down their arms, but she finds her own plans undermined by her growing attraction to a dashing Highlander.

BORN TO BE HIS BRIDE?
It is said that Braden MacAllister, English baron and proud Highland Warrior, can fell an enemy with a single blow – and a woman with a single kiss. But not Maggie, it seems. For the fire-haired beauty, determined to end the longrunning fued that rages between their clan and its common foe, is immune to Braden’s attempts to stop her foolishness. But stop her he will, once he gets the meddling minx alone...and favors her with a passionate caress and an irresistible kiss.
No matter how she trembles beneath Braden’s sensuous touch...he has given his heart to none. But dare she dream that by assuring peace for her clan she may also be claiming the most magnificent Highlander for herself?

I just fell under the spell of the MacAllister-men and I’m still mesmerized!
Braden, Ewan, Lochlan and Sin are all some fine specimen of the male kind...

Maggie was an awesome heroin: feisty, bold, afraid of nothing and so in love with Braden since she was a little girl. Her memories of how she fell in love with him as a 7 year-old were just so touching and endearing.
And that child’s crush grew into a more mature, and for a long time, unrequited, love.

And Braden...the womanizer, with women throwing themselves at him. He has a hard time resisting the lovely woman Maggie has grown to be. Falling not only for her looks but also her strong and willful personality.
Because where all the other women never touched his heart, Maggie does. And selflessly, without asking antything in return but his love.
She makes him see how empty and shallow he has lead his life.
This story of love finds place amidst a journey to stop a fued...

The first pages of this book plastered a smile on my face and it stayed there until the very last word.
The bantering and quipping between the MacAllister brothers is filled with humour and wit, MacGregor’s trademark.
It was fast-paced and extremely witty, I laughed a lot, but also got teary-eyed at some point.
There was one tiny little thing that bothered me and that was the thing with Connor. They were to quickly with their assumptions and I wouldn’t have minded if that part of the story had been skipped. For me it didn’t add anything functional to the rest of the story...
But this doesn’t taint my overall liking of the book at all.

Quotes:
Braden rose slowly from the bed. “Perhaps I should be going.”
“Perhaps you should be dying,”Rufus said as he pushed past his wife.

She had corrupted him in a way no woman ever had. She had made him noble. Caring. Kind

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Labels: good reads, HarperCollins Publishers, Historical Romance, Kinley MacGregor, McAllisters Series, reviews | 0 comments |

May 25, 2007

Master of Desire - Kinley MacGregor

5:11 PM |

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A Dream of Desire Awakened…
Beautiful Lady Emily dreams of the rapture of love and the joys of marriage. The youngest daughter of an English lord at war, she is shaken by the arrival of a mysterious stranger to her father's castle. Could this breathtaking man be Emily's yearned-for lover? Indeed, Draven de Montague, Earl of Ravenswood, has come for Emily...but romance has nothing to do with it.

In the Tender Embrace of an Enemy…
Draven would never have entered the home of his most hated adversary had not the King himself ordered him to take in his foe's daughter for a year to forge bonds of peace between their two feuding houses. Worse still, here is a lass whose exquisite loveliness could tempt Draven to betray his sworn vow never to let anther close to his heart. Emily knows the searing heat of her passion could burn down the defenses of this proud warrior. But will the surrender of the sweet nectar of his lips and his bold, sensuous caress ignite a blaze so hot it consumes them both?

I enjoyed reading this book. It was delightfully funny as known of Kinley MacGregor. She manages to write an intense love-story filled with wit and depth at the same time.

The characters are well developed and have depth to them. The interactions between Draven and Emily send sparks of the pages and those between Draven and Simon are filled with humor.

Draven is a good man but torn between his feelings for Emily and the honor of upholding his oath to the King. You can just feel the desperation in him, trying to keep distance between him and Emily in spite of the huge attraction she forms to him. And there is also the burden of the alleged curse in his family that prevents him from caring for a woman in fear of hurting her.

Emily is endearing, strong-willed, resourceful and intelligent. She’s a lovely heroin. Her directness and honesty are heartwarming and refreshing.
Simon and the maid Alys are great secondary characters.

This isn’t the first Kinley MacGregor I’ve read because I read both the novels in the Seawolves-series before but I liked this one much better and probably because of it’s genre that I like more than the pirate-genre.
I think it certainly won’t be a burden to entertain myself with the other MacGregor books waiting for me on the shelves…

Quote

Simon: “Allow me to present myself milady, I am Simon of Ravenswood, brother to the ogre, and your most fervent protector for this journey.
Draven: “And pray tell who will protect her from your drooling? Should I have my squire fetch rags now, or should I wait until she starts to drown?”

Emily: “Where are you taking me?”
Draven: “Wherever and as many times as it suits me.”