The Warrior of Clan Kincaid

Derryth MacClaren is on the run having been sent from her castle home to avoid capture by the vicious nobleman known as the Wolf, who has vowed revenge against the Clan Kincaid. When her party stumble across Wolf’s army they are held captive until plans for the attack on Inverhaven are launched, Derryth is thought to be a peasant & ends up in the hands of Cull. He has no memory of his family or past all he knows is the life of a warrior, trained to fight on behalf of the Scottish king. I was drawn into the story from the first page & found myself immersed in this lovely story. I found it to be an engrossing enthralling read even though Highlanders are not my favourite trope, the story was so well written & so very good. Derryth is strong & feisty, my kind of heroine, Cullen is honourable, fair & strong. The book flowed effortlessly & towards the end the pace as so fast I couldn’t read fast enough to the conclusion. This is the third in the series & is quite easily read on its own but if like me you love series then I’d highly recommend reading the first two books My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

This book just sucked me in from the very first heartbreaking scene, and held me all the way through to the jaw-dropping ending. This is a true historical romance, full of sparks, political intrigue, swashbuckling action, and a sexy warrior that rises above everything to be the hero he was born to be. Derryth is a brave young woman, standing up to her captors and sacrificing whatever she must to protect her companions. The only thing she hates more than Cull, the commander in charge, is the way that she doesn't hate him at all. I loved the way that she saw past his public presence to see the genuine man underneath, and I admired her for being loyal to what's right regardless of where her heart wanted to go. Cull is everything we want in a Highland Warrior. Strong and true, intelligent and compassionate, he quickly assesses his prisoner and knows immediately that he has to protect her, even while knowing she's the enemy. He's a man of honor above all else, and when all the secrets come out, his response was nothing short of breathtaking. This book was an emotional adventure, set in the late 14th century Scotland, and it was brilliant from start to finish. This book is one I'll read again and again. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

I love a story set in medieval times so I was especially excited to read this one. It starts out pretty fast with Darreyth having to flee into the night with the threat of danger looming over her sister’s home. Unfortunately, she is sent directly into the path of the very army that they were trying to protect her from. Cull rescues her from a horrible fate at the hand of paid mercenaries and thinks she is nothing but a child, covered in mud. I love when the hero doesn’t recognize the heroine for who or what she is so I settled in to enjoy it. Once Cull lays eyes on the grown woman Darreyth, he’s a goner though he continually reminds himself to get it under control. It doesn’t work. He falls hard and fast, as does she. And that is where I felt a bit disconnected to the story. They are falling and yet they’ve barely spoken. There is internal monologue showing strong feelings but nothing to support those feelings. I did try to push it aside but I couldn’t help that I didn’t feel real chemistry between these two. And I like an insta-love story but, in my opinion, it just didn’t work with this one. However, I did like the intrigue that is the focal point of the story. I was curious how this couple would find their HEA since Cull was pretty much assigned to kill Darreyth’s family. There was a bit of a twist that, while it didn’t completely surprise me, was a very nice touch. This is a fast paced read with some nice secondary characters. The villains were within reason of the era while the other characters help to lead the story where it needed to go. There were still some loose ends that didn’t get tied up and I’m not sure if they will be dealt with in future books. The steam was pretty intense and the humor low. The angst was medium first due to the heroine being a “prisoner” as well as her secret and then due to the battle between good and bad. Overall, this was a nice read and I would certainly try another book by this author. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book provided by NetGalley and St. Martin's Press. All thoughts and opinions are my own.