31450494

Genre: Romance, Retelling, Chick-Lit

Pages: 283

Expected publication: November 1st 2016 by Swerve

Summary: She is his greatest enemy and his only salvation.

Malcolm MacDonald, a lawyer in Edinburgh, unexpectedly inherits his father’s title of Laird of Dunbronach, forcing him to return to a place he hasn’t seen since he was a small child. To gain the trust of a wary clan, Malcolm must act upon their insistence that he cast aside his English betrothed and marry a Highlander.

However, they have one condition—no lasses of the barbaric clan MacLeod.

When he finds an unconscious woman in the sea, he brings her back to his clan but not before doing the one thing that could save her life—hiding her all too telling MacLeod plaid. When she wakes with no memory of who she is, Malcolm vows to keep the little he knows about her identity a secret. As new dangers threaten his clan, the mysterious lass teaches Malcolm some very important lessons about how to be a Highlander and a laird.

But secrets never stay secret for long, and when she finds her plaid, her memory returns and she flees. Malcolm is forced to make a difficult choice to win her back, facing his darkest fears and his worst enemy for a chance at true love.

crownfullrating

Once upon a time I loved to read romance novels and every once in a while I will indulge in one.

Marcail MacLeod is the daughter of the barbaric Chief MacLeod, she is one of twelve sisters. She fancies herself in love with a boy and has been prompting him to ask her father for her hand, but she soon finds him to be a rather dishonorable man and finds herself in a position jumping for the next offer simply to spite him. Except the next is as dishonorable as the last and she dives into the depths of the sea whilst aboard a ship to avoid a miserable life…

Eventually, she turns up on shore, unconscious and without any knowledge of who she is.

Malcolm MacDonald grew up in Edinburgh, far away from the Highlands, he is set to be a lawyer, a husband, until he receives word of his father’s passing and is told he is to be the next Laird of Dunbronach. He knows nothing and he is met both with praise and disapproval.

He finds a little waif that has washed up on shore, nurses her back to health and when she wakes she has no idea who she is, so they begin to call her Ronat which means seal since they all believe she is a Selkie. That’s where the story really begins, where Malcolm has to prove himself to his kinsmen and even himself and Marcail “Ronat” has a hand in helping him.

Once Marcail settles into the MacDonald territory I felt as though she was weakened greatly, she was a fierce individual before and most of her time was spent in bed, or retreating when she felt uncomfortable. She didn’t possess the same strength as what she had in her homeland and not until the very end did she regain that.

I did enjoy Malcolm’s character, he was honorable and later on torn as to what to do. He grew as a character and by the end while he was still the same man, he was also a better character.

The romance was there, but it wasn’t a smut-driven story. There was a lot of build-ups, a lot of anticipation and when it finally did happen it was nearly the end. So while there is romancing, there isn’t a lot of smut! [Hardly any!]

The Little Mermaid was the gist of the plot line and though it is loosely based around this idea, you can easily see the influences added in with Scottish folklore.

All in all, it was a pretty decent, quick read. Personally, I’d love to have seen a little more depth in regard to the relationship between Ronat and Malcolm, it was a lot of denials and a little connection was truly developed in my opinion. There was more development surrounding the folklore of the selkies, I thought, rather than an actual plot.