Princess Gabrielle of St. Biel becomes a political pawn when she is sent to Scotland to marry an influential laird. But things don't go as planned when she murders a man and her betrothed then meets the same fate before her wedding. Things quickly spiral out of control when two English Barons plot against each other for Gabrielle's hand as legend of the treasure of St. Biel turns greed as the driving force behind this deadly game of cat and mouse.
Enter Colm MacHugh, feared laird. When circumstances dictate that Colm become Gabrielle's protector, neither are happy about the situation, nor can they deny the passion that lies between them.
If this book were to be likened to the tale of the tortoise and the hare, the hare would have won the match hands down. While a strong plot is always a good thing, the author developed such a busy plot that the main characters didn't even meet until almost halfway through the book. Slow and steady doesn't win in the book world. Right off the bat, that knocks a 5-star book down to a 3 star rating as a romance reader that picks up this book is expecting just that...romance; not almost 150 pages of back story that could have easily been summed up in a 10-20 page prequel. And just because I'm feeling some post-holiday bitchiness, I'm knocking off another 1/2 point because the powers-that-be behind the publishing should realize what their readers are looking for and severely missed the mark with this one.
I have my qualms with the characters also. Gabrielle came across as spoiled with not a care as to how her actions affected the lives of those around her. Whenever this was pointed out to her, she acted all contrite and accommodating, but I wasn't buying it. As for her body guards, they were a little too happy to follow Gabrielle into trouble and lay their lives down for her time and again. They should have tied the brat up in a bed chamber and saved themselves a heap of trouble. Let's knock off another 1/2 point for this annoyance. The only character that I remotely enjoyed was Colm. At least he had the balls to try to keep Gabrielle in line, even if it didn't always work. However, on the other hand he was extremely stereotypical of the boorish, testosterone-filled, misunderstood hero that is a trademark for Harlequin romances.
So there you have it; a shaky 2 star review (and I think I'm being a bit generous with that). If, by chance, you find yourself with this heap of paper that is passed off for a book, and you can't help but to try it on for size, save yourself the time and only bother with the last 250 pages.
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Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books (December 26, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0345500733
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