The Highlander’s Reward

Eliza
Knight
ISBN Number: 
9781478259541
Genre: 
Historical

Lady Arbella de Mowbray isn’t a happy woman. By orders of the king, she’s to be married to an English nobleman living in Scotland, which to her is, “The land of heathens, barbarians… Oh, the horrors she’d heard went on there! The men ate their young. The warriors kept the bones of their victims tied to their beards. The horses were trained to sniff out an English lady and trample her to death… And the winters, how could she forget? No person of truly English blood could survive one.”

She experiences a taste of the said barbarians when her party is attacked by Scottish rebels. Luckily (or not) she is “rescued” by a Highland laird, one Magnus Sutherland.
Magnus doesn’t need the inconvenience of an English lady who could bring him nothing but trouble. However, he can’t just leave her to be killed!  The only way to rescue her is to marry her and give her his protection. Of course, that might not be what she wants, but she is a woman, and what do women know?

While the plot isn’t unusual for a story set in medieval times, it is very well done! The characters are superb, Magnus is an honorable man, tough and strong on the outside, but a marshmallow on the inside.  Arabella seemed a naïve noblewoman in the beginning, but turns out to be as brave and loyal as her husband. Her naïveté was slightly annoying, but surprisingly funny at the same time. One small complaint is the meeting of Magnus and Arabella’s father and the matter of Magnus’ ex-fiancée, it was anticlimactic and a bit too easily resolved. Nevertheless, this was a deliciously delightful read,  seasoned with suspense, humor, action and (sigh), love!

Ana Smith