Betrayed by Claire Robyns

Title: Betrayed
Author: Claire Robyns
Publisher: Carina Press 
Genre: Historical Romance
Series: No
Review At: ATM, Goodreads, Amazon

~*~ Synopsis from Goodreads~*~

Two Feuding Families

Amber Jardin has no taste for the bitter feud started before her father's banishment. But now that he's passed, she's had to return to Scotland and his barbaric people. After her bloodthirsty uncle kidnaps one of the family's rivals, Amber is in turn captured by Krayne Johnstone, the enemy laird. Despite their enmity, their attraction is immediate—and unfortunate, as Amber has sworn to escape.

One Lusty Temptation

Krayne is amazed at the wildcat's repeated attempts to flee. He should steel himself against her beguiling ways—yet with time, he is driven more witless with lust. When the ransom exchange fails and Krayne is left with Amber, he finds he cannot tolerate the thought of her with another man—and she cannot tolerate the thought of returning to her uncle's home.

Will passion and love win out over mistrust and betrayal in time to prevent an all-out war?

In this debut novel by Claire Robyns, you will be transported back to a medieval time were deceit and betrayal were everyday occurrences, and difficult choices were often made for you. Betrayed will take you on an engaging, action-packed, wildly sexy adventure, that will keep you turning the pages!

The very first page you are introduced to, depicts a map drawn to represent the physical Scottish borderland landscape of this fictional tale, yet at the same time makes you feel like it's a real story about to be told, and you're part of it. I often caught myself flipping back to it just so I could 'see' where some of the events were taking place. It really helped to enhance the reading experience.


Adding to the setting were the conditions and events, all in which seemed true to the time period. For example, descriptions of the lodgings, the struggle of being a female in a male world, the circumstance of being a widow, pregnancy, rape, arranged marriages, marrying young, having heirs, having a chieftain and a king in which you follow, raids, traveling, vocabulary usage, etc., all were well told vividly and historically, albeit in both a fictional and non-fictional context. The characters all played roles that represented some of the hardships that went along with living during this medieval time.

The heroine, Amber Jardin, is a young seventeen-year-old 'wildcat', who is caught up in the middle of long-fought dispute between two Scottish clans. Suddenly she finds herself kidnapped by the dominant sexy Laird of the enemy clan, only to be held for ransom in exchange for one of their own. She's a feisty, strong-willed young girl who is so determined not to be a pawn in her Laird uncle's bitterness, as well as that of any other man's. Robyn's does a great job at capturing the naive innocence and emotional struggles of a young girl forced to grow up fast. Even though sometimes the perpetual stubbornness of Amber gets frustrating, her characters path throughout the book is one of growth. And, every once-in-awhile I started to feel sorry for her based on events that happen to her. She quickly learns that a woman can use the mere thought of seduction to help her get her way in a mans world. 


Krayne Johnstone is the damaged alpha in this story, and what a yummy alpha he is! The painful events that occurred twenty-years in the past, that lead to the clan disputes, puts Krayne in a position to trust no one with the Jardin name. He was forced to grow up extremely fast by being placed into the Laird position, and defender of his mother's shame on the clan, just at the turn of becoming a teenager. So what happens when he ends up kidnapping Amber- the enemy- and eventually becoming the one charged with keeping her? Well, lets just say that neither character planned on the immediate attraction and growing desire that develop during Amber's stay in his castle. 

Both the hero and heroine try desperately hard to deny the attraction, which more times than none leads to miscommunication and impulsive antics that make up most of the adventures in this story. But, much to both of their dismays, the pull and desirability between them is unavoidable. And the steamy sexual tension between them will have you sitting on the edge of your seat until they finally yield to their feelings, then the alpha really comes out to play! *mmmm*


The secondary characters are just as strongly developed as the main characters, and are effective in playing a major role in the making and telling of this story. You knew just enough about them that you didn't feel like they dominated the main characters, nor were they too shadowed in their making. William Jardin, Amber's uncle and Laird of the Jardin clan, plays a very strong antagonist that will strongly tug at your anger emotion. 

I really enjoyed the plot of this story. I could see advantage-taking kidnappings happening during this time period, as well as some of the other events that take place, but I cannot mention them due to giving away spoilers! You will be taken on a ride with plenty of twists and turns. You may think that you know how things are going, and there's even some times that you feel as though there may be missing information, but it's all part of how the plot leaves you guessing and finding out clues along the way. 

I really enjoyed Robyns writing style as well. I never felt as though there was too much detail, or not enough. Because of the setting being in Scotland, Robyns include vernacular dialogue of the area. The only thing that tripped me up at first was some of the 'misspellings' that I found in conversation, but then I realized they were put there purposefully to represent the conversational accents.


The story flowed smoothly and had a good pace. Sometimes I was caught off guard at a quick change of scenery, but was able to catch up within seconds and not left feeling lost. Another thing that Robyns did very well at was the differentiating tones of characters and situations, and I was able to really identify with the feelings being portrayed.


~*~Final Thoughts~*~


I highly recommend Betrayed to all historical romance fans. You will love the intermix of conflict, peace, mixed emotions, and sexiness! It's a story of growing up, healing old wounds, and learning to trust and love.


I'm sure you will be just as impressed as I was at Betrayed being a debut novel. I will definitely be looking forward to future books from this author.  I'm rating this a 4.5/5 based on strong plot, strong main and secondary characters, easy-to-read writing style, conventions, tone, imagery, Krayne's alpha-ness, and the fact that I simply couldn't put it down.

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