Author: Lucy Monroe
Genre: Historical Paranormal Romance
Series: Children of the Moon #1
Publisher: Berkley
~ Blurb ~
When Emily Hamilton's family is ordered to send a woman to the Scottish Highlands for marriage to the laird of the Sinclairs, Emily volunteers in order to save her younger sister from such a fate. But at her new home, the only friend she finds is the laird's sister -- especially after Emily's friend she finds is the laird to cancel the marriage. And stubborn streak causes the laird to cancel the marriage. And though her plans have gone awry, she refuses to return home...
Lachlan is laird of the Balmoral clan -- and leader of his pack. One of the most feared werewolves prowling the Highlands, he is on the march against the hated Sinclairs, who have abducted a Balmoral woman. He kidnaps the sister of the Sinclair laird, planning to marry her off in revenge -- but the woman he takes along with her proves to be the greater prize...
For Emily feeds a desire he never knew existed. And though Lachlan would not think of marrying a human -- an English woman at that -- he must know how a mere woman could tame his heart so easily...
Lachlan is laird of the Balmoral clan -- and leader of his pack. One of the most feared werewolves prowling the Highlands, he is on the march against the hated Sinclairs, who have abducted a Balmoral woman. He kidnaps the sister of the Sinclair laird, planning to marry her off in revenge -- but the woman he takes along with her proves to be the greater prize...
For Emily feeds a desire he never knew existed. And though Lachlan would not think of marrying a human -- an English woman at that -- he must know how a mere woman could tame his heart so easily...
Paranormal romance, Scottish setting, and alpha males. This is like Neapolitan ice cream; three yummy flavors absolutely delicious on their own, but mixed together, that more exquisite! Thank you Lucy Monroe for bringing dessert to the pages!
Emily Hamilton, a young English woman, is at the age to be wed off. The only problem is that Emily is thought of as 'undisciplined' with her chances of wedding 'well' slim. The fact is only drilled home that much more when she's laughed at by both her step-mother and father, when she sacrifices herself in place of her deaf sister Abigail, to wed a Scotsman by the order of the English and Scotland kings.
While her sacrifice was out of the love for her sister, her own fear of marrying a 'barbarian' is not absent. She's shipped off to her future husband with little regard from her father. He doesn't even accompany her to her new home.
Upon arrival to the land of laird Sinclair, she is met with a cold shoulder and open hostility. It's perfectly clear that this imposed betrothal is not welcomed among the Scottish clan, as much as it was with her own family. Her only saving grace comes from the hostile laird's sister, Cait, who welcomes her and ultimately becomes a sister-like companion.
Unknown to Emily, however, is that she is now living amidst a clan of werewolves who are in the middle of a tense dispute with an outlying clan who has accused them of stealing a femwolf in the middle of her 'heat'. The conflict becomes a reality to Emily when one day both her and Cait are kidnapped by the formidable laird Lachlan, who is determined to right a disgraceful wrong doing against his clan.
An instant attraction occurs, but is continuously fought by both Emily and Lachlan. Emily swears she is still betrothed to Cait's brother (despite the fact that he has openly stated he doesn't want her, nor will he marry her), and Lachlan is hell bent on not marrying (a) a human, and (b) an English woman. Not to mention, Emily is kept in the dark -- albeit very carefully -- about the true identities of all those around her, including Cait! A fine line is continuously walked with conversations and actions as to not draw attention to what her captures and Cait really are.
However, when circumstances keep happening surrounding the tension of the two clans, Emily and Lachlan will need to trust in one another a little more than they originally planned, and of course, give in to the inevitable.
Emily is good heroine, although sometimes a little too boisterous and stubborn for a woman of her time, but none-the-less, a strong counter-partner to the Scottish Balmoral laird, Lachlan. In fact, her outspokenness adds to Lachlan's attraction of her and makes her that perfect someone for him. Her father's indifference towards her leads to some unhealed scars that Lachlan is determined to mend, which I found help to lend itself to create a layered character in Lachlan.
Emily also has a deep fear that if she messes up any tie to her original betrothed, that she will be sent back to England and her sister sent in her place. While this keeps Emily always on the defensive and the offense to secure her and her sisters futures, I never felt as though she wasn't attracted to Lachlan out of her own desires; Quite the opposite in fact. She makes it very clear that she is willing to take anything that Lachlan is willing to give her because she knows deep down that she will never feel what she feels for him with any other man. Even when she finally finds out the true nature of the Lachlan, she accepts him like no one ever has. There's a clear attraction between the two, but each feels as though they have duties to fulfill.
Lachlan Balmoral is a laird forced into his position early in his life after the death of his father. He's a strong, fierce, and protective leader of his people, who therefore takes his duty quite serious, including the need of the leader to mate with a femwolf in order to produce an heir needed to lead his clan of mixed human and wolf subjects. Emily, however, disrupts so many of his trained and instinctual feelings, opinions, and beliefs. I never doubted the fact that he felt something towards Emily, but he was definitely torn between a sense of duty and personal desire.
Lucy creates a great story of love and romance stemming from an unlikely pairing of couples. Not only do you get wrapped up in the developing relationship of the hero and heroine, but also of the forced marriage (its not bad though) between the secondary characters Cait and Dursten, Lachlan's first-in-command and brother of the 'taken' female by the Sinclair clan. Monroe created fantastic sexual tension between all the couples and when the 'matings' took place, fires were definitely ignited!
I enjoyed the ease of the writing style as the different characters interacted and played their roles in the different situations presented throughout the book. While the setting is in Scotland, Scottish brogue is not played up in the writing. Instead, I felt that the focus laid within the supernatural context. The different Were legends, customs, and hierarchy was the main focus of what took place between the covers -- which I really enjoyed! This factor also leads to one of the major pivotal points in the story.
~Final Thoughts~
Anyone who has a craving for Scottish Were alphas who fight against their internal battle of wanting an opposing woman should pick this first book of the Children of the Moon series up! The hero and heroine work very well together, discover that sometimes duty cannot come before love, and the secondary characters are just as riveting! The ease of the writing allows you to focus on the development of characters as they shift through emotions, sense of duty, and fight against preconceived notions of the differences between cultures.
I truly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next installment!
Unknown to Emily, however, is that she is now living amidst a clan of werewolves who are in the middle of a tense dispute with an outlying clan who has accused them of stealing a femwolf in the middle of her 'heat'. The conflict becomes a reality to Emily when one day both her and Cait are kidnapped by the formidable laird Lachlan, who is determined to right a disgraceful wrong doing against his clan.
An instant attraction occurs, but is continuously fought by both Emily and Lachlan. Emily swears she is still betrothed to Cait's brother (despite the fact that he has openly stated he doesn't want her, nor will he marry her), and Lachlan is hell bent on not marrying (a) a human, and (b) an English woman. Not to mention, Emily is kept in the dark -- albeit very carefully -- about the true identities of all those around her, including Cait! A fine line is continuously walked with conversations and actions as to not draw attention to what her captures and Cait really are.
However, when circumstances keep happening surrounding the tension of the two clans, Emily and Lachlan will need to trust in one another a little more than they originally planned, and of course, give in to the inevitable.
Emily is good heroine, although sometimes a little too boisterous and stubborn for a woman of her time, but none-the-less, a strong counter-partner to the Scottish Balmoral laird, Lachlan. In fact, her outspokenness adds to Lachlan's attraction of her and makes her that perfect someone for him. Her father's indifference towards her leads to some unhealed scars that Lachlan is determined to mend, which I found help to lend itself to create a layered character in Lachlan.
Emily also has a deep fear that if she messes up any tie to her original betrothed, that she will be sent back to England and her sister sent in her place. While this keeps Emily always on the defensive and the offense to secure her and her sisters futures, I never felt as though she wasn't attracted to Lachlan out of her own desires; Quite the opposite in fact. She makes it very clear that she is willing to take anything that Lachlan is willing to give her because she knows deep down that she will never feel what she feels for him with any other man. Even when she finally finds out the true nature of the Lachlan, she accepts him like no one ever has. There's a clear attraction between the two, but each feels as though they have duties to fulfill.
Lachlan Balmoral is a laird forced into his position early in his life after the death of his father. He's a strong, fierce, and protective leader of his people, who therefore takes his duty quite serious, including the need of the leader to mate with a femwolf in order to produce an heir needed to lead his clan of mixed human and wolf subjects. Emily, however, disrupts so many of his trained and instinctual feelings, opinions, and beliefs. I never doubted the fact that he felt something towards Emily, but he was definitely torn between a sense of duty and personal desire.
Lucy creates a great story of love and romance stemming from an unlikely pairing of couples. Not only do you get wrapped up in the developing relationship of the hero and heroine, but also of the forced marriage (its not bad though) between the secondary characters Cait and Dursten, Lachlan's first-in-command and brother of the 'taken' female by the Sinclair clan. Monroe created fantastic sexual tension between all the couples and when the 'matings' took place, fires were definitely ignited!
I enjoyed the ease of the writing style as the different characters interacted and played their roles in the different situations presented throughout the book. While the setting is in Scotland, Scottish brogue is not played up in the writing. Instead, I felt that the focus laid within the supernatural context. The different Were legends, customs, and hierarchy was the main focus of what took place between the covers -- which I really enjoyed! This factor also leads to one of the major pivotal points in the story.
~Final Thoughts~
Anyone who has a craving for Scottish Were alphas who fight against their internal battle of wanting an opposing woman should pick this first book of the Children of the Moon series up! The hero and heroine work very well together, discover that sometimes duty cannot come before love, and the secondary characters are just as riveting! The ease of the writing allows you to focus on the development of characters as they shift through emotions, sense of duty, and fight against preconceived notions of the differences between cultures.
I truly enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next installment!
1 comments:
I love the cover and the review, so I guess another book for my huge pile. LOL
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