The Highlander Burns for Vengeance
Julie Johnstone
Medieval Romance

Divided by treachery, bound by an edict, they must decide their fate: to love or to hate.

After years of captivity, Graeme Stewart has returned home with a burning desire for vengeance, and it’s all directed at the Campbell clan. They attacked his home, killed his parents, and imprisoned him for eighteen long years. So when the king demands Graeme handfast with his enemy’s sister to end the warring of their clans, he intends to use her to get the revenge he yearns for. But Maisie’s courage and character surprise him at every turn, conjuring admiration and stirring desire. Now, with revenge within his grasp, he must make a choice before it’s too late: either cling to the malice that kept him alive or release it for the chance at love.

The vengeful and unreasonable Highlander intends to destroy her family, and Maisie Campbell is bound to him for a year and a day. She hates everything about Graeme, except the way he kisses, which is a force that nearly brings her to her knees. But lust does not a marriage make, and the man is hell-bent on proving her brother a traitor and herself treacherous, so she sets out to prove otherwise. Yet, as questions of her brother’s character arise in her own mind and Graeme displays an honorable, fiercely protective nature, Maisie faces a decision: seek a truth that will doom the brother she adores or remain blindly loyal to those she’s always held dear and lose the man she has come to love with all her heart.

Uncaged Review: I was very excited to read Graeme’s book, and it didn’t disappoint. This is my favorite of the three books so far, and when Graeme finally escapes the prison that he and Eppie (the older woman that was tasked with taking Graeme away as a boy to keep him safe) have been in for eighteen years, all that’s in his heart is revenge. But the king is tired of the two warring clans – the Campbells and the Stewarts, and insists that Graeme will be handfasted for one year and a day, to one of his enemies daughters. Forced to protect her, Graeme and Maisie will need to find the truth, both about their families and their feelings that have grown between them.

This book has everything you could want in a Highlander book. There is mystery, danger, and the enemies-to-lovers trope working here and this book is very difficult to put down and I was sad when it was over. The ending is satisfying and the pace is steady and fast to the finish line. The reader will understand the feelings of distrust from both Graeme and Maisie, but will also cheer them on. The epilogue was a great touch. Reviewed by Cyrene

5 Stars

Winter of Solace
Kathryn Le Veque
Medieval Romance

Caius d’Avignon, the knight known as The Britannia Viper, finds himself on the opposite side of William Marshal… and the Executioner Knights are caught in the middle…

Welcome to another Executioner Knights’ tale!

When Caius d’Avignon is sent north at the request of a cousin of William Marshal to help in a dispute between neighbors, Caius couldn’t have imagined how his life would change. Caius is one of the Marshal’s premier knights, a man who served in The Levant with many of the Marshal’s agents, but he had one distinct difference – he’d been branded The Britannia Viper by the Saracen commanders for his hard strike. There is no one fiercer in battle.

Therefore, William Marshal has great confidence that Caius will solve the situation – if not by diplomacy, then by the sword. But Caius is caught off-guard by the situation when he arrives. The Marshal’s cousin is an unscrupulous and cruel man who has all but decimated his neighbors and demands they be destroyed. When Caius goes to speak to the neighbors to demand their unconditional surrender, the first thing he sees is a woman of astounding beauty. Emelisse de Thorington is that woman.

Caius is drawn into the feud whether or not he wants to be. He comes to discover that the Marshal’s cousin is wicked and has harassed a noble family for years while telling William Marshal something quite different. The man is a thief and a liar. But Caius can’t tell the Marshal that without jeopardizing his relationship with the man. There’s also the not-so-small fact that he’s fallen in love with the strong but battered Emelisse. Will the career knight choose love over his career?

Find out in yet another exciting Executioner Knights adventure!

Uncaged Review: As we hit the 5th book of The Executioner Series, we have Caius and Emelisse and their story. There is a problem with some land barons and Caius is called in by William Marshal to find out the issue. Marshal’s niece has been married off, and Marshal feels Caius can handle the situation and find the truth of why de Covington, the Earl of Winterholde who is trying to overthrow the neighboring lands of Hawkestone, from greed and power. Caius takes an army, and to find the truth of the matter, and that Covington has taken the daughter prisoner and thrown her in his vault to use as leverage.

In this 5th book, we get to see Sean de Lara and Maxton again, along with Edward de Wolfe and even a very young William de Wolfe, who gets his own story later (The Wolfe), but this was great to see how William started. This author knows how to pull the reader into the story and this is a fantastic series. Even though you could easily read any of these books as standalones, it was fun to revisit old friends. As a master of medieval romance, Ms. Le Veque captivates her readers as only she can do and Caius (known as the Brittania Viper) and Emelisse have fast become favorites.
Reviewed by Cyrene

5 Stars

The Broken and the Bold
Leslie Voddard
Medieval Historical Romance

She’s the captain of her ship…and his heart.

Captain O’Bannon needs to rescue her twin brother, who is captive on a pirate ship, before he is worked to death. Little does anyone know that Captain O’Bannon’s true name is Fionola, and she is marauding the Atlantic disguised as a man. When she rescues a captive from a pirate ship who knows her brother, they team up to find him. But her inconvenient attraction to the man she rescued turns into something more after he saves her life and learns her secret.

Charles de Vere joins Captain O’Bannon’s crew to save the man who kept him alive for two years after being captured and enslaved on a pirate ship by a traitor to the crown. One night, he learns that the captain is a woman, and sparks fly—but their clandestine passion threatens everything they’ve worked to achieve. When circumstances put her secret identity at risk, they flee to his family in England, hoping to find her brother on the way.

But coming home with a pirate bride turns out to be more difficult than he imagined.

Uncaged Review: This is the third book of the de Veres series and in this story Fionola MacMurrough, better known as pirate Captain O’Bannon of the ship Draconis. Fionola’s main goal is to save her brother Liam, held captive by Black Stephen. When she comes upon the Midas and frees the prisoners, her brother isn’t on board, but Charles de Vere is. So Fionola asks Charles to come with them on an urgent mission to find Liam. Charles is happy not to be a slave any longer and goes along with them. As Charles slowly gets better, Fionola not only enjoys talking to him but is starting to feel a strong attraction to him too. Fionola must hide her identity and does a very good job of it because no one even suspects who she truly is. When Fionola spies the Gorgon, she orders her crew to attack. Fionola knows she is so close to finding her brother, but when she is badly injured, will Charles finally figure out who she really is or will her love for him be her undoing?

I usually avoid sea-faring historical romances because, for me, they just aren’t that interesting and imagining the visuals is a hard thing for me. This book, though, had everything! An engaging twisty plot, stunning imagery, and lovely characters from major to minor that were easy to see in your head. The tale is just beautifully written with non-stop action that never lets up until the very end! So, yes, this novel just grabbed me from the get-go. Fionola was just the perfect woman; strong, feisty and determined. Definitely a girl after my own heart that even I fell half in love with her just like Charles did. Sure, Charles did kind of pale in comparison to her, but after he got better and didn’t fade into the backdrop than, he was just as charming as Fionola. I really regret reading this book first when I should have read the other two in the series, and now I might just go ahead and do that. Luckily, this book stands wonderfully alone. Definitely, Ms. Leslie Vollard has my attention so that I can’t wait to read more! Reviewed by Roslynn Ernst

4.5 Stars