Review: The Guardian by Margaret Mallory

Four fearless warriors return to the Highlands to claim their lands and legacies. But all their trials on the battlefield can't prepare them for their greatest challenge yet: winning the hearts of four willful Scottish beauties.

PASSION IGNITED

After years of fighting abroad, Ian MacDonald comes home to find his clan in peril. To save his kin, he must right the wrongs from his past . . . and claim the bride he's long resisted.

As a young lass, Sìleas depended on Ian to play her knight in shining armor. But when his rescue attempt compromised her virtue, Ian was forced to marry against his wishes. Five years later, Sìleas has grown from an awkward girl into an independent beauty who knows she deserves better than the reluctant husband who preferred war to his wife. Now this devilishly handsome Highlander is finally falling in love. He wants a second chance with Sìleas - and he won't take no for an answer.

Ms. Mallory's books are so great, honestly.  If you're a history buff, love romance, and well-written books (like me), she's a wonderful author to follow.  I enjoyed her debut trilogy, so I was very excited to discover she had a new quartet of books on the horizon.  The Guardian, the first in the new series, doesn't disappoint. 

Ian MacDonald has known and protected Sileas since they were small children.  She was the girl he invited on his jaunts with his friends, the girl he wouldn't leave behind.  Such childhood affection doesn't translate into adult love, however, especially when Ian and Sileas are caught in an innocent yet compromising position and they are forced to marry.

Five years later Ian returns from France dead-set on putting Sileas aside to marry someone -- anyone -- else.  Except Sileas isn't the same girl he left behind.  She's stronger, fiery and passionate, and is not about to let Ian swoop in and break her heart again.

I enjoyed the fact that Sileas wanted to make Ian earn her trust and her love again rather than immediately be happy and accept Ian had come home and now wanted to make a true marriage with her.  Given the Scottish Highland setting, there are warring clans and political strife as conflicts but those play nicely into the storyline without overshadowing the romance of Ian and Sileas.  I cannot wait to read Alex's book, The Sinner (November 2011.)

 

(A very special thank you to Forever Romance, Hachette Book Group, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of The Guardian.)