Review: The Guardian by Margaret Mallory

 

The Guardian is the first book in the Return of the Highlanders series by Margaret Mallory and a Historical Romance from Grand Central Publishing.

Book Blurb:

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.

My thoughts:

Ian MacDonald was forced to marry Sileas when they were nineteen and thirteen, respectively.  Determined that it would be a marriage in name only - Ian left for France the very next day.

Five years have passed and in those five years, Ian fought wars, loved women and had himself a grand adventure.

Sileas, left behind by her husband, has spent the same five years being ridiculed by the clan women for being a terrible wife.  Even though she never had the chance to be a wife.

Now Ian has returned home and he has found things not quite the way he left them: His father injured and bitter, his mother a shadow of her former self - and Sileas, well she is a woman grown and for the most part - running the day to day business of the farm.

Ian may not have given Sileas much thought over the last five years - but that is not so in the Highlands.  There are plenty of men lined up to take Ian’s place - all Sileas has to do is say the word.  But she has loved Ian for as long as she can remember - and she is willing to give him the opportunity to show her how he feels about her.

The only problem is that Ian has no idea how to do that - but he is willing to learn.

I have not read a historical romance in years and The Guardian reminded me why I read them in the first place. :)

This book is richly detailed and brings the Highlands of Scotland right to the reader.  I loved it

I give The Guardian 5 out of 5 stars and can’t wait to read the rest of this series.

   Product Details

    * Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
    * Publisher: Forever (April 26, 2011)
    * Language: English
    * ISBN-10: 044657516X
    * ISBN-13: 978-0446575164