Overall: 4.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Humor: Not much

Should I read in order?
Ideally, yes. You’ll get the feel of the Highland guard characters that appear in various books together. For this one, I would say maybe read book 5 at least (The Saint) because the hero and heroine from that book, MacKay and Helen are in this book and there is a rivalry between the two men. I wish I had read book 5 closer to this one actually because there were just a couple things mentioned that were tugging at my memory but I couldn’t recall (I had read that book about a year and a half ago). But still, most of the story in this one is on Kenneth and Mary and I think you can still enjoy the story on its own.

Basic plot:
In the uncertain times of 1309, Mary is sent to Scotland to try to smooth a truce between the country and England. While there, she meets Kenneth and the attraction is undeniable. After a terrible marriage, she craves a night of passion that Kenneth is more than willing to provide. The trouble happens when he realizes who exactly she is.

Give this a try if you want:
- Story takes place in 1309/1310 during the time of Robert the Bruce
- A mix of Scotland and England for setting
- Medium to higher steam – 4 full scenes and 1 brief
- Celibate hero – the hero doesn’t have another woman once he meets the heroine, even though they are separated for 6 months
- A bit of secret identity feel in the beginning
- Second chance feel though they aren’t separated for a long period of time

My thoughts:
McCarty sure can write. I find myself always truly enjoying her stories. They make me emotional and I find myself totally immersed in the setting and characters. This one was no different. I haven’t read her in about a year and a half, so it was amazing to dive in again.

Sometimes her books can dump a lot of information on you in a short period of time – especially in the beginning. She’s chosen a time period and place for this book lush with historical facts, so if you find yourself having a hard time in the beginning try to stick it out for 50-60 pages.

I really loved a lot about this book. The beginning was just perfect to me. I loved both Mary and Kenneth and when they meet it is 🔥🔥🔥. Every time I read a McCarty I want to stay it’s my favorite book, and I’m pretty sure I said that about this one as well.

Kenneth is trying so hard to get into Bruce’s secret army and he will stop at nothing to make it happen. One problem though, is his temper always getting him into trouble. He gets too riled up and makes mistakes. This comes to haunt him in the story a number of times. But his love for Mary is immediate and intense and I just adore ‘hero loves first’. How vulnerable he gets with Mary melted my heart.

Mary has had a number of challenges in life. Married and a mother at 14, her first husband was a proud patriot of Scotland. He put his family in danger a number of times and eventually abandoned them in England until he was dealt a traitor’s death by Edward. The most damaging aspect of Mary’s marriage was the constant cheating her husband did. It devastated her heart and broke her trust in men. Kenneth always tends to have a flock of women around him and with him keeping secrets to keep her safe, she thinks the worst of him.

I did get a little frustrated dealing with the hamster wheel of worrying about infidelity and short tempers and it lessened by enjoyment of the second half. Still I was totally engaged in this story and had to know what happened.

As always, McCarty’s author notes are just as fascinating, if a bit more heartbreaking, than the story itself. I just love her.


Here’s a few random parts that I wanted to note from the book

I love an arrogant hero!

He leaned closer, and for a moment she feared he would kiss her. The pounding in her chest was because she didn’t want him to. She didn’t want to feel the heat of those warm, soft lips on hers.
His gaze pinned her. “I think you’d better reconsider.”
Her breath was so tight she barely managed, “Why?”
He smiled. “Because I don’t think Felton would like having his wife in my bed, and that’s where you’re going to be.”



He’s so cocky

“I merely meant, what am I going to get in return for doing my duty in bearing your children?”
His mouth hardened, and his eyes glinted with a dangerous spark of steel. “You will have my name, my protection and preside as chatelaine over any land the king returns to me. One day the child you are carrying will be the Earl of Sutherland.” He learned closer. She could see the dark shadow of his beard along the hard lines of his jaw and remembered how it had felt rubbing over her skin. “And every time I take you in my bed, you will come.”

Content Warnings:

Underage marriage/pregnancy – heroine was 14 when married and had a baby
Violence, death on page, battles, explosions, broken bones happen during the highland games
Removal of infant forcibly from mother – heroine loses her child to King Edward when he was 6 months old
Heroine keeps her pregnancy a secret from the hero
Death of heroine’s twin
Brief discussions of losing parents
If you are sensitive to infidelity, I would consider skipping this one. The heroine was cheated on in her first marriage, repeatedly. The hero never cheats on this heroine, but she thinks he does numerous times and it’s talked/thought about a lot.

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

Pg 92 🔥 – kisses, groping while heroine’s on the table, move to the floor for missionary
Pg 217 – kiss
Pg 246 🔥  – kisses, breast touches, cock touches, fingering, oral for her, missionary
Pg 274 – her on top (very brief, not even a full page)
Pg 296 🔥  – her facing the wall, him behind her 
Pg 327 🔥  – kisses, breast play, him standing against the bed and her laying in it.