I adored the prologue of this story. The scene shows Arabella with her 2 sisters having their fortune told by a gypsy. It gives a bit of background about their life, shows some of each of their personalities, and adds a bit of whimsy for the story. Can the prediction come true? One of the young sisters is convinced.

The story then jumps ahead some years. Arabella, the heroine, is on her way to a new job across the channel. She misses her ship and she finagles passage upon Luc's ship.

There's a lot to love about this story. It has some unexpected twists and turns that make it a little more unpredictable. This is my second Katherine Ashe book and her characters so far seem unique and usually have a past or personality traits that are not your normal run of the mill.

I really enjoyed Luc. He was a good hero. He was ever so respectful of Arabella even though she drove me nuts. She was way too prideful. The author even called it out, which placated me somewhat, but still I found it extremely hard to enjoy her at all, or in fact not be angry that the hero was left with this as his heroine. She just never let up with the arguing and the defensiveness. Luc really seemed to understand though and help pull her through those emotional issues. I think it really would be a great story for most people. I tend to be rather harsh to my heroines and way more forgiving of my heroes, so that is totally my own fault. She does pull through at the end but it wasn't enough for me to love this story.

I think there was something about this story, or perhaps the writing, that just didn't pull me into the story as much as I could have. Again this is totally a personal feeling/flaw of mine. I felt like I was watching these characters through a glass ceiling, looking down as I read. Something was blunting their effect. I didn't FEEL like I wanted to. I didn't get attached like I wanted to. I felt similarly in her other novel I tried. I will try more from her, I'm just curious now if she won't be for me.

What, I'm reading a Monica McCarty and I'm not in Scotland?? It's true, she has a few regency novels, this one was published in 2015.

Genie has a past with Huntingdon, but that is long over. The year is 1811 and Genie has created a new identity, a widow, returning from America. She has a plan to win over society and create the life for herself she's always wanted. Only one thing can stand in her way, and she comes face to face with him on her big night. We get a flashback in time that takes a few chapters and tells you exactly what their history is. I like this, because I feel like I'm not getting the whole story if they have a history but I don't get to see, or if its done in bits and pieces (like Sarah Macleans Day of the Duchess).

Something I love about McCarty is I feel like she always spends time with describing her hereos. I adore hearing about their bodies, their height, their eyes, their hair, their jawlines. Mmm.

Alas, this book has made me sad. It is a very heavy book. Its not happy. Its not funny. Its a hard read. You want your heart ripped out? Here you go. The things that basically all the characters experience is just sad, but the heroine, wow. Then when the hero and heroine come back together there is so much mistrust, anger, guilt and vengeful feelings, it's just overwhelming. Then it just continues through the book. You feel for the heroine, but don't worry she can be heartless. I didn't think I could feel for the hero but then I did. It was SO frustrating though. They are just mean to each other. That's the whole book. There's some safety issues I will list at the end. None of these relate directly to the hero (It's not a bodice ripper style book)

I was totally in love with the beginning of this book. I was really enjoying the intensity, the characters, I was invested in their happiness. However, as the book went on, and on it seemed to lose it's momentum and the characters started losing, not necessarily my interest, but my support. I was so annoyed with both of them and how they were treating each other especially after everything that had already happened.

There's too much of the past affecting them, there's too much mistrust and while you get a few kisses they come off more as almost like a jealous, possessive or manipulation strategy of the hero constantly. I didn't feel much tension at all, other than the pure sweetness in the initial flashback of their story. While the story doesn't necessarily have a big miscommunication issue, you just wanted them to sit down and talk and be honest with each other.

The sex in this book, I hate to say it, but to me was pure disappointment. I was continually let down. Not that it was good sex that wasn't written well or it didn't have enough details, it was legit bad sex. There was fear involved, there was fumbling, it was just not a pleasant thing to read. Apparently they do get it right a few times and IT'S ALL GLOSSED OVER!!! I was so annoyed to get a fumbling nonsense scene then hear that it was all glorious for awhile after that. Then when they come back together at 80 freaking % done with the book, the sex is even worse. I don't read the books for the sex. I really don't. But I love the sex and I felt super jipped by this story. At 93% you'll get good sex but by then did I care at all? No.

Also I strongly disliked how this book ended. I strongly disliked the epilogue. I just...no. I can't believe it's the same McCarty that wrote so many of my favorite books. Anyone else try this?

Safety issues: attempted sexual assault, physical assault, violence, miscarriage

If you are a fan of older style romance novels (pretty historically accurate behavior as in the good, the bad, and the ugly/not overly descriptive sex scenes/lower steam) I do recommend you give this a try. I think it's a great story. But it just wasn't my favorite.

The year is 1066. The Normans are invading the Saxon land in the name of the Duke of Normandy (William the Conqueror). I have never ever heard this book mentioned when people ask for vikings (although not strictly related but loosely), or knights, or medieval times, but it should be. It definitely got me curious about the history of these events.

Aislinn is the daughter of a Saxon nobleman, ruler of Darkenwald. Her father in slain by the conquering army and her and her people become slaves to the Normans. Wulfgar comes to assume leadership of Darkenwald. What follows is their struggle to love across all the suffering and differences between their people.

I'll also leave some safety issues here: outright sexual assault, questionable consent issues, violence

Okay, I'm just going to be super specific about this book so if you haven't read it yet, please pause here.

*spoilers ahead*

First of all, I didn't read the back of the book and was totally thinking Ragnor was the hero upon the, um, sexual assault that took place. I was like ooooo gonna be hard to come back from this and we're like 10 pages in....Thankfully, he was not our hero. Wulfgar I really enjoyed until about ¾ of the way through. I thought it was great seeing him handle Aislinn and protect her and continue giving her all he could, even though he acted like he never would. The thing that got me about Wulfgar was he didn't care AT ALL, that Aislinn was pregnant and would be having a bastard out of wedlock. In fact he expected it. He needed to be argued with by basically everyone in the castle before he chose to make an honest woman out of her so to me it felt more forced than real. I did really enjoy the surprise wedding and I know he meant it but still it would have been so much better coming from his own realization. Especially with his own history and supposed hurt from having no one.

Overall I liked Aislinn's character. Strong and she cared so much about her people and was able to charm most everyone she met. I did get rather annoyed with tantrums after awhile. I could understand them but I think reading that she as stomping her feet just changed the image in my head in to a spoiled little girl not getting her way. Which of course her situation was so much more than that, but still it's just what stuck with me after awhile.

It may have just been the style of an older novel but I found this book a liiiiittle hard to get through. The fact that it's over 500 pages and like size 5.8 font I just felt like it was a chore to read, literally, not the writing was bad but maybe my eyes need new glasses or something lol. I did find it rather dry in some parts and just so much unnecessary...stuff. There's so much description, yet I wasn't getting the best view of the scenery. There was character depth, but it could have been so much deeper. To me, it barely went beneath the surface. I should have had more feelings for both the main characters. I felt like there was just a lot that could have been cut down and the story would have had the same depth and feeling.

Now. For feels. Gwyneth. Wow. That lady had me feeling rage. But it also annoyed me because Wulfgar leaves and I'm left with basically a medieval episode of mean girls. It was just non stop. The fact that no one slapped Gwyneth, punched her, threw food at her, chased her out of the castle with spears just made me angry. You have to wait a long long time for any remorse from her. It did bring something to the story but I felt like so much of the story was Gwyneth fighting with Aislinn instead of Aislinn and Wulfgar's love.

Last thing I'd like to complain about is how the title has “the Dove” in it, which I would assume stands for Aislinn yet RAGNOR is the one that calls her that repeatedly. Just eww.

I don't recall ever reading this one by Woodiwiss. I think I have read 1-2 others of hers in high school but it's been so long I can't remember. I have most of them now though (except Shanna) so I will get to them sometime. I'm happy I tried it but it's not a keeper for me.