| Highlander Untamed: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Monica Mccarty
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 113010
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 0345494369
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780345494368
ASIN: 0345494369
Publication Date: July 31, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Good condition, wear from reading and use. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact and has some creases. The spine has signs of wear and creases. This copy may include "From the library of" labels, stickers or stamps and be an ex-library copy.
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Product Description
Rory MacLeod is a bold and powerful Highland Chief with only one allegiance–to his clan. He vows revenge against the rival MacDonald clan, though duty demands a handfast marriage to Isabel MacDonald–a bride he does not want and has no intention of keeping. But Rory couldn’t have anticipated the captivating woman who challenges his steely control, and unleashes the untamed passion simmering beneath his fierce exterior.
Blessed with incomparable beauty, Isabel MacDonald is prepared to use every means possible–including seduction–to uncover her husband’s most guarded secrets. Instead Rory awakens Isabel’s deepest desires and her sweetest fantasies. Now Isabel has found the happiness she’s always dreamed of with the very man she must betray, and discovers that passion can be far more dangerous than revenge.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 MOST FABULOUS HIGHLANDER ROMANCE - TAKES YOUR BREATH AWAY!! March 17, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you enjoy the early books the like of Julie Garwood and Woodiwiss and want your books to suck you in from the very first page, then dear reader, this is right up your alley!!!
Full of great dialogue, unbelievable great characters, Scottish brogue, a hero and heroine to die for and STEAMY love scenes, this is what Romance novels should all be about!! This novel is incredibly well written and researched. The historical detail, vocabulary and allegorical description of the times, is superb. I will not get into the plot, since there are already loads of reviews prior to mine, but I will say this is one the best books that I have read in a VERY long time.
From the moment the book opens, you are thrust into the lives and the events of the MacDonald and McLeod clans. Rory is the typical alpha male, completely taken by Isable's extraordinary beauty - with a sole purpose in life - the safety and prosperity of his clan. He discounts his attraction for Isabel (but he is drooling on the side!) and believes that he can persevere and endure the year's handfast without having any physical contact with his bride. (Yeah right!!!!).
Isabel is conscious of her extraordinary beauty and loathes that every man that gazes at her countenance has never been able to look at her as a person.
Used as a pawn by her ruthless and malevolent uncle, Isabel embarks on a crusade of establishing herself as a trustworthy person in the eyes of her family who have always dismissed her and have barely acknowledged her presence. As hard as she might, Isabel tries to seduce The McLeod. Though Rory lusts after her and is becoming increasingly taken with his wife's kindness, beauty and intelligence he repudiates her advances, as he means to renounce the handfast at the end of one year.
This novel is a rare gem - not only are the H/H beautifully developed, but the emotion of how their love flourishes will take your breath away. The secondary characters are wonderful and you will love them as they change with Isabel's joy, kindness and infectious love for life. Rory's keep is soon transformed with laughter and he learns the true meaning of what life is about and why it is worth living. If you have not read this book yet, I entreat you to buy it post-haste!
 Romance and Espionage in Scotland February 20, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Intrigue abounds in this satisfying novel. Isabel MacDonald is forced into a handfast marriage by the king and her nefarious uncle. Her groom is Rory MacLeod, Chief of a rival clan. Isabel must spy on her husband and find a special banner hidden in the keep.
Rory has agreed to this one year marriage with every intention of repudiating it at the end of the promised year. Isabel is beautiful and hard to resist. She is under pressure to seduce the secrets from her husband. Rory suspects something is afoot but without evidence, must rely only on his intuition.
Isabel is pressured from all sides; her father's clan, her husband's clan, her uncle, the king. She falls in love with her husband and knows she can never betray him. Her greatest concern is being exposed as the spy she is.
Isabel is incredibly kind hearted. She is forgiving and even though she occasionally has a stubborn streak, it doesn't become annoying. Rory is determined to protect his clan and his family. His divided loyalty between his family and Isabel has him in a quandary. An added bonus was that some of the events in this book are based on actual events, so there is a nice little history lesson in this novel too.
Great Book February 8, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
This was a very good book. It kept you on the edge of your seat. I could not put the book down.
Highlander Untamed-A Joyfully Recommended Title! February 8, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
The MacLeods are a powerful Highland clan. Their chief, Rory MacLeod,
is brave and daring. His duty is to protect his clan and avenge any
wrongs done to them. One such wrong has led Rory to swear vengeance
on the MacDonald clan. When the king orders Rory to wed Isabel
MacDonald, the two enter a handfast marriage. Although Rory plans to
send Isabel home after a year and a day, he finds it hard to resist
the incredibly beautiful woman.
Isabel MacDonald has been sent by her uncle and father to spy on the
MacLeod clan. Charged to use whatever means available to her, she is
to discover MacLeod secrets. Secrets held only by the chief himself,
Rory MacLeod. Rory arouses feeling in Isabel she never experienced
before. Isabel also becomes friends with Rory's siblings. For the
first time, Isabel finds happiness. Faced with betraying her uncle
and father or the happiness she has found with the MacLeods, Isabel
must follow her heart.
Annmarie
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed
 Too much telling and too little showing January 12, 2008
5 out of 8 found this review helpful
There was too much repetition of the characters' storylines. I tried very hard to stick with this, but gave up half way through. Although the heroine spends almost all of the first half inside the castle, we learn little about the personalities of the inhabitants. Her new sister in law is stereotypically good and her new brother in law is stereotypically mischivious. I've seen these characters many times before in previous novels and they are interchangeable between novels. I could find nothing to suggest why these two should engage my interest. For example, the heroine supposedly befriends the cook, but there is not one scene of interaction between the two.
She is set on a course of betrayal to win her family's love when it is clear they care little for her. Once she is accepted by her new brother and sister in law, and it is clear she is finally getting the family love she needs, there is absolutely no convincing explanation as to why the heroine still plans to betray her hand-fasted husband, the laird, Rory. Over and over she goes into great length about her dilemma and her internal musings as to what action she should take.
the interior of the castle is described as having a number of interior decorating details that rang false to me. For example, in her tower bedroom the wooden walls are painted pale yellow. I looked in several sources and could find no evidence that stone castles were being lined with wooden walls at that time. And I especially found no evidence of painted walls.
In fact, as Rick Steves notes, "A real castle had all the romance of a fallout shelter. Sure, it had a lofty tower or two, but only to spot trespassers and to give attackers second thoughts. When the bad guys came knocking, a negotiated ransom was the typical outcome -- not a swashbuckling battle."
It was not until the 19th century that the remaining castles were fancied up. Again, Rick Steves: "What travelers see today is a muddle of Middle-Age bunker-mentality and 150-year-old romantic renovation, which also happens to be real. While confusing, this weird mix makes for great sightseeing." Occurring in the 1600's, this story was much to early for the "romantic renovation" period. It was jarring to try and picture this medieval maiden in what sounded like an 19th century drawing room.
In summary, the settings did not ring true, the characters were stereotypical and the two main characters spent too much time repeating the same internal musings.
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