Highlander Untamed: A Novel (Macleods of Skye Book 1)

I had the pleasure of nabbing an early copy of Highlander Untamed a debut novel and the first book in the MacLeods of Skye Trilogy at RWA this year! The cover of the book was what actually caught my eye when I was browsing B&N. I e-mailed Monica McCarty the author about the book hoping she would have copies of the book at RWA and she did.So basically the plotline of this story which Monica did a lot of research is based on an actual clan that existed in Scotland. The couples for each book were real couples but of course they're love story is of Monica's imagination. In Highlander Untamed you have Rory MacLeod who is the Chief of the Clan MacLeod. The Clan MacLeod has been in a bloody battle for the past 2 years with the MacDonald Clan. In order to stop this battle between the 2 clans and to have peace King James of Scotland has forced Rory to enter into a handfast (a sort of probationary marriage for a year---full benefits of marriage but w/out actually being married yet) with Isabel MacDonald who is the niece of Sleat MacDonald the man who shamed Rory's sister and clan. Sleat has other plans for Isabel he has forced her into spying on Rory and his clan during this year handfast to find information that would help him destroys Rory and his clan. In return Sleat will help Isabel's family wage a war against the McKenzie clan. Isabel expects this to be an easy task and she does not want to fail her family, a family that she has been trying to get approval from. She is a favorite at the Kings court and is considered a rare beauty.Isabel ends up falling for Rory and has the hard choice of either choosing between the man she has fallen for or her family. As for Rory he faces the struggle of whether to go with his heart or do what is good for his clan. I love this kind of plotline and for me Monica brought a fresh outlook. You will fall in love with Rory. He is so honest, sexy, and caring. His love for his people and his actions towards Isabel and his sister will make you love him. Isabel is a great heroine. She has her insecurities but does not let them stop her for fighting for what she loves. There were many times I had to root for her. She is no wilting flower. The chemistry between the couple is electric. Lots of sexual tension and the love story takes place over a period of a year, so you get to see the relationship grow from weary to caring and into love. Anyways if you love a good a sexy man in kilt and are looking for a good Highlander story with history, great details, a sexy hero, a sassy heroine and a evil uncle who'll stop at nothing to destroy the MacLeods give this book a try! It comes out on July 31st and the next 2 books in the trilogy which is Highlander Unmasked comes out at the end of August and Highlander Unchained comes out at the end of September.And for the baseball fans out there Monica is the wife of former Red Sox Dave McCarty! Check out her website as well. She has excerpts up also for the other two other books and beautiful pictures of her visit to Scotland.[...]

Highlander Untamed was a very enjoyable story. Feuding Clans The MacLeods and MacDonalds are order by King James to Handfast The chief of MacLeod's Rory to the Chief of MacDonald's daughter Isabel. There relationship starts out tremulous and very rocky, The couple just don't trust one another. Isabel's duty is to find the MacLeods legendary Fairy Flag and the Secret entrance to the Keep. She must seduce her new husband to tell his secrets. Rory is no fool and a excellent hero. Very sexy Alpha male. He suspects what Isabel is up. However these two have such strong chemistry and attraction to one another that it cannot be deny. They actually grow in Love. I loved to watch there relationship grow from lust to trust to love and finally forsaking all others. Isabel is a beautiful young women, kind and very intelligent. Rory is everything a women would or should want in a man. Tall, handsome, strong and intelligent, also very honorable. I fell in love with this couple. I couldn't stop reading this story and read it straight through. Monica McCarty is fast becoming one of my best and favorite Historical Romance authors. All her characters are based in reality of notable Historical figures. Her storyline figures around past historical events. She truly has done her research. If I had any complaint it would the near rape attempt. Not necessary and it sort of threw cold water on the story. Just for a minute. I Highly Recommend Highlander Untamed.

This is a difficult review to write as I think this author really does have talent. On the good side, she paints excellent historical pictures that capture the time period, she can develop an interesting tale and she can write witty and enthralling dialog. But in between pieces of dialog she has long, often repetitive narratives and back stories that are disruptive and frankly boring. When this persisted in the book, I found myself skipping some of those passages to complete the dialog. That is never a good sign. And as I began the book, by page 20, I'd decided it was a "slow read." Not my favorite thing. This particular story also has problems in the characters themselves. Isabel and Rory are from waring clans (the analogy to Romeo and Juliet is drawn by the author). Rory is the handsome Scottish laird who wasn't looking for a wife but the King orders him to wed or at least hand fast with the Isabel MacDonald. Isabel is painted as a sweet, unselfish--too perfect--young woman who is content to enter into a deceit that is designed to bring Rory to his knees. What? A bit contradictory you say? That's what I thought, too. It was hard to like her. Sickly sweet and deceit...a rare combination. And Rory's actions are a bit bizarre. What man in his right mind would agree to sleep in the same bed with a beautiful woman he finds attractive for a year while remaining celibate? Right, I didn't think so either. I don't like having to suspend rational belief in a romance. Hence this one tried my patience. I'm giving it 3 stars because there were times it was truly enjoyable (the last 1/3rd of the book) and I think the writer has talent. I waited to do this review until I'd read the next book of hers, Highlander Unmasked, which I'd purchased with the first. It is better than this one--I'd even give it 4 stars perhaps, but it also has the same flaw of too much unneeded and repetitive narrative and back story between segments of dialog that make it a slow read. She really needs to get a good editor.

I enjoyed this book. It is a historical romance set in Scotland charting a period of feuding between several clans.Isabelle and Rory are caught up in an attempt to halt the feud. He, the head of his clan, is handfasted to her, daughter of a rival clan for a period of a year. Rory intends to return her to her family at the end of the handfast in revenge for the way they treated his sister. In turn, Isabelle has been forced into promising that she will steal a valuable artifact from Rory's clan for her uncle, and that she will reveal as many of their secrets as she can find out.Rory is a strong, gruff and handsome highlander with a heart of gold, a character that is easy to warm to. Isabelle is a kind and gentle soul but McCarty manages not to make her annoying or insipid. She's feisty when she needs to be. The chemistry between the characters as they try to muddle along in the handfast without falling for each other is very good, well written. There's plenty of battle and bedroom action as well ;) The side characters of Rory's siblings really added to the story, and the climax of the book was exciting enough to hold my attention. It didn't feel too cheesy which is an added bonus in this genre!The book's not without flaws (occasional unrealistic dialogue, for example) but it's well-worth a read. The style reminded me of Kresley Cole or Gena Showalter but without the paranormal aspect.I'd recommend it to anyone that likes historical romantic drama with a touch of action.

This one took a long time to get going. Roughly the first half of the book was filled with descriptions of the hero/heroines awesome good looks. The plot was good eventually, and was based on actual historical figures. The heroine, in particular, seemed too perfect (everyone loves her, multi-talented, gorgeous etc, etc.) and was frankly TSTL (too stupid to live) This story made for a few peaceful hours but won't make my favourites shelf....

The characters are real people the the author has imagined a story for based around some truth and lots of research. It is a great read and a beautiful love story

Highlander Untamed is a great book, so easy to get lost in it, I love Monica Mccarty books and this one is a must

Well, what can I say? It's definitively above the average highlander book - but it doesn't quite match the Highland Guard series from the same author. Once you've read those, you expect the same standard of history and adventure. Not that this was in any way laking - it was a strong story and with a great h/H but just a tad bit predictable.