Synopsis:
It is the year of our Lord 1493, and King Henry VII has been seated on the English throne for eight years. He did not get there by chance alone. Nor has he stayed there with ease. He has his favorites, generously rewarding those who serve him well. Sir Nic McKinnon is at the top of that list.
For his faithful devotion, Nic finds himself graciously rewarded. That reward is the hand in marriage to the seventh Duchess of Seabridge. The only issue is Nic isn’t interested in the bounty, and taking a wife is certainly not in his plans. However, he understands that seeming ungrateful to Henry for his gift or disobeying a king’s command is never wise. Nic reluctantly agrees to marry. Living with his duchess was not one of Henry’s stipulations.
To that end, Nic’s plan is to marry the young duchess, and then leave her to her own designs. That is until he finds that she is in danger, so much so that she is fleeing for her very life. Nic is sworn to protect the king’s subjects who cannot protect themselves, but more than that, no one threatens what belongs to a McKinnon. She belongs to him by the king’s decree. The question now is not whether he will marry her and leave her behind—the question is much more clear: can he keep her alive?
Review:
The setting of this book is in a day and time when men were really men and honor was sacred, and vengeance was not sacrificed for political correctness. As a result, it was easy for me to escape into the story of Nic and Morgan. I love historical fiction/time travel/romance and I was immediately drawn in when I first started reading this book. Book one is well written and on a scale of 1-10, I give the book a 9 for an excellent story line, character development, plot, and a cliffhanger at the end that leaves you clamoring for the next one in the series!!! It is not for the faint of heart though, in addition to violence that seems to be historically accurate for the 15th century, there are some steamy scenes that will definitely leave the reader somewhat breathless, but that are not too graphic where you find yourself looking up to see if anyone is watching you blush while reading.
I have only recently discovered Ranay James’ series about the McKinnon men and I am wishing that I had known about the books for longer! Currently, it is free on Amazon, iBooks, Smashwords, and Barnes & Noble, and it is NOT one of those freebies that you will regret downloading. There are ten books in the series, and although I haven’t read them all, the ones I have read are equal to their predecessor.
Preview the book here
From what I have learned about Ranay James, she seems to be a pretty cool person, and I was happy to discover that we are practically neighbors! After she learned of my newfound love affair with her series, she signed a copy for me to keep in my personal library! To learn more about her, you can follow her on:
Ranay’s Website
Ranay’s Facebook
Ranay’s Twitter
Ranay on Smashwords
A Bibliophile's Persuasion 