The Marriage Contract

Marriage #3

by Cathy Maxwell

Journey with Cathy Maxwell to nineteenth-century Scotland...a land of romance and dreams. There, away from the stifling ballrooms and idle gossip of London, a debutante hopes to find a life she could only have imagined...and a noble Highlander discovers that the truest love of all awaits him in the form of an unexpected bride-to-be...

He was a man exiled from society -- handsome, unpredictable, and proud. Dark rumors surrounded his name. But Anne Burnett had signed a marriage contract binding her to Aiden Black, the Earl of Tiebauld. And although she'd never met him, she's determined to keep her word and make theirs a marriage in truth. Because a well-bred lady with little fortune to recommend her has no choice. From the moment she arrived, Anne fell in love with Kelwin Castle and its roguishly handsome laird. By day, he instills a fierce loyalty in his people with his masterful ways...and by night, he tempts Anne to surrender her innocence to him. But while he is willing to offer his body. Aiden refuses to give Anne his heart...making her wonder what prevents him from truly claiming her as his wife.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Historical, Historical Fiction, Regency, Audiobook, Marriage Of Convenience

361 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

CATHY MAXWELL spends hours in front of her computer pondering the question, "Why do people fall in love?" It remains for her the mystery of life and the secret to happiness.

She lives in the Austin, TX area where she is having the time of her life.

Visit her on Instagram, Twitter, FB, and TikTok at maxwellcathy (Yes, some other Cathy Maxwell nabbed the handle. However, she does own www.cathymaxwell.com and she'd love for you to swing by.)

Reviews

[kris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aiden is a mad Earl! Anne is now his wife, somehow, by proxy? They have sex for the first time in a houseful of soldiers? Scottish rebellion is a thing? I don't know?

WHY DO I KEEP DOING THIS TO MYSELF. It sounded like there was such potential for the "unwanted marriage takes a turn for the SEXY" trope, but NO. Instead I got this claustrophobic book that is so stuck inside its narrator's heads that it's frightening.

Take, for example, the second (?) chapter, in which Anne is on her way north to meet her husband. She has been traveling via coach for Many Days, and has struck up a friendship with the coachman. Then, disaster! A horrifying accident! Horses screaming! Wood splintering! Echoing silence at the end of it! She climbs from the wreckage to discover--the friendly coachman, dead! HOW CRUEL. OH FATES.

But then her husband shows up and she has to spend time ogling him and announcing her identity and ogling him again and trying to decide if he's mad. OH RIGHT, DEAD GUY. RIGHT THERE. "Oh! Such tears! Much sad!" And then awkward horse-riding! RIDGES OF AROUSAL. ETC ETC. Kind of nonsensical.

Also the heroine randomly comes to the conclusion that she's falling in love with her husband shortly after he inadvertently hurts her feelings by...buying her hair pins? ALSO AFTER HE MAKES HE MUCK OUT THE STABLES AND FIRE HIS COOK AND CLEAN THE ENTIRE GODDAMNED CASTLE?? THERE'S A SYNDROME FOR THIS AND I THINK ITS NAME IS STOCKHOLM??

[Izzah ꒰Duchess of Cabria ಇ ⭑✧ ᴏɴ ᴘᴀᴛʀᴇᴏɴ ✧ ⋆꒱ · Rating 2 out of 5]

LOGIC, DO YOU KNOW IT?

This book was okay (yeah my energy is all over the place. hopefully it fuels a good review~).
・
・
・
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🕮⋆˚࿔✎𓂃 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Seda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne çok tatlıydı. Serinin en sevdiğim kitabı oldu😍😍

[Katrina Passick Lumsden · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mehhhh. This one was a little too "romantic comedy" for me. There's a lot of farcical nonsense and the hero acting like a douche, then some abrupt declarations of love and some intrigue. Overall, kinda dull and at times, irritating. I didn't hate it, but I wouldn't read it again.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the last in the "marriage " trilogy by Cathy Maxwell. Anne married Aiden by proxy. She must travel to Scotland to inform her husband he is married. It had been rumored for years that Aiden was mad. If you remember the last installment, Leah went to utter extremes to avoid the arranged marriage she was supposed to have with Aiden. But, when Anne meets her new husband, she finds he is quite sane, intelligent, and very attractive. However, Aiden doesn't want a wife and plans to send Anne back to England right away. Anne manages to convince Aiden to let her stay for awhile.
In the backdrop of the marriage issues, is the Rebellion. Although Aiden is English, he has Sottish roots and is a Laird. So, he is caught between the feelings of the Scottish people and wanting to stay out of the Rebellion.
This might be my favorite out of the trilogy. I liked the political intrigue and the way Anne perservered despite all the opposition she faced.
There were a few things that were less than perfect. The circumstances of their consummation was off. It just didn't seem the right time or place despite Aiden's explanation. Aiden's plan to get Anne to leave has been done before in one way or another in other historical romances. But, this plan went awry and that part if the story was brief.
I liked the ending where the three friends we met in the first book were reunited. Overall a B

[Yona Ceaser · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, it was a cute romance novel. A proxy marriage, which all went in the right direction, there were no HUGE dilemmas, just the usual ‘I don’t want to marry someone I haven’t chosen for myself’ ideology, in this case the heroine agrees to the marriage, but the hero does not. Usually the heroine suffers from isolation or is ostracized by the lairds people, but in this case they were SOOOO happy that there laird had finally married and they absolutely loved the heroine, even though she was english.

The lairds people (especially the older women who have marriageable sons) were so fed up with the men staying as bachelors and just whoring around (a very minimal aspect in the story), so when our heroine turns up and declared that she is the lairds wife, things begin to change.

One aspect of the story that will have free rent in my mind, is the character development of one of the whores called Cora. We first meet her carousing with the hero in front of our heroine- who then declares that she is there mistress and Cora instantly stops her carousing by saying “I don’t bed married men” which instantly makes me happy. The next time we meet Cora is when she shyly asks our heroine for a ‘good’ job as a maid, our heroine is like errrr you’ve slept with my husband in the past before and you are a whore, why would I let you work in the same house as my husband, am I dumb, however Cora confided in her saying ‘how no one wants to hire her because of her original occupation and all the men just treat her like an object but she wants good steady money, so she can take care of her niece’ so our heroine decided to hire her as a maid in the house and told her not to whore anymore and Cora was like ‘thank you I’m fed up of men anyways I’m ready to change’. Cora does all her work and is good at it.

There was an alteration with Cora and one of the lairds men called Deacon (this scene made me shed tears lol) who knew her to be one of the whores and he was like ‘come here’. She refuses him and he starts to chase her. He finds Cora in the servants quarters holding her nieces protecting her. Cora then says ‘fine I’ll do what you want, just don’t touch my niece’....Deacon- who usually is a respectable man and doesn’t attack people- is shocked at what he’s done and the implications Cora meant at the thought that he would hurt her 9 year old niece, Deacon apologies and leaves them alone. He then has a change of heart. Long story short the two get married 👌🏾

I preferred there development to our main characters lol.

I’m someone who usually uses all my energy disliking any other women who might stand in the way of our heroine, but in this case Cora wasn’t that OW, she had troubles of her own and she eventually gets her own man, I spent most of my time waiting for there scenes lol.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Anyways back to our main characters....yeah they were cool I guess 🤷🏾‍♀️

[K. · Rating 3 out of 5]

[Audiobook: "The Marriage Contract" by Cathy Maxwell; Virginia Leishman/Reader = 4*]
Cathy Maxwell's "The Marriage" Contract can be summed up as a nice, comfortable, but predictable, and immediately forgettable historical romance. It was a good choice for me at the point I listened to it because I had just been through several dramatic, angsty and/or tragic books immediately prior to picking this one up.

Anne, a young English woman on the verge of spinsterhood is orphaned and unwanted by her nearest relations. A marriage "by proxy" to a Scottish earl, Aidan Black, seems to be their ticket out of supporting Anne for the remainder of her life. (Anne has no marriage prospects to date due to what seemed like a rather innocuous reason, when balanced with her apparent good looks and likeable dispositioin, which isn't revealed until toward the end of the story. Makes sense, but didn't seem like a "great mystery" device overall, and was a bit anticlimatic once it is explained.) After a rather traumatic arrival in the Scottish Highlands, Anne meets Aidan, who, by the way, is known as the "Mad Earl of Thiebauld," in a way that suggests the rumors might be true -- purely coincidentally with two of his cronies, shirtless and in "blue painted face." It turns out to be nothing too nutty; Aidan is simply a historian and likes to do re-enactments of days long gone. Aidan is furinous to find out he has been married off by his sister under the guise of a "proy," and flatly refuses to accept Anne. He stages a number of scenarios in order to dissuade Anne that he's the man for her, and is determined to return her post-haste to England. Anne, knowing she has nothing to go back to, is just as determined to not be dismissed by her new (and quite attractive under the blue paint) husband.

Up to this point, the book is quite engaging and reminded me very much of some of Julie Garwood's highlander historicals. I was very empathetic of Anne in her fear and lonliness of enduing what life had to offer her which wasn't much. Maxwell's writing is very engaging up to about the middle of the book, and then things just become quite predictable. The plot centers around Aidan's involvement in a planned second uprising Scottish rebellion (post Jacobite sympathizers), and Anne's determination not only to stay with Aidan as she falls in love with him by proving herself a worthy helpmate, but to finally claim a new family by doing so.

Toward the middle of the book, unfortunately, the characters start to fall flat (as in such predictable personality types that I wondered if I'd already read the book, as I know I've read "something like it" more than once). The love scenes are pretty mediocre and anticlimatic, and the romance plotline is somewhat lost in the "uprising" storyline for the most part, with a few interesting revisits, toward the end. Too much time is centered on a "revenge theme" tied into the uprising, by Aidan's former "title-jealous" schoolmate, an English military officer who's determined to bust him for treason. No surprises, and the ending wraps up this plot in a neat and tidy bow, but not with much interest.

Anne and Aidan are definitely empathy worthy and I did get to know and enjoy their characters. Anne fell in love with Aidan very fast I believe, just because she had no one else in life to either cling to or project the love she had upon. I got this impression because Aidan wasn't the most loveable hero in the begining of the book. However, we do get to see Anne break down his defenses and he has a satisfactory turnaround by book's end. I enjoyed this one in a "no surprises" kind of way, and it was a good transition to give my emotions a much needed rest from prior tear-jerkers and "on the edge of my seat" suspense reads. I will definitely give Maxwell another try to see if she can sustain the "sweetly romantic" feel she had begun in the first half of "The Marriage Contract."
K.

[Esra · Rating 5 out of 5]

İlk kitapta bahsi geçen Deli İskoç Lord Tiebauld ve Anne'in hikayesi...
Tiebauld'un ablası Leydi Waldo'nun ilk kitapta yana yakıla bir gelin aradığına şahit olmuştuk.. Eh, sonunda amacına ulaşıyor! :D
Serideki en keyifli kitaptı bence! Ama nedeni belli!
İskoçlar!!
Başka bir şey söylememe gerek yok sanırım!
Su gibi akıp giden, sıkılmadan okuyacağınız keyifli bir seriydi. Aklınızda olsun ;)

[Missy · Rating 1 out of 5]

The H/h fell in love with each other too soon. They didn't spend enough quality time together to truly develop these feelings. I didn't care for the subplot, where the English military in Scotland were searching for rebels/Jacobites. Therefore, it was boring.

[Christi (christireadsalot) · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Marriage Contract starts off with quite the unique marriage...the heroine Anne marries Aidan by proxy sight-unseen. Aidan’s sister is ill and wants her younger brother married and to produce an heir before she passes, so much so that she sets up the marriage contract, finds a bride, and signs for him. It is then up to Anne to leave London and travel to Scotland to till Aidan the news of their marriage. All Anne knows ahead of time is that Aidan is called the “Madman of Scotland” and that he’s an eccentric man exiled from society. Upon reaching Scotland, Anne falls in love with the Highlands and is intrigued to meet her new husband. Their initial meeting was quite the adventure involving a wildcat (literally). 😆 Aidan is not pleased to learn he has a wife and is determined to get Anne to return back to London. But Anne wants to stay, she has already gone through two failed seasons that did not result in a husband and does not want to return to her aunt and uncle.

This one started off really fun and enjoyable, it was even giving me The Secret by Julie Garwood vibes for a minute. With the English heroine Anne adjusting to the Highlands, her Scottish laird husband, and their castle and people. I was enjoying seeing Aidan’s initial animosity towards Anne and their marriage situation dissolving slowly. But about the halfway point it kind of lost its steam and a different plot was thrown in the mix; Aidan is being questioned about his involvement in another possible Scottish uprising (his grandfather was involved with Culloden) and that took over the story instead. The romance that had been growing took a back-burner around that point and then very quickly tied up. While I did like this one, and still adore Cathy Maxwell’s books, this sadly didn’t end up being one of my favs by her.

[yare · Rating 1 out of 5]

this is the one i was most looking forward to out of the last two and it disappointed sooo bad 💀

it may be on me but i was just not having a good time, the second book completely surprised me and i'm glad i decided to read it

[♥ WishfulMiss ♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Marriage Contract was different in the sense that although it was a marriage of convenience, the big Scottish laird, Aidan, was actually the one that pointed out his objection to wedding someone he did not love! It was nice to see a mature guy not act like a douche and actually be the one who cared emotionally about being shackled to some stranger. Aidan's awesome points escalated from there and I was half way in love with him!

Ann, the orphan who agrees to a marriage by proxy, ties herself to a man sight onseen and than travels to a place where she knows no one is so headstrong and brave throughout the story. I was rooting for her from page one, (its a romance afterall!) but she won me over when she refused to accept defeat and I loved how she wasn't fragile or snobbish, she showed Aidan that she was a great person, and would be a good wife even if he didn't want to see it.

For a romance, there wasn't a whole lot of interaction between the MC's (hence my 3 star rating) and half way through it veers off to a political plot but overall it was a good one. There's a few comedic scenes that will have me re-reading this one again.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anne is married to Aidan by proxy in London. Aidan hasn't been to London in years. He left as a young man to search out his Scottish roots. Not only is he a titled gentleman in London but also a Laird of a Scottish clan. Living as a Scotsman for so many years he has no desire to ever go back. He becomes mixed up in the rebellion against England and is unsure of how to handle that. In the meantime Anne shows up and proclaims to be his wife. She shows him the marriage contract signed by his sister in London. Aidan not only does not want a wife but her presence is dangerous for his clan's rebellious plot. He decides to make life so miserable for Anne that she will want to leave on her own. Anne is stubborn and fights to stay.[return][return]I liked the character of Anne and understood her development well. Aidan's character had some gaps. It was never fully explained why he left London and why he would never return. As much as he is enjoying his life as a Laird he seems to have doubts as to the rebellion and seems to suddenly switch gears towards the end.

[HÜLYA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Güzel bir roman idi severek okudum..Kadın kahramanın çaresizliğini gerçekleştirmek zorunda kaldığı evliliği..Resmini gördüğü kibar yakışıklı erkeğin gerçeği ile karşılaştığında ki hali olaylı karşılaşmasını okumak ilgi çekici idi. Serinin sonunda serinin diğer kahramanları ile karşılaşmak da güzeldi.. Tabii ki serinin diğer kitaplarını okumak gerekiyor. Önceki seriyi sulandıran yayınevi bu seriyi düzgün ve sırada yayınlaması iyi oldu..

[Karen Darling · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasn't feeling the hero in the beginning.

[sadece1hediye · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[jennacita · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Meryem Am · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un peu long sur la fin mais sinon j'ai bien ris

[Katrine Engelhardt Thomsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not a romance novel reader. But this book might just change that.
Because even with all my prejudice and scepticism I have to admit that this book did me good to read. It made me laugh more than 8 times, once so loud that I startled myself, while also making me blush from the well written sexiness of its' content.

Maxwell simply writes too bloody well for even the most unromantic reader not to give her books a go. I chose this one because of the Scottish setting and was happily surprised by the amount of work Maxwell put into the scenery and historic background of her main story. The characters themselves hold a depth and a genre-reflective humor that I honestly didn't think I would find within this type of book and I found myself speed reading to discover whether the sturdy, stubborn, moxie Anne Black would ever manage to make a home out her husband's house.

Cathy Maxwell's "The Marriage Contract" is the book equivalent of a sugary treat, with a surprisingly lasting and rich flavour, and sometimes that is exactly what you need.
Something sweet for the soul. I'll certainly keep her works in mind next time I feel a craving ;)

[Elis Madison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anne Burnett, an orphan with a lot of baggage, has little choice but to accept a proxy marriage to a Scottish Earl (who also has a lot of baggage). Said marriage was arranged without his knowledge or consent by his very managing, politically powerful sister. Anne is sent off to Scotland to inform said earl of his new state of wedded bliss.



Aidan Black is quite happily single—and caught up in business that doesn't need an Englishwoman's attention. So he plans to send Anne packing. If he can't force the issue, then he'll make sure she wants to annul the whole thing.

While the story doesn't take itself too seriously, it gives some nicely nuanced insights into the struggles of Scots who were unjustly displaced by the Highland Clearances. This is one of many, many historical injustices that can never truly be redressed. For that this gets 4 stars.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really solid. It still had those small tropular elements that make is solidly a romance novel, but it was certainly expansive. It also featured my favorite element of any highland romance, the heroine defying the begrudging hero and cleaning the keep, firing the cook, and making a beautiful home. Why do i love this so much? There us something about putting things in order that takes a romance out of just the elements of sexual entrance and into the practicalities of real life that I find grounding and real to characters. I like knowing the hero and heroine are able to weather everyday life together. I find the intrigue of just every day communication between to people endlessly interesting and far prefer it to manufactured problems where they make an entire plot out of an easily clarified miscommunication. I am really enjoying this author.

[♡PıNaR DeğiRmeNci ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Günün dördüncü kitabı
Ve serinin son
Tve anne nin hikayesini okumuş oldum merak ediyordum da
İskoç aşkı ile nedense İskoçlara karşı zaafım var ahahah
Neyse kitabın adından anlaşıldığı gibi anlaşmalı bir evlilik adamla değil adamın ablası kardeşine bakir bir kız bulur ve evliliğe evet dedirtiyor deli olduğu dedikoduları çıkmış bir adama evet demek kolay değil ama anne herseyi ile kendini ona adıyor karşılaşmalari harikaydı kızı gönderme şekilleri de ama diğer kitaplara göre eksik sayfa olmasına gıcık oldum yani daha fazla sayfa sayısı olmalıydı. Özellikle aşk konusunda eksik geldi daha fazla Yazmalıydi çok hafif kalmıştı ama seri güzeldi sevdim

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anne finally signed a contract to marry the earl of Tiebaud who was rumored to be mad. Anne's relatives were threatening to throw her out. They had paid for two seasons an there were no offers of marriage. The earl's sister convinced Anne that there was no madness in the family and a marriage by proxy was arranged. Anne set off for the long journey to Scotland. Before they arrived a carriage accident occurred and Anne was rescued by a wild Scottish warrior in a kilt with half of his face painted blue.

[Gamze · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 biraz belki fazla da olabilir emin değilim ama okurken hiç sıkılmadim. Gece okurken hangi ara bitti anlamadım bile. Yazarın daha önce okuduğum Yıldırım Nikahı kitabından daha çok sevdim. Haa kitaba 25 lira verilir mi derseniz... Verilmez! Sahaflara falan düşmesini bekleyin. Bir de yazarlara not. Lütfen "aşkım" kelimesini kullanmayın. Kulağa bu kadar yapmacık gelen bir kelime daha yok yemin ederim -_-

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! I am so glad that I picked it up at the library. The whole cast was enjoyable and it was interesting reading a book that was set during such a hard period for Scotland and the reaction of the Lairds/Lords with English titles and their attempt to use their powers in Parliament.

[Hasnamezied · Rating 3 out of 5]

MMMM yes it was really really boring . I hate when the characters fall in love that easily. Come on four days or something like that and they totally fell in love with each others . Love is not that easy even in a historical romance

[Krista D · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book started out great, but the second half just felt forced. It was like Ms. Maxwell was following a over-dramatic plot checklist.

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I absolutely flew through the audio version of this book - and it was fine. Good story (good enough that I listened while cooking & eating dinner... and then for the rest of the evening). The romance genre generally begets predictable stories. That's fine and one of the reasons we love them! Person A meets Person B, they have a reason to dislike each other/not want to be together/resist attraction, they fall anyway, get ripped apart, and then come back together for the climax (often including an actual climax), and voila - romance novel! I love it. If I didn't, I wouldn't have read so many!

One of my biggest romance pet-peeves, though, was perfectly illustrated in this novel... couples fall madly, deeply in love WAY TOO FAST. In this book, if I heard right, the whole thing takes two weeks! I enjoy stories so much more when the relationship, when the feelings, are really earned.

So, this book, while good, wasn't exactly the best fit for me. I'm discovering that many romance novels - though I love the genre so, so much - really aren't because there's not enough space in 350 pages for the kind of character development I'm looking for.

Our heroine is probably the most well developed character in the book but, but that isn't saying much. The hero pulls some pretty crappy stuff, including mucking out the barn in one of the few remaining dresses she owns in the name of trying to make her leave by choice rather than sending her back to London, since she had no where to go. She forgives him for this bad behavior very quickly. Also, he kills two guys in the span of two days and there are exactly two sentences of emotional fallout.

The sugary-sweet ending didn't work for me because it wasn't ever earned. But it did work appropriately for the story. Also of note, this is the third book of a trilogy. You absolutely don't need to read the first two. However, the epilogue of this book is the three ladies, two from the first books and then our heroine, meeting up, meeting each other's husbands/kids, and talking about what they've learned about love. I can only assume they had a speculative conversation near the beginning of book one. But this was wasted on me not having read the first two books.

Overall, I enjoyed it enough to know that if I ever need a way to pass an evening or two, I would probably be entertained by another of this author's books. But I'd also probably feel like a lot of stones were left unturned.

[Trenchologist · Rating 3 out of 5]

September Readathon

3+

The first half of the book is noticeably stronger than the second, which has far too much to accomplish in too few pages.

Marriage of convenience with a twist; a proxy forced on the orphan heroine who accepts by having no better choice for her future, and thrust upon the hero who comes to accept as he falls in love with the heroine. That's a nice love story to tell.

I liked how he objected to the marriage in part because he did want to marry for love; I like that he's a nerd who happened to grow into a hunk, and he's not quite sure how to reconcile the two. I like that she wouldn't be cowed by his trying to scare her off; I like that she's courageous from life's lessons and believes in her worth, how she wins him over but she's not A HOYDEN as you get in books written in the past five-years-some. I do enjoy the "getting stuck in" heroines who won't take the guff or mistreatment and instead roll up their sleeves and scrub the house down, win over the servants and the hero's people, and turn a place into a home.

It falters a bit when we get embroiled into the political scheming. Not because I mind political intrigue and scheming, but until then it had the tone and tempo of a lighter romance, and here we are dealing with killing and subterfuge and families riven by hard choices. I mean yeah, that's life, just as much as the lighter side. But the tonal clash wasn't quite smoothed over.

I'm not sure if I liked or disliked them finally consummating in the house guarded by British soldiers. I get the various reasoning, it was just fine, it did give me a bit of pause.

But, these two aren't for society's norms and they show it again and again in their choices and actions, which of course shows how well suited they are. And--they are! It's a good HEA I felt was earned and was glad to read.

The third of three books, I had no idea going in, but it didn't matter much aside the trying-to-do-everything epilogue. I have several other Maxwell books in my book sale stash, and gave this one a go to test if I should hold onto them or pass them along before bothering. This one was certainly enough to keep me bothering.

[Neşe · Rating 4 out of 5]

İlk 2 kitapta dile getirdiğim tüm sıkıntıların kaynağını yazar sanıyordum meğersem çevirmenlermiş tüm sorun galiba. Çünkü bu kitabı okurken historical okuma zevkine yeniden kavuştum diyebilirim. Ve bunu çevirmene de yazdım ve çevirdiği ilk historical kitaplardan olduğunu söyledi ki gayet başarılı buldum ben.

Kitaba gelirsek Londra’daki ablasının vekalet yoluyla evlendirdiği Anne -bu isimden nefret ediyorum- kocasının yanına gitmek için yola çıkmıştır. Tabi uzun yıllar İskoçya'da kaldığı için Londra’da deli olduğu yönünde söylentiler de vardır. Kocası Aidan'ın evine varmaya az bir mesafe kala kaza geçirirler. O sırada avlanmaya çıkmış kocası ve arkadaşları ile de böyle tanışmış olur. Tabi ki Aidan'ın orta çağ tarihi ve uygulamalarına merakı sonucunda o yönde bir yaşam tarzı sürmeleri sebebiyle yüzleri maviye boyalı bir haldedir. Kaleden bahsetmeyelim bile kendilerinin deyimiyle ahırlar bile daha temiz bir haldeydi.

Anne ile evli olduğunu öğrenen Aidan bundan hiç hoşnut olmamıştır bir an önce karısının Londra’ya geri dönmesini sağlamak için eşine olmadık görevler verir. Ancak Londra’daki kimsesiz yaşamına geri dönmek istemeyen Anne tüm görevleri başarıyla ve klandaki kadınların yardımıyla atlatır.

Bu arada bir de Aidan'ın kuzenleri İskoçya'da bir isyan çıkarma peşindedir ve onları takip etmekte olan bir İngiliz subayı vardır. Bu olayda kitaba ayrıca bir heyecan katmıştı.

Tüm kitapların sonunda ekstra bir bölüm olarak karakterlerin gelecek nesillerinin 1999 yılındaki başarılarının sergilendiği ufak bir bölüm koyulmuştu hoş bir durumdu.