Lion's Legacy

Lions #3

by Suzanne Barclay

REVENGE RAN HOT IN KIERAN SUTHERLAND'S VEIN

For the betrayal of his clan had driven him to denounce love for war --- until he met the Lady Laurel. A Highland witch in chain mail who had the power to inflame him with a need more urgent than any cry to battle!

HER VISIONS HAD FORETOLD THE COMING OF A PROUD AND POWERFUL KNIGHT

And Laurel knew that Kieran Sutherland was indeed a warrior to be feared. Yet she knew of the loneliness that scarred his soul and that Destiny had called on her to heal his wounded heart.

Genres: Historical Romance, Romance, Medieval, Historical, Harlequin, Category Romance, Medieval Romance

296 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Carol Suzanne was born on 20 December 1945 in USA, daughter of Phyllis and Whit Hoose. She married Kenneth E. Backus, and obtained four stepchildren.

Published since 1992 as Suzanne Barclay, was an author for Harlequin Historical, specializing in romance set in the Medieval era. She founded the Lake Country Romance Writers in 1993, and served as the chapter's first president. She passed away on 15 September 1999 after a long battle with cancer.

Reviews

[Seon Ji (Dawn) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-Read review 2020

I still like this book very much but had to lower a star because I felt it was a bit too long, and the push pull was repetitive. It WAS done well (the push pull thing) and didn't put me off emotionally, it was just tiresome.

I would still recommend and reread in a few years when I have forgotten it all.



Original Review

5 stars because I REALLY enjoyed it and I didn't find anything that triggered me.

H- Keiran - is IMHO PERFECT. A little alpha, possessive and a virgin. He is honorable, loyal sweet.. I totally loved him.

H was betrayed by his family at 15 when he found out he was a bastard and the man and woman who he thought were his parents were only his aunt and uncle. He wants to get revenge on his uncle because he thinks he killed his father in order to obtain his lands. Keiran also wants to regain his birthright castle which is now under said uncle's rule. So at 15, he left Scotland and became a mercenary to gain funds in order to lay siege on his(his uncles) castle. He also vowed celibacy until he achieved his goal to ensure no bastards (like himself) would ever come about. So he became hard and cold, never letting anyone close to him. Until he meets Laurel, the heroine.

The h, Laurel, is strong, sweet, beautiful and intelligent. She is a seer and a healer. She is a widow who's husband was cruel and married her only to obtain her lands. He only bedded her one time to make the marriage official, and never returned to her bed. He was killed by falling off a cliff then attacked by wolves.

Laurel manages to melt Keirans heart. She can see that his soul is filled with pain, hate and
vengeance, so she makes it her mission to heal him any way she can.

The love between the two builds slowly and they gradually earn each others respect and trust.

The characters were 3 dimensional, the pace was steady and I did not skim.

I will definitely check out more by this author and would recommend this to lovers of medieval romance.

Safety

Hero - Virgin -stays virgin until heroine
Heroine - Widower-Had sex one time with deceased husband. No others until hero.
Cheating-No
Rape-Attempted, thwarted. Attempt not detailed. The thwarted part is a spoiler..sorry, but the heroine is knocked unconscious and doesn't know if she was. Later we discover she was not.
Violence-yes but mild
Insta love-No
Cursing-No
Loving- 2 I think, moderately detailed- but a lot of sweet kissing and touching moments.
HEA/ILY's - yes
Marriage-yes
Baby-yes

[Maura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kieran Sutherland has known betrayal from those close to him and has lived the past 8 years seeking nothing but vengeance. He accepts a mercenary job protecting the McLellan holding so he can have enough money to hire an army so he can take back his birthright. But things don't exactly go as planned and instead of money, Kieran finds himself wed to the McLellan seeress and granddaughter to the laird, Laurel. With her, Kieran will have access to a perfect staging point for his war as well as a secret shortcut which will allow him to sneak up on his enemy. He has spent years keeping people at a distance, but Laurel won't accept that. Instead, she keeps tearing down the walls he's built and causing him to lose his all-consuming focus for revenge and she begins to heal his heart.

This read like an average 90's historical for me. I rather liked Laurel, until she went a bit too doormat in her desire to heal Kieran. He pulls some pretty mean stuff, not malicious, but reactionary and she's a little too good at reminding herself that his healing process takes time and basically lets him get away with it. Kieran had good points - he was gruff and although he was a good person at heart, he was willing to go pretty dark in order to maintain his idea of a mercenary lifestyle. He tells himself that mercenary's don't feel emotions (and therefore no compassion) so although his conscience tells him it's wrong, he's able to do it anyway. It made him a more complex character for sure and his constant guilt at what he was doing to Laurel and the fact that he knew it was wrong was a pretty good little angst fest, but kind of made me question whether or not I actually liked him.

What I wasn't a huge fan of was the whole "rape" question. Now, the heroine isn't actually raped, but both she and Kieran (and the reader) believe that she was, because she was unconscious when it supposedly happened. She ends up pregnant and now the heroine is left to endure the torture of not knowing who the father of her child is for a further 9 months. The hero is very supportive but he's tortured by the fact that she's tortured. So there's this little dark problem hanging between them that neither of them is willing to confront. And the child is 2 months before they finally realize that he is in fact the hero's child and she wasn't actually raped at all. It just bugs me to think that they weren't completely happy and had this bothering them for 11 months! Sadly I do see how it was kind of necessary because it really gave the hero insight into his own "parents" actions in accepting him as their own. Nevertheless, I didn't care for it. But I did like the fact that the hero was a virgin!!!

[Linda C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kieran Sutherland has spent 8 years planning revenge against his uncle whom he believes killed his father and stole his heritage. He and his troop of mercenaries hire out to protect a Lord MacLelland’s valley from thieves. He discovers the valley is perfect for staging his vengeance and Laurel MacLelland the means to acquiring the valley. However, nothing is as it seems; secrets, misunderstandings, and treachery change his plans. There is an element of the paranormal, as Laurel is a seeress. Respectably done medieval romance.

[Priscilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Terceiro volume da série Lions.

Kieran descobriu a verdade sobre suas origens e como qualquer aborrescente, ao invés de se sentir acolhido e amado, decidiu que foi perversamente ludibriado por sua família e quer... vingança!

Eu ri horrores com a motivação do heroi, mas é uma história bem feita. A heroína é um tipo de bruxa medieval e há muito conflito entre sua instância com Kieran.

Recomendo.

[Marina P · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was tedious to read until the last page.

The hero was very immature and paranoid, as he thought everybody was plotting against him.

I felt bad for the heroine, a sweet young widow, who married the hero with high hopes. Both her husbands (the late one and the new one) were lacking between the sheets....

Disappointing

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5-3