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The Handfasting #2
Tangled
TANGLED -
Part 2 in a three part Serial - The Handfasting
Two passionate people, tangled in a skirmish of love.
Cornered into a Handfasting, a marriage for a year and a day, Maggie MacBede lands in the lap of danger and all because of the Bold. The infuriating man puts her body at risk then tempts her heart. She vows to lose neither for she’s found a way home.
Fighting for a future with Maggie, the Bold faces hidden enemies, one more elusive than the rest. Maggie’s twin, recently killed in battle, vies for her attention. Talorc fears he may just spirit her away.
Part 2 in a three part Serial - The Handfasting
Two passionate people, tangled in a skirmish of love.
Cornered into a Handfasting, a marriage for a year and a day, Maggie MacBede lands in the lap of danger and all because of the Bold. The infuriating man puts her body at risk then tempts her heart. She vows to lose neither for she’s found a way home.
Fighting for a future with Maggie, the Bold faces hidden enemies, one more elusive than the rest. Maggie’s twin, recently killed in battle, vies for her attention. Talorc fears he may just spirit her away.
130 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 18, 2013
10 people are currently reading
91 people want to read
About the author
Becca St. John
17 books48 followersAn Accidental Writer ~
Writing was a tool, not a toy, until a stay in an ancient (I swear it was haunted) hotel on a frightfully stormy night straight from a clichéd novel full of howling wind and creaking floors. The night drove me to a bookcase full of dog eared romances. Sleepless turned to fascination. Hooked I read old romances, new romances, both sexy and sweet until my own tales begged to be written.
Writing was a tool, not a toy, until a stay in an ancient (I swear it was haunted) hotel on a frightfully stormy night straight from a clichéd novel full of howling wind and creaking floors. The night drove me to a bookcase full of dog eared romances. Sleepless turned to fascination. Hooked I read old romances, new romances, both sexy and sweet until my own tales begged to be written.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 28, 2013
This Handfasting series by Becca St John is actually a book divided into three parts so reading them out of sequence won't do.
Bold part one
Tangled part two
Torn part three
The sexual tension is there but this is not a story that is buried under the weight of too many sex scenes. Far from it and I'm so glad the author did not take the consensual choice from Maggie turning this into a bodice ripper and into my Did Not Finish in Disgust pile.
Skim over the small number of errors (compared to others I've read) and this is a nice story.
Bold part one
Tangled part two
Torn part three
The sexual tension is there but this is not a story that is buried under the weight of too many sex scenes. Far from it and I'm so glad the author did not take the consensual choice from Maggie turning this into a bodice ripper and into my Did Not Finish in Disgust pile.
Skim over the small number of errors (compared to others I've read) and this is a nice story.
February 17, 2020
What is up with this heroine? What is up with this story mode? The whole story is this weird categorization of female and male roles in this old society. Everything is being identified and trying to be pushed into the category of the "man" or "woman" side of workings and thus settle their delicate sensibilities (yes men's too, cuz they get the most unsettled here when women try to do man's work) in these uncertain times. And yet no matter how much every character in this book reiterates that the main hero is a good man doing man's work and everyone especially the heroine should cut him some slack and that the heroine is this extraordinary paragon of female power and perseverance that every man, woman, and child admires there is definitely something smelly in the land of the lairds.
Everything was so... loud here. The emotions, the reactions and the heroine particularly. She is painted as this uber special girl that everyone recollects her doing some pretty brave things when they feel more reckless and lucky when it comes to the stuff that mostly happened to her and what she actively initiated... She keeps fighting and fighting against her new circumstances, and in a way one can understands.
The heroine's admirable qualities are being pointed out by the hero and everyone else and what does she do? She’s constantly throwing fits, screaming like a banshee at the slightest inconvenience, throwing herself at her brother's grave like a soap-opera heroine and blaming the hero for misunderstanding her INTENTIONALLY mixed signals. I mean if she was intending to reinforce the stigma that women are confusing crazy bitches job well done there TSTL. I felt so bad for the hero for being so deeply in love with that bag of crazy. To the point where I thought there should be a public apology offered on the side of our sex, cuz I would like to think were are not all that much bat shit crazy. But no. The apology should come from the author for writing such a malicious female character and letting her out into the wild to wreak havoc and reinforce all the bad sex stereotypes that the female movement has tried fortuitously to dispel for centuries.
I didn't believe some of the reviews when they said the heroine's constant rejection of the hero was so tedious, cuz sometimes the heroine saying 'no' can be taken as too much when the hero is being super sweet and romantic. But they were warning sighs offered by other readers all along. Up to a point I understood why the heroine was holding steadfast against being steamrolled into a role and marriage not of her choosing, no matter how deeply she wanted it on a animistic level, it should still be her consciences choice. It's just the way she went about rebelling against the choices she had to make that made her seem like a ridiculous brat. She zeroed in on all the wrong things in her resentment. It all pointed towards the guy that was simply following her heart and waaaaaay overreacted every time he even breathed in her direction. While her family and clan members who super peer-pressured her into this decision she could not see any fault in them. She could not wait to come back to them once she thoroughly fucked with the hero's sanity and heart (in turn fucking with the reader's sanity and patience).
She was issuing ridiculous demand after demand to the hero and when he showed even a slight sign of not understanding her far from clear demands she would go into a tail spin and put him on the villain fire-pit ready to lit the match at any second. She was so clueless to her surroundings all the time and no wonder she never could catch the attempts on her life till the very end. I mean if I had been a hired assassin I would have had no trouble taking out this clueless ridiculous woman. She would have been a goner in chapter two. And that ridiculous clan of hers, it would have been easy to convince them it was all for the better, what with how toxic she was in her grief for her twin brother and it would be an easy thing to convince them that she could have not handled this world without her brother and she is in a happier place with him now.
Now her grief for her brother was understandable and it was unfair how little patience everyone in her vicinity had for her grief process and just forced her to move past it. I supposed that is what also snapped her in full blown crazy mode when she had to cope with things she was not ready for, but that was handled so poorly by the author. Again she seemed like a petulant child throwing temper tantrums what with how hard she was in understanding and explaining how much of her sadness was still lingering and that she needs a bit more time to come to terms with that. And she just was rebelling and denying everything her clan tried to force her to do without putting any real push in explaining why she was not ready and convince them all that she needed this time to come to terms with everything. And cuz no one wanted to give her that time, but just thought that marriage to a complete stranger, being ripped from the only home she has known and convincing her that the child everyone is predicting was gonna be the golden babe reincarnation of her twin will solve all her emotional problems.
Whelp no wonder she went off one crazy bend when she could not quite visualizes all these obscure predictions that were never explained by neither her family, clan members or her husband. And we unfortunately as the reader had to read through her emotional breakdown and rationalize it to ourselves with the "It's ok, she has been through a lot. She needs to go through some trials to get her HEA ending. It will all be worth it in the end." And dear author when the reader has to justify to themselves why their reading and trying to sympathies with all these bat shit crazy characters it means the choices you have made for your characters and story have been very very very bad indeed. And thus another book ends in a bad review warring other readers to stay away from this hot bed mess of crazy and look for something that actually follows some sense.
Everything was so... loud here. The emotions, the reactions and the heroine particularly. She is painted as this uber special girl that everyone recollects her doing some pretty brave things when they feel more reckless and lucky when it comes to the stuff that mostly happened to her and what she actively initiated... She keeps fighting and fighting against her new circumstances, and in a way one can understands.
The heroine's admirable qualities are being pointed out by the hero and everyone else and what does she do? She’s constantly throwing fits, screaming like a banshee at the slightest inconvenience, throwing herself at her brother's grave like a soap-opera heroine and blaming the hero for misunderstanding her INTENTIONALLY mixed signals. I mean if she was intending to reinforce the stigma that women are confusing crazy bitches job well done there TSTL. I felt so bad for the hero for being so deeply in love with that bag of crazy. To the point where I thought there should be a public apology offered on the side of our sex, cuz I would like to think were are not all that much bat shit crazy. But no. The apology should come from the author for writing such a malicious female character and letting her out into the wild to wreak havoc and reinforce all the bad sex stereotypes that the female movement has tried fortuitously to dispel for centuries.
I didn't believe some of the reviews when they said the heroine's constant rejection of the hero was so tedious, cuz sometimes the heroine saying 'no' can be taken as too much when the hero is being super sweet and romantic. But they were warning sighs offered by other readers all along. Up to a point I understood why the heroine was holding steadfast against being steamrolled into a role and marriage not of her choosing, no matter how deeply she wanted it on a animistic level, it should still be her consciences choice. It's just the way she went about rebelling against the choices she had to make that made her seem like a ridiculous brat. She zeroed in on all the wrong things in her resentment. It all pointed towards the guy that was simply following her heart and waaaaaay overreacted every time he even breathed in her direction. While her family and clan members who super peer-pressured her into this decision she could not see any fault in them. She could not wait to come back to them once she thoroughly fucked with the hero's sanity and heart (in turn fucking with the reader's sanity and patience).
She was issuing ridiculous demand after demand to the hero and when he showed even a slight sign of not understanding her far from clear demands she would go into a tail spin and put him on the villain fire-pit ready to lit the match at any second. She was so clueless to her surroundings all the time and no wonder she never could catch the attempts on her life till the very end. I mean if I had been a hired assassin I would have had no trouble taking out this clueless ridiculous woman. She would have been a goner in chapter two. And that ridiculous clan of hers, it would have been easy to convince them it was all for the better, what with how toxic she was in her grief for her twin brother and it would be an easy thing to convince them that she could have not handled this world without her brother and she is in a happier place with him now.
Now her grief for her brother was understandable and it was unfair how little patience everyone in her vicinity had for her grief process and just forced her to move past it. I supposed that is what also snapped her in full blown crazy mode when she had to cope with things she was not ready for, but that was handled so poorly by the author. Again she seemed like a petulant child throwing temper tantrums what with how hard she was in understanding and explaining how much of her sadness was still lingering and that she needs a bit more time to come to terms with that. And she just was rebelling and denying everything her clan tried to force her to do without putting any real push in explaining why she was not ready and convince them all that she needed this time to come to terms with everything. And cuz no one wanted to give her that time, but just thought that marriage to a complete stranger, being ripped from the only home she has known and convincing her that the child everyone is predicting was gonna be the golden babe reincarnation of her twin will solve all her emotional problems.
Whelp no wonder she went off one crazy bend when she could not quite visualizes all these obscure predictions that were never explained by neither her family, clan members or her husband. And we unfortunately as the reader had to read through her emotional breakdown and rationalize it to ourselves with the "It's ok, she has been through a lot. She needs to go through some trials to get her HEA ending. It will all be worth it in the end." And dear author when the reader has to justify to themselves why their reading and trying to sympathies with all these bat shit crazy characters it means the choices you have made for your characters and story have been very very very bad indeed. And thus another book ends in a bad review warring other readers to stay away from this hot bed mess of crazy and look for something that actually follows some sense.
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January 10, 2017Bold, Tangled and Torn have been compiled as The Handfasting, Book 1 of the Handfasting series. The individual books are no longer available.
March 15, 2018
Should have read the first book, first. I was mildly confused and the book probably wasn’t as good because I didn’t know what was going on...
January 29, 2020
I listened to this in a boxed set, here is the review for the whole story.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
February 22, 2015
This was such a challenging read for me. The author did a good job at showing what a woman went through with her h Maggie MacBede. She was 19 years old when her brothers return, all except her twin come back alive and the man she holds responsible for his death ends up coming to the keep with the intent of marrying her. I loved Talorc the Bold. Maggie is tricked into handfasting with the bold and that is when my trouble started.
Maggie is described by Talorc as brave and courageous. He makes it clear to her clan and his the admiration and respect he has for her. I mean my god the man was incredible with his silken tongue and all Maggie could do was flare her quills in preparation to attack. I have read other books where woman dealt with this in a more dignified manner but Maggie made no secret to Talorc the hatred she had for him. While I can respect the author for attempting her own approach to her story I just could not like Maggie.
It got worse when you meet her mother. A mother has to protect her young and yet this mother did not. Fiona asks Maggie if she knows what goes on between a man and a woman which Maggie did. The handfasting is to last a year and a day and her mother tells her as long as you don't give your heart you can return to the keep. Now I am limited in my knowledge of handfasting but Maggie is convinced she can give herself to Talorc and still return.
Maggie was so idiotic at this point because she tells her mother he makes her feel peculiar and when given the chance she is giving into passionate kisses and caresses without any attempt to stop him. She even tells him she will take any pleasure the handfasting has to offer. Which then lead me to believe the girl must not have had any clue how a child came to pass because why would hse risk having a child if she had no intentions of staying. This made me roll my eyes at her mother. How could a mother send her daughter with a strange man and not prepare her for what lies ahead?
Talorc continues throughout the book to gain her trust and prove their feelings to no prevail, but I never really felt the connection because of Maggie's stubbornness. I really hated her and found her spoiled. Along side this is a conspiracy to kill Maggie (me included, LOL). You get to enjoy some Pagan rituals and how fast her companions meant to add comfort to Maggie turn on her when she suffers a head trauma. But I have to say the ending got exciting and I did enjoy that but I'm not sure if some of that excitement came from knowing the book was almost over. I couldn't have dreamt of a better H, his loyality and devotion was everything you could want but the h carried on with her stubbornness almost to the end.
What they suffered at the end and all the blood was sad and it did give me pause for her but overall she just wasn't my type of heroin. I would have gave it one star but the ending and the Bold made me give an extra star!
Maggie is described by Talorc as brave and courageous. He makes it clear to her clan and his the admiration and respect he has for her. I mean my god the man was incredible with his silken tongue and all Maggie could do was flare her quills in preparation to attack. I have read other books where woman dealt with this in a more dignified manner but Maggie made no secret to Talorc the hatred she had for him. While I can respect the author for attempting her own approach to her story I just could not like Maggie.
It got worse when you meet her mother. A mother has to protect her young and yet this mother did not. Fiona asks Maggie if she knows what goes on between a man and a woman which Maggie did. The handfasting is to last a year and a day and her mother tells her as long as you don't give your heart you can return to the keep. Now I am limited in my knowledge of handfasting but Maggie is convinced she can give herself to Talorc and still return.
Maggie was so idiotic at this point because she tells her mother he makes her feel peculiar and when given the chance she is giving into passionate kisses and caresses without any attempt to stop him. She even tells him she will take any pleasure the handfasting has to offer. Which then lead me to believe the girl must not have had any clue how a child came to pass because why would hse risk having a child if she had no intentions of staying. This made me roll my eyes at her mother. How could a mother send her daughter with a strange man and not prepare her for what lies ahead?
Talorc continues throughout the book to gain her trust and prove their feelings to no prevail, but I never really felt the connection because of Maggie's stubbornness. I really hated her and found her spoiled. Along side this is a conspiracy to kill Maggie (me included, LOL). You get to enjoy some Pagan rituals and how fast her companions meant to add comfort to Maggie turn on her when she suffers a head trauma. But I have to say the ending got exciting and I did enjoy that but I'm not sure if some of that excitement came from knowing the book was almost over. I couldn't have dreamt of a better H, his loyality and devotion was everything you could want but the h carried on with her stubbornness almost to the end.
What they suffered at the end and all the blood was sad and it did give me pause for her but overall she just wasn't my type of heroin. I would have gave it one star but the ending and the Bold made me give an extra star!
February 20, 2015
Cliffhanger Alert!
OMG! Becca St. John's The Handfasting is an amazing trilogy!! I don't read serial novels; actually I avoid them like the plague, but this one spoke to me, so I couldn't resist. It's a highland romance, which I absolutely adore, and all three books were available. I absolutely refuse to read an unfinished book with a sequel that has not as yet been published. By the time the second book is released I'd have moved one. Anyhow, I got all three books in the trilogy and I put them aside--and to my shame, I forgot about them...until recently. Once I started reading book one, I could not put it down, because I wanted to know, NEEDED to know, what happened next. As soon as I finished one book, I moved on to the next, until all three were read--in a single day! I was literally up until 1:30 this morning finishing the last book.
In this second installment the story picks up exactly where book one ended. Bold arrives at the McKay with the injured Maggie and the healer is summoned to tend to her injuries. Bold is terrified of losing Maggie and refuses to leave her side. In this book we begin to see the true depth of Bold's feelings for Maggie. Once Maggie recovers, Bold launches his campaign to make her his wife in truth--he wants to consummate the marriage. LOL The attacks against the Clan continue and more than once Bold is forced to leave Maggie behind and go to war. In the meantime, Maggie tries to find her place among the McKay's. As Bold works his magic, Maggie's feelings for him develop and blossom into love, but she is determined to return to her home, if only for a visit, before she gives herself to Bold and become his wife in truth. Plans, however, don't always go exactly as we plan. LOL Once again, this book ends with a cliffhanger, and once again, it's a doozy!
As you continue the story, throughout all three books, the romance between the Maggie and Bold is the focus of the story with the conspiracy/murder plot adding plenty of intrigue and action to the plot. Overall, it made for a very romantic, very exciting read. FYI, this is not a clean story. There are a couple of love scenes; spread out throughout the trilogy. However, IMO those scenes are not overly graphic, nor is there any crude language used. Anyhow, if you decide to read this book, make sure you have the second and third ones available to go, because you're gonna want to know what happens next! FYI, the entire trilogy is now available in one book; The Handfasting. Happy reading!
April 24, 2013
I eagerly awaited part two of The Handfasting, I was so not disappointed. The story continues with Maggie finally arriving at The McKay home somewhat injured after the attack on the journey. Bold, determined not to loose Maggie, as she goes in and out of consciousness, frightened of the pull her dead twin has on her, he watches over and cares for her, and melts my heart in the process. Maggie and Bold have a fight on their hands, all be it slightly different ones. After spending more time together, Maggie surrenders to his charms, but is still determined not to stay with him, she misses her family terribly and devises a plan to return home.
In the meantime the rogues are causing havock setting rival clans against each other, breaching The McKay Keep and manages to endanger Maggie's life twice. Bold does what any warrior does, he goes to fight, and leaves Maggie. Keeping herself busy, determined not to worry over him, she sets to organising the McKay' s. Finally, after sending a desperate letter to her mother her brothers arrive to take her home, and luckily Bold is not around to stop them.
Arriving home, Maggie is more confused, she misses the friends she has made at The McKay's not to mention the feelings she has for The Bold, being back with her own Clan isn't quite as she expected, knowing she has made a complete mess of things, what is she going to do to put things right ? I can't wait to find out.
Such and intriguing story, I am loving all the twists and turns which kept me reading, couldn't put this down.
In the meantime the rogues are causing havock setting rival clans against each other, breaching The McKay Keep and manages to endanger Maggie's life twice. Bold does what any warrior does, he goes to fight, and leaves Maggie. Keeping herself busy, determined not to worry over him, she sets to organising the McKay' s. Finally, after sending a desperate letter to her mother her brothers arrive to take her home, and luckily Bold is not around to stop them.
Arriving home, Maggie is more confused, she misses the friends she has made at The McKay's not to mention the feelings she has for The Bold, being back with her own Clan isn't quite as she expected, knowing she has made a complete mess of things, what is she going to do to put things right ? I can't wait to find out.
Such and intriguing story, I am loving all the twists and turns which kept me reading, couldn't put this down.
April 21, 2013
Loved this book, can't wait for the next one.
June 6, 2013
This is a slower book than the first book that allows you to watch Maggie grow from the girl who left her overprotective family to become a wife and mistress of the Bold and his people.
July 29, 2013
good story...nice continuance from book 1. Wish all three had been offered as one book...
August 11, 2013
This was a pleasant book to read. As soon as I finished it I had to get the next one!
October 6, 2013
Tangled has less bodice-ripping and more action than Bold.
The best part of both of these books is the learning the rituals of their time and place: 13th Century Scottish Highlands.
The best part of both of these books is the learning the rituals of their time and place: 13th Century Scottish Highlands.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews