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TORN
Two powerful people, whose enemies would fight to divide.
An enemy lurks deep in the belly of the clan sabotaging their Laird. By winning his bride’s love, Talorc may just lose her life.
Two powerful people, whose enemies would fight to divide.
An enemy lurks deep in the belly of the clan sabotaging their Laird. By winning his bride’s love, Talorc may just lose her life.
147 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 20, 2013
About the author
Becca St. John
17 books49 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 - 14 of 14 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
Unless there's a fourth part in the making, Torn ended far too abruptly leaving some threads unfinished. I'd liked to have seen more of Talorc's consideration for Maggie because I still wasn't convinced he'd really changed. I would have liked to 'see' more about the dream son and his effect on his parents and their clans the McBedes and the MacKays from his conception to his birth. The horror of Sennaid's tragedy would surely have overtaken the story from our strong willed h & h but it is a horror that could have lead into her own story without the big reveal here. Would she, could she ever get her happy ending? We'll likely never know.
Enjoyed Bold, Tangled and Torn but splitting them into three parts did the flow no favours. I'd recommend reading them back to back.
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.
May 29, 2013
I really couldn't get into this story. The character of Maggie was so bad, so totally unsympathetic and unlovable. Such a termagant! Seriously, who could fall in love with that! Shouldn't a heroine have some redeeming social qualities? This segment was short but not sweet--filled with screeching, self-pity, jumped conclusions, over-reactions, and histrionics galore, over practically nothing! Really, how can we buy the idea that the Bold would have gone after that thing, through a blizzard no less, when the whole clan could have been celebrating that the wicked witch was gone? Sadly, the author passed up so many opportunities to kill this abomination...pity.
May 26, 2013
Third and final part....Impulsive Maggie, she does get herself into some awkward situations, but Bold is there to set things straight. However the attempts on Maggies life, are to much, he has failed to protect her. He thinks he is undeserving of her, and plans to set her free. Thank goodness Maggie fully recovered is back to her feisty self....now she clearly knows what she wants and no one is about to stop her from having it.
Some heart stopping moments, betrayal and secrets revealed....but love conquers all.
Some heart stopping moments, betrayal and secrets revealed....but love conquers all.
June 6, 2013
This was a great ending to the romance between Maggie and Talorc.
Shame about the fight with the renegades but other than that loved it.
Please read these books as this an excellent trilogy.
Shame about the fight with the renegades but other than that loved it.
Please read these books as this an excellent trilogy.
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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.
February 19, 2015
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 this book.
This last installment is just as amazing as the first two, and provides an oh so satisfying conclusion to an absolutely wonderful story. FYI, books one and two are; Bold and Tangled, in that order. If this book sounds like something you'd be interested in reading, then you will need to start with the first book, because it is an ongoing story. The book is very well written and the story--OMG, the story!!--is, again, fantastic! My only complaint about the book (all three actually) is that it truly could use some fine tune editing. There are quite a number of editing issues; nothing that took away from my enjoyment of the story, but enough that I noticed them, and they distracted me at times.
The story up to this point has been riveting. In the previous two books, we meet all the characters and Bold, using trickery, gets Maggie to handfast with him. The two were en route to Bold's lands at the end of book one, when they were attacked and Maggie was injured. Bold gets Maggie to his keep and the healer is immediately summoned to tend to her injuries. Bold is terrified that he will lose her and refuses to leave her side. This is where you begin to see the true depth of Bold's feelings for Maggie. As the story continues it becomes clear that there is a personal vendetta against Bold, and a conspiracy to see the McKay clan destroyed, as well as its allies. Maggie is in the way of the villains plot, thus a murder plot against her life is hatched. Bold must keep Maggie safe, while continuing his campaign to get her to willingly give herself to him, so that he can make their marriage a permanent one...her mother made him promise not to force Maggie. At the end of book two the reader is left to wonder what the future holds for Maggie and Bold.
In this final installment picks up where book two ended. Maggie has returned home, but nothing as she expected. Everything seems changed; or maybe she is the one that has changed. She misses Bold, and even among her own family she feels alone. Furthermore, the letter she so impetuously sent to her mother in book two, has unexpected repercussions. Bold shows up to claim his woman and a few truths are revealed after which the couple return to the McKay holding--boy those highlanders can travel in the winter as if it's nothing! LOL The evil-doers are even more intent on bringing their nefarious plot to fruition and more attempts are made against Maggie's life. Before long, however, all is resolved and finally Maggie and Bold get their much deserved HEA.
Throughout all three books, the romance between the two 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; although IMO, they are not overly graphic, nor is there any crude language used. My only complaint, aside from the mild editing issue, is that when the villain is uncovered, there was talk about banishment. I had to wonder if they hadn't learned their lesson about banishment--he doesn't work! Anyhow, I'm happy to report that someone took matters into their own hands and killed the bastard. Thus all ended as it should with everyone getting exactly what they deserved. Happy reading!
This last installment is just as amazing as the first two, and provides an oh so satisfying conclusion to an absolutely wonderful story. FYI, books one and two are; Bold and Tangled, in that order. If this book sounds like something you'd be interested in reading, then you will need to start with the first book, because it is an ongoing story. The book is very well written and the story--OMG, the story!!--is, again, fantastic! My only complaint about the book (all three actually) is that it truly could use some fine tune editing. There are quite a number of editing issues; nothing that took away from my enjoyment of the story, but enough that I noticed them, and they distracted me at times.
The story up to this point has been riveting. In the previous two books, we meet all the characters and Bold, using trickery, gets Maggie to handfast with him. The two were en route to Bold's lands at the end of book one, when they were attacked and Maggie was injured. Bold gets Maggie to his keep and the healer is immediately summoned to tend to her injuries. Bold is terrified that he will lose her and refuses to leave her side. This is where you begin to see the true depth of Bold's feelings for Maggie. As the story continues it becomes clear that there is a personal vendetta against Bold, and a conspiracy to see the McKay clan destroyed, as well as its allies. Maggie is in the way of the villains plot, thus a murder plot against her life is hatched. Bold must keep Maggie safe, while continuing his campaign to get her to willingly give herself to him, so that he can make their marriage a permanent one...her mother made him promise not to force Maggie. At the end of book two the reader is left to wonder what the future holds for Maggie and Bold.
In this final installment picks up where book two ended. Maggie has returned home, but nothing as she expected. Everything seems changed; or maybe she is the one that has changed. She misses Bold, and even among her own family she feels alone. Furthermore, the letter she so impetuously sent to her mother in book two, has unexpected repercussions. Bold shows up to claim his woman and a few truths are revealed after which the couple return to the McKay holding--boy those highlanders can travel in the winter as if it's nothing! LOL The evil-doers are even more intent on bringing their nefarious plot to fruition and more attempts are made against Maggie's life. Before long, however, all is resolved and finally Maggie and Bold get their much deserved HEA.
Throughout all three books, the romance between the two 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; although IMO, they are not overly graphic, nor is there any crude language used. My only complaint, aside from the mild editing issue, is that when the villain is uncovered, there was talk about banishment. I had to wonder if they hadn't learned their lesson about banishment--he doesn't work! Anyhow, I'm happy to report that someone took matters into their own hands and killed the bastard. Thus all ended as it should with everyone getting exactly what they deserved. Happy reading!
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!
October 25, 2013
Torn ~ The Handfasting, # 3 is the third part of a trilogy. Bold brings Maggie home to handfast with her and then as his bride. Within his clan a traitor operates, he searches frantically for a man only to have Maggie discover that the traitor is a woman. It was a great story with dialect of the times, custom of the times and family clans that were a part of the medieval world. It is a great period romance with a touch of mystery and danger.
October 6, 2013
The last book of the Handfasting trilogy.
The best was saved for the last: more action, more adventure, more suspense, and more fun romance.
I did not see all this coming at once - good times.
The best was saved for the last: more action, more adventure, more suspense, and more fun romance.
I did not see all this coming at once - good times.
June 6, 2013
the first two parts of the book set up the grand finale perfectly. I expected an epic ending but it fell flat. i wish there was more to it.
June 7, 2013
Is a great book to read
July 24, 2013
nice finish...all three should have been one novel...but nonetheless, I enjoyed the story!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews