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Wild Rebel
The life of a weaver and a healer is often lonely for Maggie MacDonald until the arrival of two men. Major Samuel Sinclair’s loyalty lies with the Continental Army and Major Nathaniel Fordham spies for the British. Both men will capture her heart. But on the eve of the most pivotal battles for America’s freedom, war pits both men against each other with Maggie caught in the crossfire. Her journey will take her through North Carolina and Virginia, first as a prisoner and then in a daring escape.
Both men love her.
But she can choose only one.
Award-winning author Laura Browning brings you along on a steamy journey to find true love in Wild Rebel, the first of her Freedom Fighters Trilogy.
Both men love her.
But she can choose only one.
Award-winning author Laura Browning brings you along on a steamy journey to find true love in Wild Rebel, the first of her Freedom Fighters Trilogy.
380 pages, ebook
First published August 16, 2024
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2 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 16, 2024
Good Basic Story and Characters, But Some Oopsies
I read a lot of historical romance, but rarely do I see the American Revolutionary War chosen as the time period. I've often wondered why, as any war will set up so many possible internal and external character conflicts and harrowing circumstances as the hero and heroine are affected by the tide of history. So I was pleased this week to actually read two historical romances set in the late colonial era and the early days of the United States. This book’s time is the latter, as the War draws closer and closer to Cornwallis’ defeat at Yorktown.
I liked the main character in this book. The heroine is scrappy and resilient, one who looks like she's still a child but is really a grown woman of 20 living on her own in the Virginia wilderness. Her father abandoned her when she was just 16 when he was still mired in grief over his wife’s death (whom the heroine looked too much like). He simply left her alone and headed west. Since then, she has built a remarkable but simple life for herself, one that takes hard work to keep food on her table and enough money in her pocket to provide supplies she needs. Luckily, her mother had trained her as a weaver since she was a young child, and she is able to barter the cloth she makes for other goods.
This book is actually a love triangle, not my favorite romantic trope. For a long time, authors stayed away from it, but I've noticed the resurgence in love triangle romances in the last year or so. The problem with a love triangle is that one member has to lose in a standard romance. Couples are couples, not threesomes! (Except in reverse harem, WhyChoose books!) It wasn't clear from the beginning who the heroine would end up with. We think at first it will be a wounded British soldier who ends up on her property very nearly at death’s door. Aside from being a weaver and a homesteader, she's also a competent and compassionate healer who cannot abide leaving someone to suffer, and perhaps even perish, if she can in any way help. In the beginning, she was neither strongly for the Colonials nor the British, which was actually true of most people during the Revolutionary War. I remember reading in my college US history text that the numbers were something like 25% wanted to remain with England, 25% wanted a new country of their own, and 50% didn’t care one way or the other and would be content with whoever prevailed.
We first meet the other potential hero before we meet the British soldier, but he is only at first a traveler needing a little sustenance before he moves on to meet up with his regiment. But we see him several times later, and he soon becomes the focal potential hero for the bulk of the book. Whether he remains that, I'll let you read the book to find out!
Though I liked the characters, this book had some issues. Let me start with the most superficial one. The couple depicted on the cover does not reflect the actual couple. That drives me a little crazy as it is so common and so wrong! At no point in the book did either of them dress that fancy (though the men occasionally dressed more formally when they were with their superior officers). And they were rarely that clean in this book, often going for days or weeks without changing clothes or bathing. The heroine rarely wore beautiful, clean dresses like that, only for a few weeks at one point when she was a guest of Cornwallis—and she was very uncomfortable dressed like that. The author also made a point to say that the heroine wore no covering on her head, which would have been unusual at the time. However, the author made a point to state that she always wore her hair in braids and never wore a cap or hat. It would have been nice if the cover reflected that.
The story had a few inconsistencies and dropped threads. A dropped one had to do with the blind workhorse the heroine had. When she was captured at one point by the Continentals, believing her to be a spy, the horse she was on was captured with her. The horse later becomes an important plot point as the heroine refuses to do something in her best interest so she can protect the horse. While it's a minor point, I wish the author had just given us a line or two to explain the final disposition of this animal.
One major inconsistency was that in one part of the book, the author stated that a family helping the heroine when she was alone on her homestead was paid for by one of the potential heroes’ families. Yet when she and the potential heroes meet his family, the patriarch of the family acts as if he never heard of her or knew his son was married.
One thing that the potential American hero did came across as so stupid, and I hate it when either heroes or heroines (potential or real!) act stupidly! Early on, when the potential American Hero captures the heroine, intending to take her to his superior officer because he believes she may be a spy, he notices how one of his men treats her poorly. Right in front of the potential hero, he shows his true colors and lascivious leanings; the potential hero sets him in his place, thankfully. The heroine expresses her fear of this man's leering and lewd ways. Yet, the very next day, the potential American hero has the bad guy take the heroine, on his own, to a place a bit further in the camp away from most people. This was after the potential hero promised to protect her from harm while she was under his protection as his prisoner. And, of course, something does happen with this horrible excuse of a man—not once, but twice! The author makes a big deal throughout the book about the heroine being attracted to the American hero because he never broke a promise to her. I see it a little differently; he certainly did break his promise about keeping her safe in the camp when she was still a prisoner of his, within hours of him saying he would do so. While he didn't break other promises, that was a pretty big one early in the story.
While the author, in general, did a decent job connecting history to the story, especially toward the end as the siege of Yorktown looms, some things were not handled quite right—and the only reason was just to underscore a plot point or a non-issue. For one thing, it bothered me greatly that the heroine assumed the potential British hero was a spy because he has a British accent! Not everybody in war-torn colonial America who sounded British was a part of or in any way attached to the British military! The colonies were a hotbed for immigrants from all over Europe; many accents would have been heard in all colonies. Someone with a British accent should not be assumed to be a spy or soldier—or even a loyalist! A few years ago, there was a great series all about the Culper spy ring. In that series, most would-be-Americans and patriots had watered-down British accents. That may not have been accurate to those spies, but it made me realize that such would have been typical back then as children and grandchildren of immigrants often grew up in small, tight-knit immigrant communities where the non-immigrant generations only or mostly heard the accents of their parents or grandparents native soil. But, seriously, don't just assume someone's a British spy just because they have a British accent!
At a later point in the book, the potential British hero was told by his superior that if he stayed in America after the war, he would be considered a traitor. Again, that wasn’t a thing back in the day! An officer could resign/sell his commission for various reasons, as a commission was bought by a wealthy family for sons who were not the direct heir. Where he went after his military service was lawfully completed wouldn't have mattered to anyone in the military or government. I imagine many British officers and troops elected to stay in America because of what it offered to men who would have little if they returned to the UK. A former military second (or later) son may not want to go into the proscribed professions for gentry non-heir sons, like lawyer or clergy (usually starting a curate after schooling).
Neither of these inaccuracies was needed for the story and could have easily been left out, so they didn't strain the credulity of people who know at least a little something about history.
Despite these issues, I did enjoy the story and its characters. I'll admit I did prefer the hero the heroine chose, as he was never one to just walk out on her. The hero who didn't win the girl in this book has his chance for another in the author's next book. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how that one works out.
TRIGGER: attempted rape
I read a lot of historical romance, but rarely do I see the American Revolutionary War chosen as the time period. I've often wondered why, as any war will set up so many possible internal and external character conflicts and harrowing circumstances as the hero and heroine are affected by the tide of history. So I was pleased this week to actually read two historical romances set in the late colonial era and the early days of the United States. This book’s time is the latter, as the War draws closer and closer to Cornwallis’ defeat at Yorktown.
I liked the main character in this book. The heroine is scrappy and resilient, one who looks like she's still a child but is really a grown woman of 20 living on her own in the Virginia wilderness. Her father abandoned her when she was just 16 when he was still mired in grief over his wife’s death (whom the heroine looked too much like). He simply left her alone and headed west. Since then, she has built a remarkable but simple life for herself, one that takes hard work to keep food on her table and enough money in her pocket to provide supplies she needs. Luckily, her mother had trained her as a weaver since she was a young child, and she is able to barter the cloth she makes for other goods.
This book is actually a love triangle, not my favorite romantic trope. For a long time, authors stayed away from it, but I've noticed the resurgence in love triangle romances in the last year or so. The problem with a love triangle is that one member has to lose in a standard romance. Couples are couples, not threesomes! (Except in reverse harem, WhyChoose books!) It wasn't clear from the beginning who the heroine would end up with. We think at first it will be a wounded British soldier who ends up on her property very nearly at death’s door. Aside from being a weaver and a homesteader, she's also a competent and compassionate healer who cannot abide leaving someone to suffer, and perhaps even perish, if she can in any way help. In the beginning, she was neither strongly for the Colonials nor the British, which was actually true of most people during the Revolutionary War. I remember reading in my college US history text that the numbers were something like 25% wanted to remain with England, 25% wanted a new country of their own, and 50% didn’t care one way or the other and would be content with whoever prevailed.
We first meet the other potential hero before we meet the British soldier, but he is only at first a traveler needing a little sustenance before he moves on to meet up with his regiment. But we see him several times later, and he soon becomes the focal potential hero for the bulk of the book. Whether he remains that, I'll let you read the book to find out!
Though I liked the characters, this book had some issues. Let me start with the most superficial one. The couple depicted on the cover does not reflect the actual couple. That drives me a little crazy as it is so common and so wrong! At no point in the book did either of them dress that fancy (though the men occasionally dressed more formally when they were with their superior officers). And they were rarely that clean in this book, often going for days or weeks without changing clothes or bathing. The heroine rarely wore beautiful, clean dresses like that, only for a few weeks at one point when she was a guest of Cornwallis—and she was very uncomfortable dressed like that. The author also made a point to say that the heroine wore no covering on her head, which would have been unusual at the time. However, the author made a point to state that she always wore her hair in braids and never wore a cap or hat. It would have been nice if the cover reflected that.
The story had a few inconsistencies and dropped threads. A dropped one had to do with the blind workhorse the heroine had. When she was captured at one point by the Continentals, believing her to be a spy, the horse she was on was captured with her. The horse later becomes an important plot point as the heroine refuses to do something in her best interest so she can protect the horse. While it's a minor point, I wish the author had just given us a line or two to explain the final disposition of this animal.
One major inconsistency was that in one part of the book, the author stated that a family helping the heroine when she was alone on her homestead was paid for by one of the potential heroes’ families. Yet when she and the potential heroes meet his family, the patriarch of the family acts as if he never heard of her or knew his son was married.
One thing that the potential American hero did came across as so stupid, and I hate it when either heroes or heroines (potential or real!) act stupidly! Early on, when the potential American Hero captures the heroine, intending to take her to his superior officer because he believes she may be a spy, he notices how one of his men treats her poorly. Right in front of the potential hero, he shows his true colors and lascivious leanings; the potential hero sets him in his place, thankfully. The heroine expresses her fear of this man's leering and lewd ways. Yet, the very next day, the potential American hero has the bad guy take the heroine, on his own, to a place a bit further in the camp away from most people. This was after the potential hero promised to protect her from harm while she was under his protection as his prisoner. And, of course, something does happen with this horrible excuse of a man—not once, but twice! The author makes a big deal throughout the book about the heroine being attracted to the American hero because he never broke a promise to her. I see it a little differently; he certainly did break his promise about keeping her safe in the camp when she was still a prisoner of his, within hours of him saying he would do so. While he didn't break other promises, that was a pretty big one early in the story.
While the author, in general, did a decent job connecting history to the story, especially toward the end as the siege of Yorktown looms, some things were not handled quite right—and the only reason was just to underscore a plot point or a non-issue. For one thing, it bothered me greatly that the heroine assumed the potential British hero was a spy because he has a British accent! Not everybody in war-torn colonial America who sounded British was a part of or in any way attached to the British military! The colonies were a hotbed for immigrants from all over Europe; many accents would have been heard in all colonies. Someone with a British accent should not be assumed to be a spy or soldier—or even a loyalist! A few years ago, there was a great series all about the Culper spy ring. In that series, most would-be-Americans and patriots had watered-down British accents. That may not have been accurate to those spies, but it made me realize that such would have been typical back then as children and grandchildren of immigrants often grew up in small, tight-knit immigrant communities where the non-immigrant generations only or mostly heard the accents of their parents or grandparents native soil. But, seriously, don't just assume someone's a British spy just because they have a British accent!
At a later point in the book, the potential British hero was told by his superior that if he stayed in America after the war, he would be considered a traitor. Again, that wasn’t a thing back in the day! An officer could resign/sell his commission for various reasons, as a commission was bought by a wealthy family for sons who were not the direct heir. Where he went after his military service was lawfully completed wouldn't have mattered to anyone in the military or government. I imagine many British officers and troops elected to stay in America because of what it offered to men who would have little if they returned to the UK. A former military second (or later) son may not want to go into the proscribed professions for gentry non-heir sons, like lawyer or clergy (usually starting a curate after schooling).
Neither of these inaccuracies was needed for the story and could have easily been left out, so they didn't strain the credulity of people who know at least a little something about history.
Despite these issues, I did enjoy the story and its characters. I'll admit I did prefer the hero the heroine chose, as he was never one to just walk out on her. The hero who didn't win the girl in this book has his chance for another in the author's next book. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how that one works out.
TRIGGER: attempted rape
August 9, 2024
5 stars for Laura Browning’s new historical romance Wild Rebel. Ms. Browning weaves a tale set during the American Revolutionary War, Maggie MacDonald knows the love of two men, British Major Nathaniel Fordham and Colonial Major Samuel Sinclair. Maggie, a renown weaver and healer rescues Nathaniel under adverse circumstances and unknowingly and unwillingly becomes involved in the conflict between the two great powers. I’m not normally a reader of historicals but this one drew me in. I’ve lived near the Guilford Battlefield in North Carolina for years but didn’t really know the history until I read this book. And the best part – it’s the beginning of a series!
August 12, 2024
Great start to a new series! The author brings an historical romance set in the Revolutionary War with Maggie torn between two men fighting on opposite sides. She does a fantastic job bringing their story to life with her detailed and descriptive writing. She moves the story fluidly and delivers a terrific read. I'm looking forward to the next book.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own and are freely given.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own and are freely given.
August 22, 2024
I really enjoyed the historical romance novel, it uses everything that I wanted from the description. The characters felt like they were meant to be in this setting. It was a realistic romance going on and wanted to read more. It was a great start to the Freedom's Fighters series.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews