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Murray Family #8
Highland Groom
Sir Diarmot MacEnroy, deciding his illegitimate children need a mother and his keep needs a proper lady, now stands before the altar with a gentle bride he hopes is too shy to disrupt his life or break his heart. The nuptials, however, are interrupted by the appearance of a flame-haired beauty carrying two babies, boldly claiming that she is his wife and mother of his twin infant sons. Armed with her seven very large brothers, she has come to demand her due.
Having waited one year for the return of the handsome laird who wed her, bedded her, then disappeared, Ilsa Campbell MacEnroy takes matters into her own hands and sets out to reclaim the man she briefly and passionately loved. Stunned by his denial, her heart softens when she learns of the injury that has ravaged his memory. Now, she faces the nearly impossible task of conquering his past--and his fierce reluctance to share his heart. . .
388 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 2003
343 people are currently reading
1478 people want to read
About the author
Hannah Howell
116 books2,643 followersHannah Dustin Howell is a best-selling American author of over 40 historical romance novels. Many of her novels are set in medieval Scotland. She also writes under the names Sarah Dustin, Sandra Dustin, and Anna Jennet (see below).
She has also used the following pseudonyms:
Anna Jennet, Sarah Dustin and Sandra Dustin
She has also used the following pseudonyms:
Anna Jennet, Sarah Dustin and Sandra Dustin
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 137 reviews
April 15, 2017
Highland Groom is the first story I have read written by Hannah Howell and My Last. The whole story is Nonsensical. I couldn't find any reason to like the Hero Sir Diarmot MacEnroy or the Heroine Ilsa Campbell. The whole story is just stupid with very immature writing.
Diarmot has been beaten nearly to death and has lost all of his memory but this is not clear because he recognizes his brothers and his clan and children. Boy does he have a lot of children. He had a nursery full of Illegitimate children that he was even sure was his natural children. Why What purpose does this have in the storyline. Diarmot doesn't remember being hand fasted a year ago with Ilsa Campbell. Ilsa shows up at Diarmot's wedding with her hoard of brothers and cousins and her and Diamot's twin infant sons. Diarmot doesn't believe the babies are his but marries Isla instead of his bride he is at the alter with. This begins the distrust and degrading of Isla through out the story. I just don't get the point of the story. Except to find out who tried to kill Diamot and why but because he is such a A Hole who cares!! I will return this kindle copy and get my money back. Sorry I can't Recommend Highland Groom!!
Diarmot has been beaten nearly to death and has lost all of his memory but this is not clear because he recognizes his brothers and his clan and children. Boy does he have a lot of children. He had a nursery full of Illegitimate children that he was even sure was his natural children. Why What purpose does this have in the storyline. Diarmot doesn't remember being hand fasted a year ago with Ilsa Campbell. Ilsa shows up at Diarmot's wedding with her hoard of brothers and cousins and her and Diamot's twin infant sons. Diarmot doesn't believe the babies are his but marries Isla instead of his bride he is at the alter with. This begins the distrust and degrading of Isla through out the story. I just don't get the point of the story. Except to find out who tried to kill Diamot and why but because he is such a A Hole who cares!! I will return this kindle copy and get my money back. Sorry I can't Recommend Highland Groom!!
September 26, 2023
Diarmot is not trusting of people after being left for dead, and loosing his memory.
IIsa turns up on his wedding day, with their twin sons. Telling him he is already Handfasted to her.
Enjoyable and humorous story with a lot happening . 4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
IIsa turns up on his wedding day, with their twin sons. Telling him he is already Handfasted to her.
Enjoyable and humorous story with a lot happening . 4.5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
January 3, 2024
Diarmot and Isla. I gotta agree with everyone else, it got SOOOOOO old how long it took Diarmot to overcome his mistrust of Isla.
Isla was handfasted to Diarmot when he had to leave, promising to return soon. He never does. She gives birth to his twins and leaves to seek out her errant husband having lost all faith in his love for her. Sadly that faith will not be returned any time soon. Sure he suffered head trauma and lost his memory of her..
I didn't dislike it as much as some reviewers, but I can't say it was a satisfying romantic read either. Super, overwhelmingly frustrating to be honest, because ! I skimmed a fair bit after I got sick of his mistrust .
I understand that being chattel entails a different way of life for women back then, but it was pretty annoying how she bends to his will when he talks about her to all an sundry like she's a conniving leach. Not my fave hero (prob closer to the bottom of the list really... dumbass!).
Isla was handfasted to Diarmot when he had to leave, promising to return soon. He never does. She gives birth to his twins and leaves to seek out her errant husband having lost all faith in his love for her. Sadly that faith will not be returned any time soon. Sure he suffered head trauma and lost his memory of her..
I didn't dislike it as much as some reviewers, but I can't say it was a satisfying romantic read either. Super, overwhelmingly frustrating to be honest, because ! I skimmed a fair bit after I got sick of his mistrust .
I understand that being chattel entails a different way of life for women back then, but it was pretty annoying how she bends to his will when he talks about her to all an sundry like she's a conniving leach. Not my fave hero (prob closer to the bottom of the list really... dumbass!).
September 11, 2019
3 3/4 "Suspicious" Stars!
The mistrust went on for a wee bit long, but I liked both main characters and ALL the children. I enjoyed it a lot! I'll have to read more of this series and this author. Happy reading!
The mistrust went on for a wee bit long, but I liked both main characters and ALL the children. I enjoyed it a lot! I'll have to read more of this series and this author. Happy reading!
February 20, 2022
I’ve been listening to several of these on Scribd to entertain myself while doing grunt work. Highland Groom is the 8th book in the Murray series and follows Sir Dairmot MacEnroy and Ilsa Cameron. H.H. has her own style, and her books almost have a soapy feel. They’re easy reads with relationship drama but no deep feels. This series has a formula (for the most part) the males are usually clueless or stubborn and hesitant to get too close to the h. The h’s are typically outspoken, fiesty, and push back. There’s almost always some OW drama or kids (bastards) in the mix. Basically, if you’re a serious historical romance fan... you might find these lacking.
We met Dairmot in his brother Connor’s book Highland Bride, and that book ending with him inheriting his evil uncle’s lands. This book opens with Ilsa crashing Darmot’s wedding with their twins in tow. The two had been handfasted a year earlier but D never returned. We learn very quickly that he was nearly beaten to death soon after leaving and has no memory of Ilsa. We’re also know he’s marrying Margaret because she’s sweet and quiet and he needs someone to care for his 6 or so illegitimate children... and that he was married to some evil whore that slept with most of his clan (women & men) and that she died a couple years earlier trying to abort someone else’s kid. (I know this is historical but so much unprotected sex 🤢) I found this part a smidge confusing because there’s only one book in-between (Payton’s) and I don’t remember all this going on…but whatever.
The rest of the book is Dairmot not trusting Ilsa because he can’t be sure if she didn’t have her brothers try to kill him. Ilsa for her part doesn’t take his shit, but easily shares her lady love bits with him. There’s also a mystery going on with them trying to figure out who’s trying to kill them which lost some steam because for some reason the author tells us who the baddies are halfway through.
Bottom Line- I liked it, but I listened to it which makes it easier for me to overlook things. Ilsa reminded me a lot of Elspeth and Gillyanne with her brood of male brothers and cousins and her challenging attitude. The kids were sweet, but I felt like 6 bastards was overkill. I think it was supposed to show us that they were “good” people by accepting all these kids (D wasn’t sure they’re his) but it was a lot. D was a jerk for a good chunk, and I enjoyed seeing Ilsa drop him on his ass, but I would’ve preferred more groveling. I would recommend if you like the series (it sort of reads like a Scottish soap opera). Safety- No cheating and I believe he was celibate during the year separation. (almost positive) He had no feelings for Margaret, and the children’s mothers aren’t in the picture or mentioned.
We met Dairmot in his brother Connor’s book Highland Bride, and that book ending with him inheriting his evil uncle’s lands. This book opens with Ilsa crashing Darmot’s wedding with their twins in tow. The two had been handfasted a year earlier but D never returned. We learn very quickly that he was nearly beaten to death soon after leaving and has no memory of Ilsa. We’re also know he’s marrying Margaret because she’s sweet and quiet and he needs someone to care for his 6 or so illegitimate children... and that he was married to some evil whore that slept with most of his clan (women & men) and that she died a couple years earlier trying to abort someone else’s kid. (I know this is historical but so much unprotected sex 🤢) I found this part a smidge confusing because there’s only one book in-between (Payton’s) and I don’t remember all this going on…but whatever.
The rest of the book is Dairmot not trusting Ilsa because he can’t be sure if she didn’t have her brothers try to kill him. Ilsa for her part doesn’t take his shit, but easily shares her lady love bits with him. There’s also a mystery going on with them trying to figure out who’s trying to kill them which lost some steam because for some reason the author tells us who the baddies are halfway through.
Bottom Line- I liked it, but I listened to it which makes it easier for me to overlook things. Ilsa reminded me a lot of Elspeth and Gillyanne with her brood of male brothers and cousins and her challenging attitude. The kids were sweet, but I felt like 6 bastards was overkill. I think it was supposed to show us that they were “good” people by accepting all these kids (D wasn’t sure they’re his) but it was a lot. D was a jerk for a good chunk, and I enjoyed seeing Ilsa drop him on his ass, but I would’ve preferred more groveling. I would recommend if you like the series (it sort of reads like a Scottish soap opera). Safety- No cheating and I believe he was celibate during the year separation. (almost positive) He had no feelings for Margaret, and the children’s mothers aren’t in the picture or mentioned.
August 18, 2025
Дърмот Макенрой и Илса Камерън
"Шотландски младоженец" в Читанка
Илса Камерън среща мъжа на живота си, онзи, който да обича с цялото си сърце и с който да създаде семейство. Дърмот Макенрой. Скоро, под зоркият поглед на 14те й братя, Илса и Дърмот, подписват брачен договор. Дърмот обаче се бои, че някой опитва да го убие, затова убеждава Илса да остане при братята си, докато се справи с опасността, която го дебне. Сега, година след заминаването му, Илса е принудена от братята си да отидат и да открият Дърмот, който все още не се е завърнал и който освен с брачен договор, я е оставил й бременна. Илса му е родила две прекрасни момчета и сега братята й настояват да открият Дърмот и да го принудят да се венчае за нея. Притисната от тях Илса се съгласява и заминават за Клакхтром, дома на Дърмот, само за да открият, че той е на път да се ожени за друга жена...
Дърмот Макенрой, брат на Конър Макенрой от
, се е примирил със съдбата си. Веднъж страдал в брак с ужасна, капризна жена, която му е слагала рога с всеки мъж, който мине през дома му, сега той иска някоя безлична мишка, която да му топли леглото и да бъде майка на 6те му деца. 1 законна дъщеря и 5 незаконни деца. Преди година, след жесток побой от неизвестен нападател, Дърмот едва не умира и макар след тежки месеци възстановяване, най-после да е на крака, той не помни няколко месеца от живота си. Отивайки към олтара и към жената, за която смята да се ожени и да игнорира до края на дните им, той е измъчван от подсъзнателно оредупреждение, което му казва, че не бива да се жени. Дърмот обаче решава да пренебрегне това предупреждение. И така до мига в който в църквата не нахълтва дребна, червенокоса жена с бебе на ръце и цяла орда грамадни червенокоси мъже, които твърдят, че той е подписал брачен договор със сестра им и двете й бебета са неговите законни наследници.
Дърмот не желае да повярва, че това е истина, нито че е възможно да е забравил жената, за която е смятал да се венчае, но подписа му на документа е повече от достатъчен, и вместо за сивата мишка, той се жени за червенокосият елф, от чийто очи изскачат гневни искри, само като го погледне.
В началото на Илса и роднините й им е трудно да повярват, че Дърмот наистина си е изгубил паметта, но вече съпруг и съпруга, тя е готова да се бори за брака си, особено след като научава, че от това зависи не само бъдещето на двамата й невръсни сина, но и на още шест деца, растящи без майка, които искат единствено да бъдат обичани. Израснала в огромно семейство с 14 братя и над 20 братовчеди, за Илса няма нищо по-лесно от това да обича децата и да се грижи за тях, нищо, че не са нейни. Сега й остава само да накара упоритият й съпруг да осъзнае, че нито тя нито семейството й имат нещо общо с нападението над него, и да разкрият, кой е истинският им враг.
Книгата е наистина, наистина прекрасна. Макар Дърмот да е магаре на мост и постоянно да си намира нескопосани оправдания, за да обвини Илса и братята й за бедите си, историята е истински интересна и забавна. Срещата ни с клана Камерън, и с лудостта съпътстваща тази орда побъркани, нагли и забавни алфа мъжкари е наистина невероятна. Те са толкова забавни, абсурдни и едновременно ти се иска да се смееш с глас и да поклащаш недоумяващо глава, докато им слушаш кривата логика.
Заради резервите на Дърмот и страха на Илса да не бъде наранена, в тази книга романтиката малко липсваше, за разлика от други книги от поредицата и все пак историята не страдаше от това. Търсенето на убиеца и самоличността му бяха доста интересни и като цяло се насладих истински на книгата. <3 Тъй че, 5 *****
Сюжетни линии:
🏰 уреден брак
⚡ от врагове до любовници
👩🔧 силна героиня
🎭 герой с амнезия
🌄 интриги и семейни сблъсъци
😂 хумор
⚠️ Trigger Warnings:
⚔️ насилие и сблъсъци
👶 деца и близнаци
🧠 амнезия
😤 психологическо напрежение
😔 емоционни рани
📹 Виж TikTok видеото тук:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNduy2X4o/
"Шотландски младоженец" в Читанка
Илса Камерън среща мъжа на живота си, онзи, който да обича с цялото си сърце и с който да създаде семейство. Дърмот Макенрой. Скоро, под зоркият поглед на 14те й братя, Илса и Дърмот, подписват брачен договор. Дърмот обаче се бои, че някой опитва да го убие, затова убеждава Илса да остане при братята си, докато се справи с опасността, която го дебне. Сега, година след заминаването му, Илса е принудена от братята си да отидат и да открият Дърмот, който все още не се е завърнал и който освен с брачен договор, я е оставил й бременна. Илса му е родила две прекрасни момчета и сега братята й настояват да открият Дърмот и да го принудят да се венчае за нея. Притисната от тях Илса се съгласява и заминават за Клакхтром, дома на Дърмот, само за да открият, че той е на път да се ожени за друга жена...
Дърмот Макенрой, брат на Конър Макенрой от
, се е примирил със съдбата си. Веднъж страдал в брак с ужасна, капризна жена, която му е слагала рога с всеки мъж, който мине през дома му, сега той иска някоя безлична мишка, която да му топли леглото и да бъде майка на 6те му деца. 1 законна дъщеря и 5 незаконни деца. Преди година, след жесток побой от неизвестен нападател, Дърмот едва не умира и макар след тежки месеци възстановяване, най-после да е на крака, той не помни няколко месеца от живота си. Отивайки към олтара и към жената, за която смята да се ожени и да игнорира до края на дните им, той е измъчван от подсъзнателно оредупреждение, което му казва, че не бива да се жени. Дърмот обаче решава да пренебрегне това предупреждение. И така до мига в който в църквата не нахълтва дребна, червенокоса жена с бебе на ръце и цяла орда грамадни червенокоси мъже, които твърдят, че той е подписал брачен договор със сестра им и двете й бебета са неговите законни наследници.Дърмот не желае да повярва, че това е истина, нито че е възможно да е забравил жената, за която е смятал да се венчае, но подписа му на документа е повече от достатъчен, и вместо за сивата мишка, той се жени за червенокосият елф, от чийто очи изскачат гневни искри, само като го погледне.
В началото на Илса и роднините й им е трудно да повярват, че Дърмот наистина си е изгубил паметта, но вече съпруг и съпруга, тя е готова да се бори за брака си, особено след като научава, че от това зависи не само бъдещето на двамата й невръсни сина, но и на още шест деца, растящи без майка, които искат единствено да бъдат обичани. Израснала в огромно семейство с 14 братя и над 20 братовчеди, за Илса няма нищо по-лесно от това да обича децата и да се грижи за тях, нищо, че не са нейни. Сега й остава само да накара упоритият й съпруг да осъзнае, че нито тя нито семейството й имат нещо общо с нападението над него, и да разкрият, кой е истинският им враг.
Книгата е наистина, наистина прекрасна. Макар Дърмот да е магаре на мост и постоянно да си намира нескопосани оправдания, за да обвини Илса и братята й за бедите си, историята е истински интересна и забавна. Срещата ни с клана Камерън, и с лудостта съпътстваща тази орда побъркани, нагли и забавни алфа мъжкари е наистина невероятна. Те са толкова забавни, абсурдни и едновременно ти се иска да се смееш с глас и да поклащаш недоумяващо глава, докато им слушаш кривата логика.
Заради резервите на Дърмот и страха на Илса да не бъде наранена, в тази книга романтиката малко липсваше, за разлика от други книги от поредицата и все пак историята не страдаше от това. Търсенето на убиеца и самоличността му бяха доста интересни и като цяло се насладих истински на книгата. <3 Тъй че, 5 *****
Сюжетни линии:
🏰 уреден брак
⚡ от врагове до любовници
👩🔧 силна героиня
🎭 герой с амнезия
🌄 интриги и семейни сблъсъци
😂 хумор
⚠️ Trigger Warnings:
⚔️ насилие и сблъсъци
👶 деца и близнаци
🧠 амнезия
😤 психологическо напрежение
😔 емоционни рани
📹 Виж TikTok видеото тук:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNduy2X4o/
June 1, 2011
“Just as the priest asked if anyone knew why Diarmot and Margaret could not marry there was a disturbance at the doors of the church and a clear, angry woman’s voice said, ‘I think I might have a reason or two.’
Shocked, Diarmot looked behind him and his eyes widened. Marching towards him was a tiny woman with brilliant copper hair. Behind her strode eight large, scowling, red-haired men. She held a bundle in her arms and a small, dark-haired girl walked beside her carrying another.”
I’m mostly over Howell’s incredibly repetitious books -- ooo, she’s tiny, never saw that coming! -- but how could I resist that? This plot about the man discovering he has a wife and twins he'd completely forgotten has intrigued me since I first heard about it and I was thrilled when I found it at the library.
It turned out to be a pretty good read. My main complaint was that it was overly long; in particular, the hero is stubbornly distrustful of the heroine, and callous towards her, for too long. (Just for starters, he takes her to the nursery containing his six other children she hadn’t known about and tells her “Just toss yours in with the rest.”) At one point, Ilsa thinks, “Her attempts to win her husband’s respect and affection were beginning to feel like like self-determination and more like self-flagellation. At what point did she cross that fine line between patience and humiliation?” Well before the end of the book, if you ask me... and Diarmot doesn’t suffer nearly enough, despite getting nearly beaten to death twice. I prefer mental anguish. Ilsa gives so much and suffers so much and he isn't nearly as affected by it as I'd like.
I wasn’t crazy about the obvious, unsubtle mystery plot either, though thought that Howell redeemed it by the end by making the villains have some interesting, albeit cliched, back story.
If you haven’t read much Howell before, you might like this more than I did, because she can seem quite refreshing and original until you discover that all her books are original in exactly the same way. Worth a read if you like stories about heroines who take over the castle and fix everything up, and it's got some laughs, too.
Shocked, Diarmot looked behind him and his eyes widened. Marching towards him was a tiny woman with brilliant copper hair. Behind her strode eight large, scowling, red-haired men. She held a bundle in her arms and a small, dark-haired girl walked beside her carrying another.”
I’m mostly over Howell’s incredibly repetitious books -- ooo, she’s tiny, never saw that coming! -- but how could I resist that? This plot about the man discovering he has a wife and twins he'd completely forgotten has intrigued me since I first heard about it and I was thrilled when I found it at the library.
It turned out to be a pretty good read. My main complaint was that it was overly long; in particular, the hero is stubbornly distrustful of the heroine, and callous towards her, for too long. (Just for starters, he takes her to the nursery containing his six other children she hadn’t known about and tells her “Just toss yours in with the rest.”) At one point, Ilsa thinks, “Her attempts to win her husband’s respect and affection were beginning to feel like like self-determination and more like self-flagellation. At what point did she cross that fine line between patience and humiliation?” Well before the end of the book, if you ask me... and Diarmot doesn’t suffer nearly enough, despite getting nearly beaten to death twice. I prefer mental anguish. Ilsa gives so much and suffers so much and he isn't nearly as affected by it as I'd like.
I wasn’t crazy about the obvious, unsubtle mystery plot either, though thought that Howell redeemed it by the end by making the villains have some interesting, albeit cliched, back story.
If you haven’t read much Howell before, you might like this more than I did, because she can seem quite refreshing and original until you discover that all her books are original in exactly the same way. Worth a read if you like stories about heroines who take over the castle and fix everything up, and it's got some laughs, too.
November 27, 2011
2.5 stars
As anyone can tell from my TBR list, I have this thing for Scottish Lairds. And I couldn't resist this book. It was my first Hannah Howell book and I enjoyed it. I have to be honest though, I think Ilsa should have knocked the snot out of Dairmot long before he started to woo her. In fact, I don't think he should have ever gotten to the wooing stage in their marriage. He didn't suffer/repent near long enough for the pain he caused her. Yes, he had been attacked and lost his memory, but when the memories started coming back, he still kept Ilsa at arms length and treated her as a liar and someone he should be wary of. He's lucky this is a romance novel and she took him back. Had this been real life, he'd have never gotten in her door after she left to "think things over", much less have her come back home with him.
As anyone can tell from my TBR list, I have this thing for Scottish Lairds. And I couldn't resist this book. It was my first Hannah Howell book and I enjoyed it. I have to be honest though, I think Ilsa should have knocked the snot out of Dairmot long before he started to woo her. In fact, I don't think he should have ever gotten to the wooing stage in their marriage. He didn't suffer/repent near long enough for the pain he caused her. Yes, he had been attacked and lost his memory, but when the memories started coming back, he still kept Ilsa at arms length and treated her as a liar and someone he should be wary of. He's lucky this is a romance novel and she took him back. Had this been real life, he'd have never gotten in her door after she left to "think things over", much less have her come back home with him.
July 8, 2023
O lectura ușoară, plăcută, relaxanta, cu o poveste tipica cărților cu fuste, pe care am savurat-o cu placere.
Personajele sunt puțin nerealiste dar nu atat de băgat în seama, ținând cont ca este o ficțiune.
El- scoțian, bogat, frumos. Ea- o roșcată focoasa miniona și cu personalitate. Când se întâlnesc, ies scântei. Sau dragostea plutește în aer... tot aia. ;))
Ii dau 4 stele. Am citit o la plaja, în sunetul valurilor și mangaiata de soare, asa ca orice nu mi ar fi plăcut la carte, am uitat.
Personajele sunt puțin nerealiste dar nu atat de băgat în seama, ținând cont ca este o ficțiune.
El- scoțian, bogat, frumos. Ea- o roșcată focoasa miniona și cu personalitate. Când se întâlnesc, ies scântei. Sau dragostea plutește în aer... tot aia. ;))
Ii dau 4 stele. Am citit o la plaja, în sunetul valurilor și mangaiata de soare, asa ca orice nu mi ar fi plăcut la carte, am uitat.
December 31, 2018
2.75 stars.
I didn't like this pairing. I had high hopes for the McEnroy brothers but Diarmot just fell flat. I understand I was supposed to sympathize with him losing his memories but he just acted so poorly and inconsistently throughout the book. Ilsa wasn't that much better. We're supposed to like her for taking his illegitimate children under her wings but at times I also found her actions TSTL.
All in all, this was a bit of a miss for me.
I didn't like this pairing. I had high hopes for the McEnroy brothers but Diarmot just fell flat. I understand I was supposed to sympathize with him losing his memories but he just acted so poorly and inconsistently throughout the book. Ilsa wasn't that much better. We're supposed to like her for taking his illegitimate children under her wings but at times I also found her actions TSTL.
All in all, this was a bit of a miss for me.
December 27, 2016
Howell follows a formula for her novels; tiny heroine with a big personality falls for giant hero who is mistrustful because of a past girlfriend/mistress/wife who screwed him over. She decides to fight for his love by being herself and he falls for her in spite of himself.
This one deviates in that the heroine has 14 large brothers and the hero has 6 bastard children.
Dairmot was a complete ass, which isn't new for Howell either. I didn't mind so much, though, because I read her books for the heroines. Ilsa was pretty awesome. She took a lot of crap from Dairmot, but she had her limits. She had a redheaded temper, which made for some fun reading (especially when she punched him and knocked him on his butt).
The mystery plot isn't anything too exciting. The kids were adorable, though, as were Ilsa's brothers and cousins.
While much of the story is predictable, I was still entertained. There are some truly hilarious scenes.
This one deviates in that the heroine has 14 large brothers and the hero has 6 bastard children.
Dairmot was a complete ass, which isn't new for Howell either. I didn't mind so much, though, because I read her books for the heroines. Ilsa was pretty awesome. She took a lot of crap from Dairmot, but she had her limits. She had a redheaded temper, which made for some fun reading (especially when she punched him and knocked him on his butt).
The mystery plot isn't anything too exciting. The kids were adorable, though, as were Ilsa's brothers and cousins.
While much of the story is predictable, I was still entertained. There are some truly hilarious scenes.
April 19, 2021
Whilst this was readable I didn't love it, merely thought it was okayish.
I had issues with the writing - yes, the author faithfully stuck to historical Scottish dialogue - but OMG, how many times did these people say the words 'ken' (know) and 'mon' (man) - it got to the point where it felt like they said nothing else.
the plot - um, kind of stupid. That's a lot of truly insane women running around. And I didn't like the suggestion that women could only be one of two things - a whore or a good woman. The same went for any woman raped, she seemed to only have the option to go insane or just needed some time to get over the 'nasty' experience and find a good 'mon'.
the characters - Ilsa was a contradiction and not in a good way. she was feisty and didn't let her brothers walk all over her but she buckled down for Diarmot again and again... and again. Never really able to stand up and prove herself because - her reasonings - he was her husband and had all the rights. And his ten thousand kids? she accepted them way too readily, I didn't want her to blame the kids for his whoring ways, I wanted her to blame him (and that fact that he lied/withheld the truth) a little hissy fit on her behalf was no where near enough.
And Diarmot, what a stubborn idiot, he didn't come across at all well, to the point where I began to think he didn't deserve Ilsa. Never a good thing in a romance novel.
Yes, there was heaps of potential here, but when I wasn't being offended by the authors depiction of female characters (all the men, despite their whorish ways are handsome, funny and sane) I was peeved by all the missed opportunities that were supplied to give Ilsa power and make Diarmot suffer and fall in love with her. Instead these two seemed to barely interact for the middle section of the book.
I had issues with the writing - yes, the author faithfully stuck to historical Scottish dialogue - but OMG, how many times did these people say the words 'ken' (know) and 'mon' (man) - it got to the point where it felt like they said nothing else.
the plot - um, kind of stupid. That's a lot of truly insane women running around. And I didn't like the suggestion that women could only be one of two things - a whore or a good woman. The same went for any woman raped, she seemed to only have the option to go insane or just needed some time to get over the 'nasty' experience and find a good 'mon'.
the characters - Ilsa was a contradiction and not in a good way. she was feisty and didn't let her brothers walk all over her but she buckled down for Diarmot again and again... and again. Never really able to stand up and prove herself because - her reasonings - he was her husband and had all the rights. And his ten thousand kids? she accepted them way too readily, I didn't want her to blame the kids for his whoring ways, I wanted her to blame him (and that fact that he lied/withheld the truth) a little hissy fit on her behalf was no where near enough.
And Diarmot, what a stubborn idiot, he didn't come across at all well, to the point where I began to think he didn't deserve Ilsa. Never a good thing in a romance novel.
Yes, there was heaps of potential here, but when I wasn't being offended by the authors depiction of female characters (all the men, despite their whorish ways are handsome, funny and sane) I was peeved by all the missed opportunities that were supplied to give Ilsa power and make Diarmot suffer and fall in love with her. Instead these two seemed to barely interact for the middle section of the book.
March 9, 2025
3.5⭐️
March 17, 2025
This couple is an abomination, and I mean that disrespectfully.
First of all, Ilsa is a Mary-Sue in every meaning of the word. The very first sentence of this book is about the FMC, Ilsa, having 14 brothers. When I say a character is 'omg, I'm not like other girls, I grew up a tomboy bc I have 541 brothers", it's usually an exaggeration. This chick literally has 14 brothers. What was the purpose of that other than to give her some unearned badge of honor as some sort of 'tough girl' without having to show it in any way. I think the urge to create a devoted clan of protective brothers and male family members for so many of her characters is Hannah Howell's way of giving a FMC the benefits of a reverse-harem of devoted men who fawn over her, but lets her keep her FMC 'sexually pure' womehow. By the way, Ilsa's decision to 'move out of the keep'?.... Yeah, that wasn't happening. In the 1470's, an unmarried woman of noble birth is living with the rest of her family, period. She's not living ANYWHERE without a male family member or her husband in the house with her. Her moving out is equivalent to her becoming a 'fallen woman' in the eyes of society, as her virtue is now in question, but again, Ilsa 'moving out' is another shortcut the author takes to show us how 'strong-willed' she is. Really playing into the 'feisty red-head' stereotype, aren't we. This 'tough-girl' vibe she tries to instill in Ilsa is constantly at odds with her physical descriptions, which are again, copy and pasted from the past 7 books. She's described as 'almost too slender', with small breasts, no curves, and almost child-like, but somehow she can punch like a man. Yeah right.
Diarmot is a whole other story. This is Connor MacEnroy's little brother from book 6, Highland Bride. Ah yes, remember Connor, the guy who sweats, screams, cries, and throws up rather than say 'I love you' to his wife? Yeah, he spends Chapter 1 talking to Diarmot about feelings and love. LOL. We're supposed to feel bad for him for having a 'whore' for a wife, which apparently forced him to get drunk and impregnate multiple women outside of his marriage, and he ended up with six bastard children because of it. Like fuck you, dude. Annabelle did not leave you with a 'house full of children', you did that, and by the way, it wasn't common for men to take in bastards they had with maids and prostitutes, poor women would've been shit out of luck getting pregnant by the local lord. There is no way he would've claimed parentage. I also really resent the fact that we're given one million reasons to hate Annabelle to give excuses for why Diarmot fathered so many random kids and was a deadbeat father to Ilsa's twins -- and just to make sure we really know that Annabelle is pure evil, Hannah Howell throws in there that Annabelle wasn't just sleeping around, she had threesomes and slept with women too! The horror! This drove Diarmot to drink and impregnate 6 different women and abandon them, but it's Annabelle's fault still, for forcing him to ejaculate in random women. Ahh, early 2000s social politics... You won't be missed.
The premise of this book is that he married Ilsa, then got the shit beat out of him and 'forgot' about being married, then left her pregnant and alone for a year and tried to get married to this other woman, Margaret. Ahh, Hannah Howell. She's so allergic to writing romantic marriages and proposals in her romance books, or even more daring, couples who actually love each other and have more between them than sex.
I'm serious, I cannot stress enough how much Hannah hates giving her heroines a romantic wedding. It's like she thinks they don't deserve it or something. That angry cold wedding was terrible. This is seriously the 3rd or 4th time we have a wedding scene where coercion was involved or the heroine was literally drugged before the ceremony. It's literally disgusting. This book has a shotgun wedding scene where her brothers force Diarmot to marry her against his will and everyone is upset and angry. There is no love, there is no romance, nothing.
Then after that, Diarmot shows Ilsa to the nursery full of his bastard kids and just goes 'Toss yours in with the rest." Are we serious???? This Deadbeat baby-daddy is what we're supposed to be fantasizing about in our romance book? These books are supposed to be an ESCAPE from real life, why give us such awful men in these books!
Also, haha! Marital rape! The first night they're married by force and Diarmot is pissed, he decides, well, I'll still fuck her, and when Ilsa is like, uh no, I'm pissed at you, Diarmot goes, "Since when does what a woman thinks or feels about a man prevent her from giving him his husbandly rights." And when he says this, Ilsa just goes, "wow, that's a sad fact that I can't argue with." WHAT? YEP, THAT'S SAD THAT HE HAS THE RIGHT TO RAPE ME WHENEVER HE WANTS, OH WELL? WHAT?
Ilsa decides to make the best of this rape marriage by giving into it and starting Operation Pussy-trap. She thinks she can soften him up and make him trust her by sleeping with him a ton, which, fuck this. I reject the idea that horniness can make a person overcome the fundamental disgust one has towards another person. I don't care how hot he is, the amount of contempt Diarmot has for her ought to dry her out like the Sahara. Also, fuck him, he immediately cums inside of her again, despite thinking that she set him up and lied about the paternity of the kids just to force a marriage, he's okay with impregnating her even though he thinks she's some random malicious woman.
That's another thing. These books are almost certainly written by a catholic, because they're full of both purity culture tidbits and random sprinklings of pro-life nonsense and traditional gender roles. They have to make the villains not only cheaters, but she dies of a botched abortion, and the heroine immediately takes on the six bastard children of her cheating deadbeat husband and is so happy to become a mother figure to them because she's virtuous and angelic. Did you get that? Hannah Howell comes up with an 'evil woman' in her mind, has her sleep around, have threesomes and lesbian sex, and then she punishes her by having her die in a botched abortion. And then she goes out of her way to let the reader know that Annabelle went to hell, because she refused her last rites. Like, talk about infusing your weird political and religious beliefs into your book. By the way, first trimester abortions were extremely common in the 1400s, there were remedies all over the place for that, and the church only condemned abortion after the womb had 'quickened', i.e., a fetus had formed, i.e., you're far enough along that it's not an embryo anymore, you're months in. But whatever.
A big portion of this book is Diarmot being suspicious about who kicked his ass last year and tried to kill him, and then using that as an excuse to be distrustful of 'women', meaning Ilsa. First they're suspicious of one of Annabelle's past lovers, Wallace, etc, and they think it might've been someone who had a claim to Diarmot's keep, but all of those are dead-ends. This investigation takes them all over the place and leads them to figure out that Jordy is a betrayer, which made me sad, because I remember Jordy from book 6.
One of the funniest flubs in this book is this scene where Annabelle takes the kids to a cave to get pebbles for the garden and gets walled in when there's a rock avalanche. If the doorway is completely blocked, they should be in pitch darkness, but she's described 'seeing that the rocks are too big to move.' How did she see anything, exactly. That made me laugh.
Anyway, this book is a never-ending string of betrayals and humiliations against Ilsa, I think the whole purpose of it is about humbling her, to be honest, because it's so insulting. At one point she resolves that she's done trying to prove herself to Diarmot and that it's time for him to prove himself to her now, and the first thing that happens after this is for her to overhear him talking to Nanty about how Ilsa 'has her uses', and even though he doesn't trust her, she still has her uses, i.e., he'll keep using her as a cocksleeve and an incubator even though he thinks she's a lying murderer. Ilsa has to swallow this disrespect, and tells herself, well, 'If I'm cold to him because he said that, he won't trust me, so I'll just have to tolerate the disrespect.' FUN FACT! Tolerating disrespect with dignity and silence won't make him respect you, it will just show him that you're willing to accept this treatment, i.e., that you think you deserve disrespect! This is a chapter after she saves his life when he's beaten up again, by the way. She concludes this little interlude by thinking, 'Well, I'll have to keep proving myself to him by showing him that his meanness doesn't bother me.' Fucking terrible.
After he gets beating #2, we're told that some of his memories come back, but he still doesn't fully trust her for some unexplained reason, probably because Hannah wants to justify him continuing to psychologically abuse Ilsa.
That's not to mention the physical abuse, and I mean-- Diarmot makes not one, but multiple mentions of having sex with her while she's unconscious. "I'll just carry on if you fall asleep." "I'll just take her shift off later and continue-" He also has sex with Ilsa right after she stops bleeding from a miscarriage, because "it's been six days since we last made love." NO ONE FORCED YOU TO WRITE THAT SHIT DOWN, HANNAH!
I have to say, it was a little too obvious that Margaret was behine the whole thing. Too much was set up at the beginning of the book with her for her to just not be mentioned at all after that point for it to not be her. It was crazy that no one suspected her either. 'No one else has any reason to kill me or Ilsa!' Uh, yeah they do! She was going to be the one to marry you before all of this happened! Why didn't you assume that her and her family wanted access to your stuff and are now angry that opportunity was stolen from them!
Anyway, the climax of the book is Ilsa reading Annabelle's old journals and finding out that Annabelle and Margaret were lovers, and I have to say.... why, Hannah. Why did you write two books in a row where the murdering rapist villains turn out to be gay? Are you serious? What was the purpose of that. These are the only gay characters in her entire series this far, by the way, so I think we all know the reason she did this. It's not for representation, that's for sure. I guess it's to show us that they're EXTRA evil.
Also, I have questions. So, Ilsa is poisoned by the wine, her brothers accuse Diarmot, and Gaye is the one to knock one of them out to stop them? And says, "sometimes you have to knock sense into a man?" WHAT! For this entire book, Gaye's sole character trait is that she's distrustful of men because she was violently raped in the past. It makes no sense for her to stop Ilsa's brothers from punishing Diarmot. Since they got here, she's seen nothing from Diarmot except his abuse towards her mistress, and she has every reason to think that if someone poisoned her, it was Diarmot. She has no reason to trust Diarmot, and has every reason to side with the brothers and family she's been with this entire time. What the fuck!
The romance in this book was terrible, but the adventure aspect of it was entertaining. I liked all the ransom activities near the end, all the dramatic, 'We'll kill the kids if anyone follows you' stuff.
So Jordy betrayed the keep to help Margaret steal the kids, and Ilsa stupidly hurries off without any backup, because "I'm not going to be easy to kill", after an entire book describing her as 'child-like' 'slender', 'almost too willowy,', because apparently growing up with 14 brothers is enough to make her SuperWoman.
SHE LITERALLY SAYS, "I grew up surrounded by brothers and male cousins, I am nae some sweet gentle maid, I may be small and slender but I'm dAngErous-" SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP! She's described as delicate, yet strong. Those are, if I might point out, DIRECTLY CONTRADICTORY. Delicate literally means 'easily broken!' You can't be delicate AND strong! Hannah, I'm sorry, but you have to pick one! Mary Sue lookin ass!
Then the stupid ass typical Howell ending where the FMC leaves and runs back home because she's 'afraid to be loved', and Diarmot is pissed because he thought he could get away with never apologizing for the emotional abuse he put her through. I hated the ending, even to the last page, Howell reinforces how little she thinks her FMCs deserve.
Diarmot doesn't have the right to be upset at Ilsa for leaving. She gave him all the understanding in the world, he abandoned her pregnant with twins, then spent the entire book accusing her and treating her like shit and using her as a bedwench for months. Now he wants to pretend everything is fine because he got his memories back? She didn't forget about the months of abuse! He does ZERO self reflection either, he just feels victimized and angry that she left him, and just tells himself that he'll 'Let her talk about whatever she THINKS is important' and then he'll take her to bed, i.e., he'll fuck her into submission until she stops complaining. One, sex is not an apology, two, how the fuck is this a romance book, this is an abusive marriage. We deserve better fantasy men!
Book 9 isn't going to be any better, because it's about Fiona, yet another 'I grew up with 4500 brothers' NLOG ass bitch. These tropes are so tired, I'm so serious.
First of all, Ilsa is a Mary-Sue in every meaning of the word. The very first sentence of this book is about the FMC, Ilsa, having 14 brothers. When I say a character is 'omg, I'm not like other girls, I grew up a tomboy bc I have 541 brothers", it's usually an exaggeration. This chick literally has 14 brothers. What was the purpose of that other than to give her some unearned badge of honor as some sort of 'tough girl' without having to show it in any way. I think the urge to create a devoted clan of protective brothers and male family members for so many of her characters is Hannah Howell's way of giving a FMC the benefits of a reverse-harem of devoted men who fawn over her, but lets her keep her FMC 'sexually pure' womehow. By the way, Ilsa's decision to 'move out of the keep'?.... Yeah, that wasn't happening. In the 1470's, an unmarried woman of noble birth is living with the rest of her family, period. She's not living ANYWHERE without a male family member or her husband in the house with her. Her moving out is equivalent to her becoming a 'fallen woman' in the eyes of society, as her virtue is now in question, but again, Ilsa 'moving out' is another shortcut the author takes to show us how 'strong-willed' she is. Really playing into the 'feisty red-head' stereotype, aren't we. This 'tough-girl' vibe she tries to instill in Ilsa is constantly at odds with her physical descriptions, which are again, copy and pasted from the past 7 books. She's described as 'almost too slender', with small breasts, no curves, and almost child-like, but somehow she can punch like a man. Yeah right.
Diarmot is a whole other story. This is Connor MacEnroy's little brother from book 6, Highland Bride. Ah yes, remember Connor, the guy who sweats, screams, cries, and throws up rather than say 'I love you' to his wife? Yeah, he spends Chapter 1 talking to Diarmot about feelings and love. LOL. We're supposed to feel bad for him for having a 'whore' for a wife, which apparently forced him to get drunk and impregnate multiple women outside of his marriage, and he ended up with six bastard children because of it. Like fuck you, dude. Annabelle did not leave you with a 'house full of children', you did that, and by the way, it wasn't common for men to take in bastards they had with maids and prostitutes, poor women would've been shit out of luck getting pregnant by the local lord. There is no way he would've claimed parentage. I also really resent the fact that we're given one million reasons to hate Annabelle to give excuses for why Diarmot fathered so many random kids and was a deadbeat father to Ilsa's twins -- and just to make sure we really know that Annabelle is pure evil, Hannah Howell throws in there that Annabelle wasn't just sleeping around, she had threesomes and slept with women too! The horror! This drove Diarmot to drink and impregnate 6 different women and abandon them, but it's Annabelle's fault still, for forcing him to ejaculate in random women. Ahh, early 2000s social politics... You won't be missed.
The premise of this book is that he married Ilsa, then got the shit beat out of him and 'forgot' about being married, then left her pregnant and alone for a year and tried to get married to this other woman, Margaret. Ahh, Hannah Howell. She's so allergic to writing romantic marriages and proposals in her romance books, or even more daring, couples who actually love each other and have more between them than sex.
I'm serious, I cannot stress enough how much Hannah hates giving her heroines a romantic wedding. It's like she thinks they don't deserve it or something. That angry cold wedding was terrible. This is seriously the 3rd or 4th time we have a wedding scene where coercion was involved or the heroine was literally drugged before the ceremony. It's literally disgusting. This book has a shotgun wedding scene where her brothers force Diarmot to marry her against his will and everyone is upset and angry. There is no love, there is no romance, nothing.
Then after that, Diarmot shows Ilsa to the nursery full of his bastard kids and just goes 'Toss yours in with the rest." Are we serious???? This Deadbeat baby-daddy is what we're supposed to be fantasizing about in our romance book? These books are supposed to be an ESCAPE from real life, why give us such awful men in these books!
Also, haha! Marital rape! The first night they're married by force and Diarmot is pissed, he decides, well, I'll still fuck her, and when Ilsa is like, uh no, I'm pissed at you, Diarmot goes, "Since when does what a woman thinks or feels about a man prevent her from giving him his husbandly rights." And when he says this, Ilsa just goes, "wow, that's a sad fact that I can't argue with." WHAT? YEP, THAT'S SAD THAT HE HAS THE RIGHT TO RAPE ME WHENEVER HE WANTS, OH WELL? WHAT?
Ilsa decides to make the best of this rape marriage by giving into it and starting Operation Pussy-trap. She thinks she can soften him up and make him trust her by sleeping with him a ton, which, fuck this. I reject the idea that horniness can make a person overcome the fundamental disgust one has towards another person. I don't care how hot he is, the amount of contempt Diarmot has for her ought to dry her out like the Sahara. Also, fuck him, he immediately cums inside of her again, despite thinking that she set him up and lied about the paternity of the kids just to force a marriage, he's okay with impregnating her even though he thinks she's some random malicious woman.
That's another thing. These books are almost certainly written by a catholic, because they're full of both purity culture tidbits and random sprinklings of pro-life nonsense and traditional gender roles. They have to make the villains not only cheaters, but she dies of a botched abortion, and the heroine immediately takes on the six bastard children of her cheating deadbeat husband and is so happy to become a mother figure to them because she's virtuous and angelic. Did you get that? Hannah Howell comes up with an 'evil woman' in her mind, has her sleep around, have threesomes and lesbian sex, and then she punishes her by having her die in a botched abortion. And then she goes out of her way to let the reader know that Annabelle went to hell, because she refused her last rites. Like, talk about infusing your weird political and religious beliefs into your book. By the way, first trimester abortions were extremely common in the 1400s, there were remedies all over the place for that, and the church only condemned abortion after the womb had 'quickened', i.e., a fetus had formed, i.e., you're far enough along that it's not an embryo anymore, you're months in. But whatever.
A big portion of this book is Diarmot being suspicious about who kicked his ass last year and tried to kill him, and then using that as an excuse to be distrustful of 'women', meaning Ilsa. First they're suspicious of one of Annabelle's past lovers, Wallace, etc, and they think it might've been someone who had a claim to Diarmot's keep, but all of those are dead-ends. This investigation takes them all over the place and leads them to figure out that Jordy is a betrayer, which made me sad, because I remember Jordy from book 6.
One of the funniest flubs in this book is this scene where Annabelle takes the kids to a cave to get pebbles for the garden and gets walled in when there's a rock avalanche. If the doorway is completely blocked, they should be in pitch darkness, but she's described 'seeing that the rocks are too big to move.' How did she see anything, exactly. That made me laugh.
Anyway, this book is a never-ending string of betrayals and humiliations against Ilsa, I think the whole purpose of it is about humbling her, to be honest, because it's so insulting. At one point she resolves that she's done trying to prove herself to Diarmot and that it's time for him to prove himself to her now, and the first thing that happens after this is for her to overhear him talking to Nanty about how Ilsa 'has her uses', and even though he doesn't trust her, she still has her uses, i.e., he'll keep using her as a cocksleeve and an incubator even though he thinks she's a lying murderer. Ilsa has to swallow this disrespect, and tells herself, well, 'If I'm cold to him because he said that, he won't trust me, so I'll just have to tolerate the disrespect.' FUN FACT! Tolerating disrespect with dignity and silence won't make him respect you, it will just show him that you're willing to accept this treatment, i.e., that you think you deserve disrespect! This is a chapter after she saves his life when he's beaten up again, by the way. She concludes this little interlude by thinking, 'Well, I'll have to keep proving myself to him by showing him that his meanness doesn't bother me.' Fucking terrible.
After he gets beating #2, we're told that some of his memories come back, but he still doesn't fully trust her for some unexplained reason, probably because Hannah wants to justify him continuing to psychologically abuse Ilsa.
That's not to mention the physical abuse, and I mean-- Diarmot makes not one, but multiple mentions of having sex with her while she's unconscious. "I'll just carry on if you fall asleep." "I'll just take her shift off later and continue-" He also has sex with Ilsa right after she stops bleeding from a miscarriage, because "it's been six days since we last made love." NO ONE FORCED YOU TO WRITE THAT SHIT DOWN, HANNAH!
I have to say, it was a little too obvious that Margaret was behine the whole thing. Too much was set up at the beginning of the book with her for her to just not be mentioned at all after that point for it to not be her. It was crazy that no one suspected her either. 'No one else has any reason to kill me or Ilsa!' Uh, yeah they do! She was going to be the one to marry you before all of this happened! Why didn't you assume that her and her family wanted access to your stuff and are now angry that opportunity was stolen from them!
Anyway, the climax of the book is Ilsa reading Annabelle's old journals and finding out that Annabelle and Margaret were lovers, and I have to say.... why, Hannah. Why did you write two books in a row where the murdering rapist villains turn out to be gay? Are you serious? What was the purpose of that. These are the only gay characters in her entire series this far, by the way, so I think we all know the reason she did this. It's not for representation, that's for sure. I guess it's to show us that they're EXTRA evil.
Also, I have questions. So, Ilsa is poisoned by the wine, her brothers accuse Diarmot, and Gaye is the one to knock one of them out to stop them? And says, "sometimes you have to knock sense into a man?" WHAT! For this entire book, Gaye's sole character trait is that she's distrustful of men because she was violently raped in the past. It makes no sense for her to stop Ilsa's brothers from punishing Diarmot. Since they got here, she's seen nothing from Diarmot except his abuse towards her mistress, and she has every reason to think that if someone poisoned her, it was Diarmot. She has no reason to trust Diarmot, and has every reason to side with the brothers and family she's been with this entire time. What the fuck!
The romance in this book was terrible, but the adventure aspect of it was entertaining. I liked all the ransom activities near the end, all the dramatic, 'We'll kill the kids if anyone follows you' stuff.
So Jordy betrayed the keep to help Margaret steal the kids, and Ilsa stupidly hurries off without any backup, because "I'm not going to be easy to kill", after an entire book describing her as 'child-like' 'slender', 'almost too willowy,', because apparently growing up with 14 brothers is enough to make her SuperWoman.
SHE LITERALLY SAYS, "I grew up surrounded by brothers and male cousins, I am nae some sweet gentle maid, I may be small and slender but I'm dAngErous-" SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP! She's described as delicate, yet strong. Those are, if I might point out, DIRECTLY CONTRADICTORY. Delicate literally means 'easily broken!' You can't be delicate AND strong! Hannah, I'm sorry, but you have to pick one! Mary Sue lookin ass!
Then the stupid ass typical Howell ending where the FMC leaves and runs back home because she's 'afraid to be loved', and Diarmot is pissed because he thought he could get away with never apologizing for the emotional abuse he put her through. I hated the ending, even to the last page, Howell reinforces how little she thinks her FMCs deserve.
Diarmot doesn't have the right to be upset at Ilsa for leaving. She gave him all the understanding in the world, he abandoned her pregnant with twins, then spent the entire book accusing her and treating her like shit and using her as a bedwench for months. Now he wants to pretend everything is fine because he got his memories back? She didn't forget about the months of abuse! He does ZERO self reflection either, he just feels victimized and angry that she left him, and just tells himself that he'll 'Let her talk about whatever she THINKS is important' and then he'll take her to bed, i.e., he'll fuck her into submission until she stops complaining. One, sex is not an apology, two, how the fuck is this a romance book, this is an abusive marriage. We deserve better fantasy men!
Book 9 isn't going to be any better, because it's about Fiona, yet another 'I grew up with 4500 brothers' NLOG ass bitch. These tropes are so tired, I'm so serious.
November 19, 2014
Ugh
Diarmot is a poor man's Connor.
I give this book its low ratings due to the incosistency with the memory. One moment he remembers everything, the next, he is still gathering it all in. His memory was just used to stretch out a conflict and it didn't feel natural. I couldn't really feel the chemistry between Diarmot and Ilsa. His asshole-ish behaviour is excused by his paranoia over people who mean him harm. On the top of his suspicious persons list is Ilsa.
He conveniently forgets that he did not think his keep was safe before he met Ilsa. In truth, I wish more of the Diarmot she fell for was there. Instead, she is presented with an asshole who thinks poorly of her but not poorly enough to leave her alone. He deigns to consummate their marriage despite thinking she is a murderer. I don't really get why she stayed if she was so adamant about not meeting him in the first place. The whole book was just inconsistent with characters being manipulated to create a conflict.
The big villain in this story is his dead wife's lover. It was explained away as madness, which is another convenient way to avoid any depth on the villain's part. She was supposed to marry Diarmot and kill him but Ilsa showed up and presented evidence that Diarmot was already married. Diarmot, having suffered a head injury, forgets Ilsa. He looks upon her with suspicion. Meanwhile, Ilsa's heart is broken over his wariness. He eventually remembers but keeps his suspicion. They get the issue resolved but not before Ilsa confronts Margaret.
I'm not a big fan of this book. Ilsa fell in love with Diarmot but when they reunited, he was a stranger. He was a suspicious dick but she remained in love with him. I wish more of his past self was revealed to illustrate why Ilsa loved him. Instead, their past love is used to justify on why Ilsa is putting up with his actions.
Diarmot is a poor man's Connor.
I give this book its low ratings due to the incosistency with the memory. One moment he remembers everything, the next, he is still gathering it all in. His memory was just used to stretch out a conflict and it didn't feel natural. I couldn't really feel the chemistry between Diarmot and Ilsa. His asshole-ish behaviour is excused by his paranoia over people who mean him harm. On the top of his suspicious persons list is Ilsa.
He conveniently forgets that he did not think his keep was safe before he met Ilsa. In truth, I wish more of the Diarmot she fell for was there. Instead, she is presented with an asshole who thinks poorly of her but not poorly enough to leave her alone. He deigns to consummate their marriage despite thinking she is a murderer. I don't really get why she stayed if she was so adamant about not meeting him in the first place. The whole book was just inconsistent with characters being manipulated to create a conflict.
The big villain in this story is his dead wife's lover. It was explained away as madness, which is another convenient way to avoid any depth on the villain's part. She was supposed to marry Diarmot and kill him but Ilsa showed up and presented evidence that Diarmot was already married. Diarmot, having suffered a head injury, forgets Ilsa. He looks upon her with suspicion. Meanwhile, Ilsa's heart is broken over his wariness. He eventually remembers but keeps his suspicion. They get the issue resolved but not before Ilsa confronts Margaret.
I'm not a big fan of this book. Ilsa fell in love with Diarmot but when they reunited, he was a stranger. He was a suspicious dick but she remained in love with him. I wish more of his past self was revealed to illustrate why Ilsa loved him. Instead, their past love is used to justify on why Ilsa is putting up with his actions.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 2, 2011
Diarmot MacEnroy and Ilsa meet, fall in love, marry and make promises to one another that are not kept after Diarmot is beaten half to death left for dead and with no memory of the marriage or promises he made to Ilsa. One year later Ilsa, along with 7 of her 14 brothers and twin sons go in search of MacEnroy. Ilsa is in for several shocking surprises that neither the reader or Ilsa expect. First, they find Diarmot kneeling at the altar about to marry another woman. The next surprise comes soon after the first and is like a slap in the face. Some good twist in this story along with a mystery that is not too hard to figure out.
I love the dialect HH uses in the book. She does a lovely job with her description of the highlands and life at that time, but sometimes she would tell certain details over and over again.
I borrowed this book on my Nook.
I love the dialect HH uses in the book. She does a lovely job with her description of the highlands and life at that time, but sometimes she would tell certain details over and over again.
I borrowed this book on my Nook.
March 18, 2008
I liked the story line of this book--that Ilsa and Diarmot were hand-fasted but he did not remember her after being beaten nearly to death. That being said, I did get a little impatient w/ his continued suspicions of her after they were married properly and had spent time together. I thought it was overdone and a bit contrived. I did like the characters, however, and will be looking forward to reading about some of supporting characters in future books.
May 30, 2015
Hotness Rating 3 out of 5
Review to come. . . .
Review to come. . . .
July 20, 2015
Very nice and with a good hint of humor in it as well.
October 9, 2017
favorite one so far.
May 16, 2024
I've read many romances where the male lead is grizzly and grumpy. At first I understood Dairmot's attitude, after all lost memory and death threats would make anyone grumpy and wary. But even after he regains his memory and death threats thwarted, he continues to be very "woe is me" and whiny towards the end of the novel. There were moments where I could like Dairmot and his humor shines through, but it rarely transfered into his interactions with Isla or through his inner thoughts.
It felt like many times the couple were on the same page, only for there to be a sudden mistrust between them. This wishy washy push and pull of who loves who and who is distrustful of who was incredibly drawn out to the point where I just wanted to finish the novel for the last 2 chapters because I was tired of it all.
That said, I did enjoy the mystery of who was out for Dairmot's head. There was no great detective work, really, but it was at least interesting.
Loved many of the side characters, especially little Odo and the children and Sigimor's way of dealing with annoying people by just chucking them away from him!
I did think Isla's miscarriage was incredibly glossed over. It took up like 2 lines and then it was magically forgotten, even by Isla. Normally an author mentions a detail or event because it's important or will feature into the story (like Isla buying new blue linen cloth even though she has plenty of lavish gowns leftover from Annabelle. Later you find out it was to make a nightgown that she then used to further seduce her husband). But the miscarriage didn't further the plot or really garner any attention beyond a mention.
I was greatly annoyed by the proofreading errors. This was written in 2003, well into H.H.'s writing career, but yet there were many dropped quotation marks, missed paragraph line changes, and the occasional mistake where a word or two was missing in a sentence. The novel is heavily written in dialect, and that is no problem at all for me! My issue is with the formatting errors, etc. which the publisher obviously did not employ a good editor to catch them.
All in all, some small annoyances, some good side characters, an amusing mystery... nothing to write home about, but worth reading to pass the time if you don't want a book you're completely invested in. No weeping with characters here. Some reviewers say they feel like H.H. tried to draw out the book for longer than necessary, and I can agree with that, probably could've shaved off 3-4 chapters and the storyline would've been fine. I've read other H.H. books and enjoyed them, but this one just felt sub par.
It felt like many times the couple were on the same page, only for there to be a sudden mistrust between them. This wishy washy push and pull of who loves who and who is distrustful of who was incredibly drawn out to the point where I just wanted to finish the novel for the last 2 chapters because I was tired of it all.
That said, I did enjoy the mystery of who was out for Dairmot's head. There was no great detective work, really, but it was at least interesting.
Loved many of the side characters, especially little Odo and the children and Sigimor's way of dealing with annoying people by just chucking them away from him!
I did think Isla's miscarriage was incredibly glossed over. It took up like 2 lines and then it was magically forgotten, even by Isla. Normally an author mentions a detail or event because it's important or will feature into the story (like Isla buying new blue linen cloth even though she has plenty of lavish gowns leftover from Annabelle. Later you find out it was to make a nightgown that she then used to further seduce her husband). But the miscarriage didn't further the plot or really garner any attention beyond a mention.
I was greatly annoyed by the proofreading errors. This was written in 2003, well into H.H.'s writing career, but yet there were many dropped quotation marks, missed paragraph line changes, and the occasional mistake where a word or two was missing in a sentence. The novel is heavily written in dialect, and that is no problem at all for me! My issue is with the formatting errors, etc. which the publisher obviously did not employ a good editor to catch them.
All in all, some small annoyances, some good side characters, an amusing mystery... nothing to write home about, but worth reading to pass the time if you don't want a book you're completely invested in. No weeping with characters here. Some reviewers say they feel like H.H. tried to draw out the book for longer than necessary, and I can agree with that, probably could've shaved off 3-4 chapters and the storyline would've been fine. I've read other H.H. books and enjoyed them, but this one just felt sub par.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 10, 2013
"He was beginning to think that all the Camerons were slightly mad." loc.3326
Author: Hannah Howell
First published: 2003
Length: 4501 locations
Setting: Scotland, 1471.
Sex: frequent, reasonably erotic. Sex before marriage, and, as a result of a handfasting she has twin boys. . Diarmot's nursery has 6 children before Ilsa arrives; only one is from his wife (Alice). Others are "probably" his. The late wife was extremely promiscuous and used sex for power/control.
Heroine: "too red, too small, too thin" loc.1878
Hero: His first wife dies as a result of a failed abortion. He has selective amnesia (has forgotten Ilsa),
Series: Book 8 of Howell's Murray series. Book 2 of the MacEnroy's sub-series.
Howell's Highlander books have a tendency to be very serious. Deep topics are explored as she takes us through a tale of revenge, heartbreak, violence, miscommunication, and ultimately HEA. "Highland Groom" is different. While it has all of that, she uses a light hand and adds some nice humour as all these braw redheaded Campbell's come to visit.
Overall, I liked it. The children were sweet, even if they struggled to act their age. The mystery was well-played, if predictable. Ilsa was well-drawn and Diarmot was suitably flawed. I would have like more grovel, and maybe a tighter story-telling (there was a lot going on), but I'm happy.
It was a nice addition, and the humour gives a sweet foil to the heavier topic explored in Highland Angel and prevented the potential depth and seriousness of the BadGuys relationship to become all-encompassing.
Gillyanne (again!):
One of the nice things about linked series is the feeling of family. Even though Howell's books will standalone - each story is sufficiently self-contained with enough backstory to give a firm placement - it's nice to visit with past members. We get to see how they are doing and feel comforted somehow that these new people have roots and meaning. But sometimes I have to laugh at characters who just can't stay away. For example, Leidolf in Terry Spear's Wolf series. And in Howell's Murray series, it's Gilly (and Connor).
Gillyanne first made an appearance in Highland Vow as Elspeth was getting ready for the wedding, was captured with Avery in Highland Knight, before getting her own story in Highland Bride. But that didn't keep her safely in Connor's keep. She came when Payton was in danger in Highland Angel, and is around to support Ilsa and Diarmot in Highland Groom.
She certainly does try to influence the lives of her family *grin*.
Murray Family:
Three brothers – the patriarchs of the Murray Family
Book 1 Highland Promise - Balfour Murray and Maldie Kirkcaldy (1430)
Book 2 Highland Honor - Nigel Murray and Gisele Deveau (1437)
Book 3 Highland Destiny - Eric Murray and Bethia Drummond (1444)
The daughters:
Book 4 Highland Vow - Elspeth Murray and Cormac Armstrong (1456)
Book 5 Highland Knight - Avery Murray and Cameron MacAlpin (1458)
Book 6 Highland Bride - Gillyanne Murray + Connor MacEnroy (1465)
Son and In-Laws:
Book 7 Highland Angel - Payton Murray and Kirstie Maclye (1468)
Book 8 Highland Groom - Ilsa Campbell + Dairmot MacEnroy (1471)
Book 9 Highland Warrior - Fiona MacEnroy and Ewan MacFingal (1472)
References:
Author's website: http://hannahhowell.com/
W'pedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/
(ISBN 9780759287907)
-CR-
Author: Hannah Howell
First published: 2003
Length: 4501 locations
Setting: Scotland, 1471.
Sex: frequent, reasonably erotic. Sex before marriage, and, as a result of a handfasting she has twin boys. . Diarmot's nursery has 6 children before Ilsa arrives; only one is from his wife (Alice). Others are "probably" his. The late wife was extremely promiscuous and used sex for power/control.
Heroine: "too red, too small, too thin" loc.1878
Hero: His first wife dies as a result of a failed abortion. He has selective amnesia (has forgotten Ilsa),
Series: Book 8 of Howell's Murray series. Book 2 of the MacEnroy's sub-series.
Howell's Highlander books have a tendency to be very serious. Deep topics are explored as she takes us through a tale of revenge, heartbreak, violence, miscommunication, and ultimately HEA. "Highland Groom" is different. While it has all of that, she uses a light hand and adds some nice humour as all these braw redheaded Campbell's come to visit.
Overall, I liked it. The children were sweet, even if they struggled to act their age. The mystery was well-played, if predictable. Ilsa was well-drawn and Diarmot was suitably flawed. I would have like more grovel, and maybe a tighter story-telling (there was a lot going on), but I'm happy.
It was a nice addition, and the humour gives a sweet foil to the heavier topic explored in Highland Angel and prevented the potential depth and seriousness of the BadGuys relationship to become all-encompassing.
Gillyanne (again!):
One of the nice things about linked series is the feeling of family. Even though Howell's books will standalone - each story is sufficiently self-contained with enough backstory to give a firm placement - it's nice to visit with past members. We get to see how they are doing and feel comforted somehow that these new people have roots and meaning. But sometimes I have to laugh at characters who just can't stay away. For example, Leidolf in Terry Spear's Wolf series. And in Howell's Murray series, it's Gilly (and Connor).
Gillyanne first made an appearance in Highland Vow as Elspeth was getting ready for the wedding, was captured with Avery in Highland Knight, before getting her own story in Highland Bride. But that didn't keep her safely in Connor's keep. She came when Payton was in danger in Highland Angel, and is around to support Ilsa and Diarmot in Highland Groom.
She certainly does try to influence the lives of her family *grin*.
Murray Family:
Three brothers – the patriarchs of the Murray Family
Book 1 Highland Promise - Balfour Murray and Maldie Kirkcaldy (1430)
Book 2 Highland Honor - Nigel Murray and Gisele Deveau (1437)
Book 3 Highland Destiny - Eric Murray and Bethia Drummond (1444)
The daughters:
Book 4 Highland Vow - Elspeth Murray and Cormac Armstrong (1456)
Book 5 Highland Knight - Avery Murray and Cameron MacAlpin (1458)
Book 6 Highland Bride - Gillyanne Murray + Connor MacEnroy (1465)
Son and In-Laws:
Book 7 Highland Angel - Payton Murray and Kirstie Maclye (1468)
Book 8 Highland Groom - Ilsa Campbell + Dairmot MacEnroy (1471)
Book 9 Highland Warrior - Fiona MacEnroy and Ewan MacFingal (1472)
References:
Author's website: http://hannahhowell.com/
W'pedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/
(ISBN 9780759287907)
-CR-
November 12, 2019
While I loved the heroine and her practical loving way to approach life, I felt the author never gave me much reason to admire the hero, and thus be satisfied with the happily ever after. Ultimately, I wasn't sure he was good enough for her.
May 24, 2017
Ilsa Cameron shows up just in time to stop her handfasted husband from marrying another woman. Diarmot MacEnroy was beaten up after leaving her a year ago and has no memory of his wife or the twin sons that she bore him. He's forced to marry her anyway in the church but is suspicious of her and her many red-haired brothers and cousins.
While I understood that Diarmot was hurt after the way his first wife acted, I thought it took way too long for him to get over his misgivings about Ilsa. I was really annoyed at the way he treated her and his children. The resolution where he gets his memory back and suddenly remembers that he loves her was a little too convenient. Still, Ilsa is a fun character and her family provides some cute moments.
While I understood that Diarmot was hurt after the way his first wife acted, I thought it took way too long for him to get over his misgivings about Ilsa. I was really annoyed at the way he treated her and his children. The resolution where he gets his memory back and suddenly remembers that he loves her was a little too convenient. Still, Ilsa is a fun character and her family provides some cute moments.
October 4, 2017
Took over 100 pages for me to get interested in this plot. I didn't realize I was reading on of the later books in the series until I read the notation in the title. For me, the book was easily a stand-alone read.
Miss Howell is a best-selling author and definitely has a large following of beloved readers and this book has been highly rated. The suspense that picked up more than half-way through the book "figuring out who was the perpetrator" was the only reason I kept going, besides the setting in the Highlands (which really isn't present as a setting in the book at all). Excellent use of dialect does make of for that.
As someone who enjoys historical fiction, I can probably rule out that I don't enjoy historical romance at the same level.
Miss Howell is a best-selling author and definitely has a large following of beloved readers and this book has been highly rated. The suspense that picked up more than half-way through the book "figuring out who was the perpetrator" was the only reason I kept going, besides the setting in the Highlands (which really isn't present as a setting in the book at all). Excellent use of dialect does make of for that.
As someone who enjoys historical fiction, I can probably rule out that I don't enjoy historical romance at the same level.
December 28, 2023
This book should have been a solid 4. But our hero had no common sense. Diarmont is beaten and loses all memory of his hand fasted bride, Ilsa. When she shows up and stops his marriage to another woman, announcing she’s his as are her twins, he marries her but distrusts her and her family, thinking they were involved in his beating.
Here’s why it lost points. At one point one of his men says the exact same thing to him as one of his attackers, but he doesn’t clue in. Then Ilsa is poisoned but no one suspects the person who brought her the poisoned wine. Hello! Ilsa saves Diarmont’s life after he is beaten a second time and he STILL doesn’t trust her. She risked her life to save him. That was when things truly became ridiculous.
Here’s why it lost points. At one point one of his men says the exact same thing to him as one of his attackers, but he doesn’t clue in. Then Ilsa is poisoned but no one suspects the person who brought her the poisoned wine. Hello! Ilsa saves Diarmont’s life after he is beaten a second time and he STILL doesn’t trust her. She risked her life to save him. That was when things truly became ridiculous.
June 17, 2017
I usually like Angela Dawe as a narrator but something happened on this story. There were too many children and women for which the narrator did annoyingly low pitched voices. Also, at times the narration turned too dull. I had to speed up the narration just to make it bearable.
The story was also not good. I didn't even feel the slow burn of falling in love or the connection between the main couple. The love felt forced. The fact that the hero had 6 children from different women was VERY off putting. And he didn't even had the decency of telling her when they originally hand fasted? Nope. I'm done with this series. Not even the ending was remarkable.
The story was also not good. I didn't even feel the slow burn of falling in love or the connection between the main couple. The love felt forced. The fact that the hero had 6 children from different women was VERY off putting. And he didn't even had the decency of telling her when they originally hand fasted? Nope. I'm done with this series. Not even the ending was remarkable.
September 16, 2022
It started off “interesting” and then it got repetitive and I just skimmed. This laird was so stupid it was almost comical. He had a gaggle of kids that he wasn’t sure was his, he was beaten near death and lost his memory but he kept choosing to distrust the people who showed loyalty to him over and over while trusting the people who literally had the personality of a serial killer (Margaret). Then when he heard a man’s voice behind him that sounded like the EXACT man who attacked him and was wearing a MASK (His trusted Geordie) he thought it was his mind playing tricks on him. He was too much of a dumb dumb to lead a clan.
June 25, 2018
Pretty fair...
Frequent humor, good characterization, and a mysterious villain make this a pretty good story set in Middle Ages Scotland. The author writes Scottish dialect well and keeps a good pace throughout.
My only criticism is the last 20%. At this point the mystery is solved and the H/h can get down to the business of strengthening and enjoy their marriage that had been put through so much. It is at this point that the heroine, Ilsa, decides that she needs to get away “to think.” While the author does try to explain it, it most felt like unnecessary filler.
Frequent humor, good characterization, and a mysterious villain make this a pretty good story set in Middle Ages Scotland. The author writes Scottish dialect well and keeps a good pace throughout.
My only criticism is the last 20%. At this point the mystery is solved and the H/h can get down to the business of strengthening and enjoy their marriage that had been put through so much. It is at this point that the heroine, Ilsa, decides that she needs to get away “to think.” While the author does try to explain it, it most felt like unnecessary filler.
April 7, 2021
“Îl iubesc. Dar mă rog să scap teafără după încercările la care sigur o să mă supună Diarmot.”
“De asta îmi era teamă. Le pedepsești pe toate din cauza păcatelor uneia dintre ele.”
“Ești una dintre cele mai puternice femei pe care le-am cunoscut.”
“Toată dragostea și credința pe care le-am avut în tine, tot ce ți-am dăruit atunci. Am crezut că asta îmi doresc, dar nu e adevărat. E o povară prea grea pentru mine, zise ea, luptându-se să nu înceapă iar să bocească. Mi s-a rupt sufletul când am văzut că nu te întorci după mine.”
“O familie adevărată se bazează pe inimă, suflet și minte.”
“De asta îmi era teamă. Le pedepsești pe toate din cauza păcatelor uneia dintre ele.”
“Ești una dintre cele mai puternice femei pe care le-am cunoscut.”
“Toată dragostea și credința pe care le-am avut în tine, tot ce ți-am dăruit atunci. Am crezut că asta îmi doresc, dar nu e adevărat. E o povară prea grea pentru mine, zise ea, luptându-se să nu înceapă iar să bocească. Mi s-a rupt sufletul când am văzut că nu te întorci după mine.”
“O familie adevărată se bazează pe inimă, suflet și minte.”
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