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Warrior #2
Legendary Warrior
When Reena's village falls into the hands of a brutal landlord, she seeks the help of a warrior known only as The Legend. She should have been afraid after all the stories she's heard at her father's knees, but from the moment she meets him, it is not fear she feels but fierce passion. Magnus has never known a lass brave enough to look him in the eye, let alone one who would plead for his help. Yet here was a sweet–spirited woman who inspires a deep yearning within him. He is willing to save her people, for a price. But once Reena uncovers his secrets, will she regret making a bargain with the devil, or find a sinful passion in his arms .?
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 24, 2004
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August 19, 2023
Rating: 4.5 / 5
With the usual Donna Fletcher coziness and fuzziness, the romance between Reena and Magnus (the Legend) is everything that I want to cuddle up with on a warm/cold day! Just a sip of a little lovin, with all the sweetness of a hot cuppa cocoa.
___________
The story starts off with Reena's village being taken over by a new landlord, who happens to be a complete ass who demands 75% of the villagers' harvest as tribute to him. Uh...yeah, that equals dead villagers, as everyone can clearly tell. Peasants being peasants, there's nothing they can do about it though.
All except for Reena, who's a skilled mapper, and intends on trading her mapping services to a warrior known as The Legend, in exchange for him freeing her village and making sure they don't starve. When she meets the Legend, he's everything she expects...and so much more.
Magnus is both "the Legend" and just himself, and it's to the latter that Reena gravitates. He in turn is continuously surprised by her and how different she is to other women, but in all the ways that please him. Unbeknownst to Reena, Magnus already intended on taking on the jerkass landlord who took over her village, but because he's intrigued by her, he takes her up on her offer regardless.
The rest of the story proceeds via the usual Donna Fletcher methods, including with a lot of surprise revelations that all come together at the end.
It goes without saying that I'll also be reading the sequel to this book that features a character known only as "The Dark One", as he was definitely an intriguing addition to the story and, come on, of course he deserves his own love!
I have yet to be disappointed by this author, so onwards to another read--soon, very soon.
With the usual Donna Fletcher coziness and fuzziness, the romance between Reena and Magnus (the Legend) is everything that I want to cuddle up with on a warm/cold day! Just a sip of a little lovin, with all the sweetness of a hot cuppa cocoa.
___________
The story starts off with Reena's village being taken over by a new landlord, who happens to be a complete ass who demands 75% of the villagers' harvest as tribute to him. Uh...yeah, that equals dead villagers, as everyone can clearly tell. Peasants being peasants, there's nothing they can do about it though.
All except for Reena, who's a skilled mapper, and intends on trading her mapping services to a warrior known as The Legend, in exchange for him freeing her village and making sure they don't starve. When she meets the Legend, he's everything she expects...and so much more.
Magnus is both "the Legend" and just himself, and it's to the latter that Reena gravitates. He in turn is continuously surprised by her and how different she is to other women, but in all the ways that please him. Unbeknownst to Reena, Magnus already intended on taking on the jerkass landlord who took over her village, but because he's intrigued by her, he takes her up on her offer regardless.
The rest of the story proceeds via the usual Donna Fletcher methods, including with a lot of surprise revelations that all come together at the end.
It goes without saying that I'll also be reading the sequel to this book that features a character known only as "The Dark One", as he was definitely an intriguing addition to the story and, come on, of course he deserves his own love!
I have yet to be disappointed by this author, so onwards to another read--soon, very soon.
February 9, 2017
Magnus (the "Legend") and Reena
Ireland 1500s
It's been a while since I've read a book this bad, one that made me so angry at how bad it was written but yet I still managed to finish every word of it. I am either a masochist or an eternal optimist, hoping at each page turned that the book would improve and it will be worth spending the time to continue. I'm better off as a pessimist since this book did not deserve my optimism.
So what are the problems? Here are a few random samplings and thoughts: [Warning-Spoilers]
1. The writing was terrible and involved simplistic, grade school level story-telling that employs a lot of "telling" and absolutely no "showing". This applies to the actual plot involving the characters as well as the "love" scenes ("sex" scenes would be too generous). There is zero emotional connection to what is happening on the page especially during the love scenes between Magnus and Reena.
2. Speaking of love scenes, there is barely any sex and absolutely no sensuality in this book. The author should have just written a clean, chaste Christian novel that would be appreciated by that reading demographic because the few sensual/sex scenes that are included are so bad to be embarrassing and certainly not satisfying to any reader that enjoys some sex in their romances. And to be clear, not only are the love scenes poorly written but there are few of them. Prepare to get through over 40% of the book before you even get one kiss between Magnus and Reena. And it will take reading almost 70% of the book before you will get to any remotely sexy-times.
3. This book is ostensibly set in Ireland in the 1500s (per the initial header of Chapter 1). But for all the writer cared, it could have taken place on Mars so don't get excited if historical romances set in Ireland are your thing. (Not to mention that Magnus and Reena are two of the LEAST Irish names I've ever heard.) Not only is there never a mention made again about Ireland, the historical time period, or any customs of the period or people, this book is one of the worst sorts of historical novels that gets things so terribly wrong historically and even logically that it pulls you out of the story at every turn.
A few examples?
- The Ireland of this novel appears to be a snowy, winter tundra beset by frequent annual snowstorms. Hmm, maybe my 20+ visits to Ireland in all seasons have managed to not coincide with any of these snowy winters.
- There appears to be a king somewhere close by that Peter Kilkern travels to in his downtime from skulking about Magnus' lands. Who is this mysterious king located in Ireland?
- The food is ridiculous. It's plentiful and appears from nowhere and involves all sorts of modern baked items and most critically spices. Yes, the lowest of the low of the villagers makes her special "cinnamon cakes" whenever she can. Must be great being a poor Middle Ages tenant farmer's widow and being able to afford to use exotic spices in your daily baking that were worth their weight in gold!
- Every room that Reena walks into in the keep has a warm glowing fire. Beyond the ludicrousness that these people would burn expensive fuel in every room of the keep, these fires were also seemingly magical since they were already burning bright before anyone even went into the room. Who set and lit these magical free fires?
- This is definitely a pet peeve of mine but this book is one of the worst offenders of this pet peeve. Chairs (!!) were extremely rare in the Middle Ages and having a chair was a sign of wealth and usually reserved for the lord of the manor to sit in. Normal people sat on benches or stools if they even had furniture. But every lowly peasant in this book seems to have a home filled with multiple chairs for big groups to sit and congregate around their glowing fires in their spacious, homey cottages.
4. A corollary to Point #1 above is the observation that everything in the plot is given in broad, vague brushstrokes which I think the author may have hoped would hide the glaring problems with the ridiculous plot. But even not-so-careful readers will realize that the order of things that supposedly happened in the novel and particularly Magnus' backstory do not make sense! First and foremost, in the current timeframe of the novel when Reena and Magnus meet, they are 22 and 31 years old respectively. So there is only an age difference of 9 years between the characters. Yet the novel begins with a sweet story of Reena being dandled on the knee of her father as a "young girl" being told of the time that her father first met the Legend, aka Magnus, a fiercesome and powerful warrior. Let's assume for purposes that Reena was 7 years old when the story was being told. That means Magnus would have been 16 years old when her father had his run in with him. Hmmm. Seems precocious for a 16 year old! (And presumably her father's run-in with the Legend occurred years in the past possibly prior to Reena's birth.) Even if you age up Reena a few years, the story doesn't make sense since Reena's father's story is clearly told as if the Legend had accumulated a long history of battle successes and fear. This is just one example of the ridiculousness of the plotting but there are many more.
5. More plot holes you could drive a truck through:
- The entire plot revolves around the villain's purported need to have the expert mapmaker Reena make him a map of the land. But why would he need Reena for this? A big point is made that until Reena displayed her talents, all maps were crude drawings that any imbecile could have done. And the villain needed a map that was supposed to have existed long before Reena's birth. So having Reena draw the map would actually be a bad thing.
- Hey, there is chest full of jewels and diaries, just hidden away in the secret torture chamber off the tower room. That's interesting right? Wonder why they are there? Who would have hidden them there (the implication being that they belong to Magnus' mother, but given that she was an abused prisoner in that room it seems unlikely that she would have possession of them never mind stash them in that room)? Why were they not discovered by anyone in over 20 years? (particularly not by (i) Peter Kilkern who lived in the keep with his evil father and knew everything about all it's secret passageways but apparently not the non-secret chamber where his mother was kept and tortured; or (ii) Magnus who actually killed his stepfather at some indeterminate point after adulthood and thus was presumably in control of the keep). But don't worry about all these questions, for this chest of jewels will NEVER be mentioned ever again.
- Magnus is asserted to have taken his revenge on his own stepfather by killing him in the Dunhernal keep's dungeons at some vague point in his history. This presumably happened when Magnus was an adult and capable of this. This just brings up so many questions that are not addressed and incompatibilities with the rest of the story: (i) Magnus would have needed to conquer the keep to carry out this revenge, but yet the keep is not in Magnus' control until the present time of the novel when he arrives with Reena. (ii) Where was Peter Kilkern during this overthrow of his father? If Magnus didn't maintain control of the keep after killing his stepfather, why didn't Peter have control of it? Why was the keep just sitting there abandoned and ready to be taken over by Magnus and his clan? (iii) Where in fact does Peter Kilkern materialize from at the beginning of the novel? The ether? Out of space? (iv) Reena's father and villagers have absolutely no knowledge of what happened on the neighboring lands and in fact speak of Dunhernal keep being abandoned for over 30 years. Wait! Magnus is only 31 years old and spent the first ten years of his life growing up at Dunhernal with his mother who was imprisoned there at a presumably populated keep and lands. Surely Reena's parents and the older generation of her village would have some knowledge of this.
6. Ridiculous implausibilities abound: (i) The heroine is a poor tenant farmer's daughter but is fluent in French and Latin. Amazing! (ii) She's also an excellent mapmaker with access to paper and ink (okay, I will let this one slide for purposes of the story). (iii) This little spunky heroine is not only willing to go off on her own with no protection mapping lands but her father actually encourages it. What a dad! (iv) Magnus is an earl but that's no problem that he wants to marry a simple tenant farmer's daughter. And Reena never even thinks twice about marrying so far up in the world. (v) Big burly warrior men enjoy standing around talking about who they will fall in love with and why and their tender emotions.
That's it. I'm exhausted. TL;DR This book sucks.
Ireland 1500s
It's been a while since I've read a book this bad, one that made me so angry at how bad it was written but yet I still managed to finish every word of it. I am either a masochist or an eternal optimist, hoping at each page turned that the book would improve and it will be worth spending the time to continue. I'm better off as a pessimist since this book did not deserve my optimism.
So what are the problems? Here are a few random samplings and thoughts: [Warning-Spoilers]
1. The writing was terrible and involved simplistic, grade school level story-telling that employs a lot of "telling" and absolutely no "showing". This applies to the actual plot involving the characters as well as the "love" scenes ("sex" scenes would be too generous). There is zero emotional connection to what is happening on the page especially during the love scenes between Magnus and Reena.
2. Speaking of love scenes, there is barely any sex and absolutely no sensuality in this book. The author should have just written a clean, chaste Christian novel that would be appreciated by that reading demographic because the few sensual/sex scenes that are included are so bad to be embarrassing and certainly not satisfying to any reader that enjoys some sex in their romances. And to be clear, not only are the love scenes poorly written but there are few of them. Prepare to get through over 40% of the book before you even get one kiss between Magnus and Reena. And it will take reading almost 70% of the book before you will get to any remotely sexy-times.
3. This book is ostensibly set in Ireland in the 1500s (per the initial header of Chapter 1). But for all the writer cared, it could have taken place on Mars so don't get excited if historical romances set in Ireland are your thing. (Not to mention that Magnus and Reena are two of the LEAST Irish names I've ever heard.) Not only is there never a mention made again about Ireland, the historical time period, or any customs of the period or people, this book is one of the worst sorts of historical novels that gets things so terribly wrong historically and even logically that it pulls you out of the story at every turn.
A few examples?
- The Ireland of this novel appears to be a snowy, winter tundra beset by frequent annual snowstorms. Hmm, maybe my 20+ visits to Ireland in all seasons have managed to not coincide with any of these snowy winters.
- There appears to be a king somewhere close by that Peter Kilkern travels to in his downtime from skulking about Magnus' lands. Who is this mysterious king located in Ireland?
- The food is ridiculous. It's plentiful and appears from nowhere and involves all sorts of modern baked items and most critically spices. Yes, the lowest of the low of the villagers makes her special "cinnamon cakes" whenever she can. Must be great being a poor Middle Ages tenant farmer's widow and being able to afford to use exotic spices in your daily baking that were worth their weight in gold!
- Every room that Reena walks into in the keep has a warm glowing fire. Beyond the ludicrousness that these people would burn expensive fuel in every room of the keep, these fires were also seemingly magical since they were already burning bright before anyone even went into the room. Who set and lit these magical free fires?
- This is definitely a pet peeve of mine but this book is one of the worst offenders of this pet peeve. Chairs (!!) were extremely rare in the Middle Ages and having a chair was a sign of wealth and usually reserved for the lord of the manor to sit in. Normal people sat on benches or stools if they even had furniture. But every lowly peasant in this book seems to have a home filled with multiple chairs for big groups to sit and congregate around their glowing fires in their spacious, homey cottages.
4. A corollary to Point #1 above is the observation that everything in the plot is given in broad, vague brushstrokes which I think the author may have hoped would hide the glaring problems with the ridiculous plot. But even not-so-careful readers will realize that the order of things that supposedly happened in the novel and particularly Magnus' backstory do not make sense! First and foremost, in the current timeframe of the novel when Reena and Magnus meet, they are 22 and 31 years old respectively. So there is only an age difference of 9 years between the characters. Yet the novel begins with a sweet story of Reena being dandled on the knee of her father as a "young girl" being told of the time that her father first met the Legend, aka Magnus, a fiercesome and powerful warrior. Let's assume for purposes that Reena was 7 years old when the story was being told. That means Magnus would have been 16 years old when her father had his run in with him. Hmmm. Seems precocious for a 16 year old! (And presumably her father's run-in with the Legend occurred years in the past possibly prior to Reena's birth.) Even if you age up Reena a few years, the story doesn't make sense since Reena's father's story is clearly told as if the Legend had accumulated a long history of battle successes and fear. This is just one example of the ridiculousness of the plotting but there are many more.
5. More plot holes you could drive a truck through:
- The entire plot revolves around the villain's purported need to have the expert mapmaker Reena make him a map of the land. But why would he need Reena for this? A big point is made that until Reena displayed her talents, all maps were crude drawings that any imbecile could have done. And the villain needed a map that was supposed to have existed long before Reena's birth. So having Reena draw the map would actually be a bad thing.
- Hey, there is chest full of jewels and diaries, just hidden away in the secret torture chamber off the tower room. That's interesting right? Wonder why they are there? Who would have hidden them there (the implication being that they belong to Magnus' mother, but given that she was an abused prisoner in that room it seems unlikely that she would have possession of them never mind stash them in that room)? Why were they not discovered by anyone in over 20 years? (particularly not by (i) Peter Kilkern who lived in the keep with his evil father and knew everything about all it's secret passageways but apparently not the non-secret chamber where his mother was kept and tortured; or (ii) Magnus who actually killed his stepfather at some indeterminate point after adulthood and thus was presumably in control of the keep). But don't worry about all these questions, for this chest of jewels will NEVER be mentioned ever again.
- Magnus is asserted to have taken his revenge on his own stepfather by killing him in the Dunhernal keep's dungeons at some vague point in his history. This presumably happened when Magnus was an adult and capable of this. This just brings up so many questions that are not addressed and incompatibilities with the rest of the story: (i) Magnus would have needed to conquer the keep to carry out this revenge, but yet the keep is not in Magnus' control until the present time of the novel when he arrives with Reena. (ii) Where was Peter Kilkern during this overthrow of his father? If Magnus didn't maintain control of the keep after killing his stepfather, why didn't Peter have control of it? Why was the keep just sitting there abandoned and ready to be taken over by Magnus and his clan? (iii) Where in fact does Peter Kilkern materialize from at the beginning of the novel? The ether? Out of space? (iv) Reena's father and villagers have absolutely no knowledge of what happened on the neighboring lands and in fact speak of Dunhernal keep being abandoned for over 30 years. Wait! Magnus is only 31 years old and spent the first ten years of his life growing up at Dunhernal with his mother who was imprisoned there at a presumably populated keep and lands. Surely Reena's parents and the older generation of her village would have some knowledge of this.
6. Ridiculous implausibilities abound: (i) The heroine is a poor tenant farmer's daughter but is fluent in French and Latin. Amazing! (ii) She's also an excellent mapmaker with access to paper and ink (okay, I will let this one slide for purposes of the story). (iii) This little spunky heroine is not only willing to go off on her own with no protection mapping lands but her father actually encourages it. What a dad! (iv) Magnus is an earl but that's no problem that he wants to marry a simple tenant farmer's daughter. And Reena never even thinks twice about marrying so far up in the world. (v) Big burly warrior men enjoy standing around talking about who they will fall in love with and why and their tender emotions.
That's it. I'm exhausted. TL;DR This book sucks.
January 19, 2021
The first 1/2 was good, by the time I got to 70ish% I found the story lacking its climax at this point. I ended up skimming to the end.
#hrreadathon
#hrreadathon
August 2, 2014
Desperate for help for her starving village, Reena Cullen seeks out the titular legendary warrior—known as the Legend, hoping he can help. In exchange, she offers her unique map-making skills, which provide a significant advantage for a warrior, in terms of battle tactics.
Magnus, said Legendary Warrior, is happy to accept the deal—he has his own reasons for helping out, and, hey, he kinda digs the chick, even if she's skinny and not exactly beautiful in any classical sense.
I still want to know what happened to Avon's editors. Seriously, "eatable?" "Make due?"
And as usual, despite the nit-picks, this is a pretty good story, enough to keep me reading Fletcher's books. 3.5 stars.
Magnus, said Legendary Warrior, is happy to accept the deal—he has his own reasons for helping out, and, hey, he kinda digs the chick, even if she's skinny and not exactly beautiful in any classical sense.
I still want to know what happened to Avon's editors. Seriously, "eatable?" "Make due?"
And as usual, despite the nit-picks, this is a pretty good story, enough to keep me reading Fletcher's books. 3.5 stars.
November 13, 2016
unique 3D characters and a unique plot.
Overall, one of the best historical romances I have read!
The dialogues are meaningful and well-written.
Overall, a definite keeper!
5+++ stars
Overall, one of the best historical romances I have read!
The dialogues are meaningful and well-written.
Overall, a definite keeper!
5+++ stars
October 11, 2020
Pretty Good
I thought this was a pretty good book. Donna Fletcher is one of my favorite highland romance novelist; I've read several of her books. But of all her books I've read so far, this one is my least favorite as there were a couple of things about the story that bugged me and ultimately took away from my enjoyment of it.
Magnus is known far and wide as the Legend, a fierce and merciless warrior. In truth, Magnus is sweet, kind, protective, and wonderful—with the ability to be ruthless when necessary, especially in protection of his people. Reena is a wonderful heroine. She is a peasant village girl, who can read (a rare occurrence, and one which, thankfully, is adequately explained) is an extremely talented artist, and a gifted mapmaker. As the book blurb says, Reena goes to Magnus for help; she wants protection for her village which is at the mercy of their new overlord, an Earl. She strikes a deal with Magnus; protection in exchange for her services as a mapmaker. I really enjoyed the interaction between Reena and Magnus. They are two intelligent, level-headed people, and the romance that develops between them proceeds along those lines...they don't have any ridiculous misunderstandings, there are no trust issues, and Magnus is a very unusual hero, in that he is very open to love.
On aspect of the story that I found ridiculous was Reena's belief that if Magnus were to marry her beautiful, best friend, Brigid, then this would seal his loyalty to the village and thus keep the villagers under his protection. I didn't see how Reena could possibly think that a landed knight would marry a peasant village girl, no matter how beautiful; take her as his leman, yes, but as a wife? It would be one thing for Magnum to have thoughts of marrying a peasant; he was a knight after all and could pretty much do as he pleased, maybe—I know realistically there were all kinds of rules etc. but this is fiction—but I thought Reena's thinking was unrealistic.
Another thing that really annoyed me was Reena's seeing Magnus and the Legend as two different people. When he wasn't dressed for battle, she and Magnus interact easily. They talk, they laugh, and there is a sweet attraction building between them. However, as soon as he puts on his black helmet, which encompasses most of his face, she is intimidated by, and even a little fearful of, Magnus. I could understand this happening at first, before she got to really know Magnus. But I saw no reason for it once she got to know who he truly was. She even thought to herself that the helmet was just a mask that hid his true nature from the rest of the world, yet still she persisted in her idiotic belief that they were two people. It just went on for too long.
There is a bit of intrigue interwoven throughout the plot. The villain of the piece, Peter Kilkern, Reena's overlord, is a greedy, evil man, who causes much grief to his tenants, and there is a history between Magnus and Peter which adds tension to the plot.
In any event, despite the annoyances, I really did enjoy this book and would recommend it as a worthwhile read. FYI, this is not a clean romance; but the love scenes are beautifully written and are not, IMO, overly descriptive. One of the things I particularly liked about the book, was Reena's determination to remain a maid until she met the man she would marry. I also loved Magnus' honorable treatment of Reena...at no time did he try to make her his mistress. Happy reading!
I thought this was a pretty good book. Donna Fletcher is one of my favorite highland romance novelist; I've read several of her books. But of all her books I've read so far, this one is my least favorite as there were a couple of things about the story that bugged me and ultimately took away from my enjoyment of it.
Magnus is known far and wide as the Legend, a fierce and merciless warrior. In truth, Magnus is sweet, kind, protective, and wonderful—with the ability to be ruthless when necessary, especially in protection of his people. Reena is a wonderful heroine. She is a peasant village girl, who can read (a rare occurrence, and one which, thankfully, is adequately explained) is an extremely talented artist, and a gifted mapmaker. As the book blurb says, Reena goes to Magnus for help; she wants protection for her village which is at the mercy of their new overlord, an Earl. She strikes a deal with Magnus; protection in exchange for her services as a mapmaker. I really enjoyed the interaction between Reena and Magnus. They are two intelligent, level-headed people, and the romance that develops between them proceeds along those lines...they don't have any ridiculous misunderstandings, there are no trust issues, and Magnus is a very unusual hero, in that he is very open to love.
On aspect of the story that I found ridiculous was Reena's belief that if Magnus were to marry her beautiful, best friend, Brigid, then this would seal his loyalty to the village and thus keep the villagers under his protection. I didn't see how Reena could possibly think that a landed knight would marry a peasant village girl, no matter how beautiful; take her as his leman, yes, but as a wife? It would be one thing for Magnum to have thoughts of marrying a peasant; he was a knight after all and could pretty much do as he pleased, maybe—I know realistically there were all kinds of rules etc. but this is fiction—but I thought Reena's thinking was unrealistic.
Another thing that really annoyed me was Reena's seeing Magnus and the Legend as two different people. When he wasn't dressed for battle, she and Magnus interact easily. They talk, they laugh, and there is a sweet attraction building between them. However, as soon as he puts on his black helmet, which encompasses most of his face, she is intimidated by, and even a little fearful of, Magnus. I could understand this happening at first, before she got to really know Magnus. But I saw no reason for it once she got to know who he truly was. She even thought to herself that the helmet was just a mask that hid his true nature from the rest of the world, yet still she persisted in her idiotic belief that they were two people. It just went on for too long.
There is a bit of intrigue interwoven throughout the plot. The villain of the piece, Peter Kilkern, Reena's overlord, is a greedy, evil man, who causes much grief to his tenants, and there is a history between Magnus and Peter which adds tension to the plot.
In any event, despite the annoyances, I really did enjoy this book and would recommend it as a worthwhile read. FYI, this is not a clean romance; but the love scenes are beautifully written and are not, IMO, overly descriptive. One of the things I particularly liked about the book, was Reena's determination to remain a maid until she met the man she would marry. I also loved Magnus' honorable treatment of Reena...at no time did he try to make her his mistress. Happy reading!
March 17, 2023
why is this book2 and not book 1
Magnus, the Legend is feared and respected but he is also troubled by his past. Reena is a mapmaker in a village that is terrorized by their own laird. Rene asks the Legend to help her village in return for her services as a mapmaker. He agrees although he had planned to help the village anyway. What he didn’t plan was to be attracted to and fall in love with the very small and thin and courageous Reena. This story has mystery, suspense, painful family history, revenge, deception, and love. My only complaint, as with the first book, is that this should’ve been book one and the Dark Warrior should’ve been book two. It would’ve made more sense.
Magnus, the Legend is feared and respected but he is also troubled by his past. Reena is a mapmaker in a village that is terrorized by their own laird. Rene asks the Legend to help her village in return for her services as a mapmaker. He agrees although he had planned to help the village anyway. What he didn’t plan was to be attracted to and fall in love with the very small and thin and courageous Reena. This story has mystery, suspense, painful family history, revenge, deception, and love. My only complaint, as with the first book, is that this should’ve been book one and the Dark Warrior should’ve been book two. It would’ve made more sense.
June 19, 2017
Finally! After reading books that left me feeling meh, I came across this one. Absolutely loved it from start to finish..
It tells the tale of Magnus The Legend and a simple peasant woman but an exceptional mapmaker Reena.
The tale starts when Reena has no choice but to search for the man called the legend to save her village from the cruel earl. In exchange for his protection she will offer her map making skills.
I loved this book. It had everything in it - action, mystery and romance. This is one of them books you can read over and over again and never get tired. Definitely going to my faves list! Hopefully the story of The Dark One will be as exciting as this..
It tells the tale of Magnus The Legend and a simple peasant woman but an exceptional mapmaker Reena.
The tale starts when Reena has no choice but to search for the man called the legend to save her village from the cruel earl. In exchange for his protection she will offer her map making skills.
I loved this book. It had everything in it - action, mystery and romance. This is one of them books you can read over and over again and never get tired. Definitely going to my faves list! Hopefully the story of The Dark One will be as exciting as this..
October 19, 2019
It seemed like a great setup but nothing ever happened. It was too much near-peril and not enough... anything... It's a cute read though so if you're looking for something light and happy give it a read.
February 5, 2020
Love this book!!!!
I really love this book. In most books there comes a part when u can put it down, not this one. For me I could not stop reading until the end which if fantastic!!!!
I really love this book. In most books there comes a part when u can put it down, not this one. For me I could not stop reading until the end which if fantastic!!!!
December 31, 2025
A different sort of historical romance - very straightforward in a very refreshing way! The love between characters easily conquers all. Such a cozy read, can’t wait to try another. I love the character of both but especially of the mapmaker.
January 19, 2018
Would highly recommend
April 7, 2021
Love wins
I love the way that Donna writes of great love and of lots of troubles along the way, love always winning in the end
I love the way that Donna writes of great love and of lots of troubles along the way, love always winning in the end
March 15, 2021
Review is up on my blog!
http://thereadsofanapple.blogspot.com...
http://thereadsofanapple.blogspot.com...
May 28, 2016
When the old Earl dies his cruel nephew inherits the title and lands including Reena's village. Peter Kilkern, Earl of Culberry will no longer allow the villagers to hunt on his land and will be taking almost all of their harvest as well. The village becomes bleak and starved. Reena is a skilled mapmaker and she decides to go on her own to find The Legend. She offers to become his official mapmaker if he will help her village and he agrees. Reena and Magnus spend more and more time together and fall in love. But Magnus' family secrets and a vengeful Peter Kilkern threaten their happiness.
There is actually very little relationship drama between Magnus and Reena. No huge misunderstandings or giant fights. No name calling or hurtful actions. Despite Magnus being so feared he is actually very romantic and respectful to Reena. The side stories going on are interesting. I loved Brigid and Thomas, Magnus' family past kept my attention. I intend on reading the next book about Mary and the Dark One .
There is actually very little relationship drama between Magnus and Reena. No huge misunderstandings or giant fights. No name calling or hurtful actions. Despite Magnus being so feared he is actually very romantic and respectful to Reena. The side stories going on are interesting. I loved Brigid and Thomas, Magnus' family past kept my attention. I intend on reading the next book about Mary and the Dark One .
April 14, 2015
as good as it gets
A lovely read. Magnus, the Legend, is the dark and secretive warrior/leader. Reena is the faithful, bright, talented, courageous daughter who wants to protect her village. Magnus is reminiscent of Piers Montgomery in Tanya Anne Crosby's Lyon's Gift. Multifaceted complex men. Reena sees the world with her artist's eye.
Add to that a second pair, Thomas, Magnus's best friend, and Brigid, Reena's BFF. Brigid is a beautiful widow who isn't sure she can love again. Thomas is a huge man with a huge heart who does not expect anyone ever to love him.
Add in old family disputes and hatred in the person of Peter Kilkern and you have a story.
My only complaint about this book is how it formats on my Kindle reader, no paragraph intention or separations. Reads better on my iPhonr than my iPad mini. Go figure.
A lovely read. Magnus, the Legend, is the dark and secretive warrior/leader. Reena is the faithful, bright, talented, courageous daughter who wants to protect her village. Magnus is reminiscent of Piers Montgomery in Tanya Anne Crosby's Lyon's Gift. Multifaceted complex men. Reena sees the world with her artist's eye.
Add to that a second pair, Thomas, Magnus's best friend, and Brigid, Reena's BFF. Brigid is a beautiful widow who isn't sure she can love again. Thomas is a huge man with a huge heart who does not expect anyone ever to love him.
Add in old family disputes and hatred in the person of Peter Kilkern and you have a story.
My only complaint about this book is how it formats on my Kindle reader, no paragraph intention or separations. Reads better on my iPhonr than my iPad mini. Go figure.
July 12, 2014
The first 80% of the book had me flying through the pages and then when they confessed their love for one another, I was done. I finished the book only to finish it and get it over with. I like idea of Reena and her dreams but her personality was lacking. Magnus was extreme. He was either grrr I'm mean and horrible /death stare or a puppy in love. I love happily Ever Afters but the last 80ish pagers made my eyes roll. I also feel the writing was lacking. I've read other stories by Fletcher and I feel like the characters had more depth and the story was more engaging. I was disappointed with this one but will read the 2nd book in the series, since I have it.
November 3, 2016
Good Read
Everything is coming up Fletcher! Donna Fletcher is legendary for good highland love stories and this one isn't any different. I loved the main characters and the attention to detail. I lost myself in the wonder of the story.
Everything is coming up Fletcher! Donna Fletcher is legendary for good highland love stories and this one isn't any different. I loved the main characters and the attention to detail. I lost myself in the wonder of the story.
December 24, 2007
A good 'ole historical romance! I enjoyed this book, though the characters were very...simple.
February 12, 2011
I have enjoyed every book by this author that I have read. This story was a bit different than some of the others of the same kind, and i found the story interesting and well done.
February 11, 2013
I read these out of order, but not as good as the 2nd book.
April 4, 2013
Great book. Great series. I gave 4 stars. I enjoyed and would recommend.
June 5, 2014
I enjoyed the concept of how very intelligent Reena was and the attraction and faith she had in the legend.
December 7, 2014
This book was a little dry. I keep reading because I wanted to see how it would turn out but other than that I don't think I would go out of my way to read it again.
Read
December 7, 2014This book was okay. Kinda dry. The story was flat and a little too squishy for me.
January 1, 2015
loved this book. It told a wonderful story with unique components that was thrilling to read.
my only wish was that the sex was hotter.
my only wish was that the sex was hotter.
December 22, 2014
Ah.. another what seemed like a highlander romance with a brave, courageous Reena and an undeniably strong yet gentle Magnus <33
June 6, 2015
OMG!!! Hot Hero and Courageous Heroine. Reena is qwesome when she defends her family and friends, and Magnus is incredible as he fights his brother for her
July 14, 2016
Read while in jail. Actual rating: 3
August 23, 2013
One of the best stories I've ever read!
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