Review: The Recruit by Monica McCarty

The Recruit
(Highland Guard, #6)
By: Monica McCarty
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: Oct. 30, 2012
Genre: Historical Romance
Rating:


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Scotland’s King Robert the Bruce is retaking his kingdom from the invading English. To win, he’ll need all the grit and courage of his elite band of warriors, the Highland Guard, men who fight without fear and love without limits.
 
Fiery, aggressive, and bold, Kenneth Sutherland is a true champion—skilled with any weapon and driven to win. Now Kenneth is ready for his greatest challenge: joining Robert the Bruce’s secret army to fight among the elite. Kenneth’s best chance to attain that honor is by winning the Highland Games. Focused and prepared for victory, he is caught off guard by a lovely wisp of a woman—and a stolen moment of wicked seduction. Her innocent arousal and her shameless hunger fire his blood. He will win his place in the guard—and in Mary of Mar’s bed.

The ruggedly handsome hero-in-the-making stirs a heart that should know better. Mary vows that her surrender will be sport only—no promises, no heartbreak, just one night of incredible passion. Nothing, she swears, will persuade her to give up her hard-wrought independence and put her fate in the hands of another powerful man. But with every gentle touch and heart-pounding kiss, Kenneth makes her want more. Now Mary wants his heart. But is this determined champion willing to surrender everything for love?

My thoughts...
Great continuation of the Highland Guard series. It was interesting to see the lengths that one goes through in order to prove themselves worthy of being part of the Guard. Not only between the training but the missions as well.

Mary's late husband was executed for being a traitor to the English king. He was also a huge scoundral and made no secret that he sought out other company to warm his bed at night. So when Kenneth comes along and shows interest in her, she's very weary of his intentions. She makes it clear that any man that she's with will be faithful and not put her or her son in harm. She has no idea that Kenneth is on a covert operation to get information about the king to bring back to the Bruce.

The story was good and I actually liked the addition of Mary's young boy to the story. It added more depth than just two people falling in love. Since after all, her son has been under English thumb since he was 6 months old, he acts more English than the Scot that he is. So not only do you have Mary wrestling to keep control of her heart and Kenneth trying to get Mary to love and trust him, so that when his secret is out, she will flee the country with him. But with her son so brainwashed by the English, getting him to come to Scotland may prove a bit difficult. Even though I've only read the fist and second book in this series (that's all my library carries), I really enjoy this series. You definitely have to read the first book to under stand all the planning that went into making the elite team, but I think after that you can skip around in the series if you want. There is mention of the Guard but it seems like the majority of the stories are about the two main characters with a sprinkling of the Guard mixed it.

Favorite quote...
"Kenneth couldn't bring himself to use MacKay's war name of "Saint". The appellation couldn't be farther from the truth. "Satan's spawn" suited him much better."



Previous reviews from Highland Guard
The Chief
The Hawk