I had the pleasure of nabbing an early copy of Highlander Untamed a debut novel and the first book in the MacLeods of Skye Trilogy at RWA this year! The cover of the book was what actually caught my eye when I was browsing B&N. I e-mailed Monica McCarty the author about the book hoping she would have copies of the book at RWA and she did.
So basically the plotline of this story which Monica did a lot of research is based on an actual clan that existed in Scotland. The couples for each book w...

I had the pleasure of nabbing an early copy of Highlander Untamed a debut novel and the first book in the MacLeods of Skye Trilogy at RWA this year! The cover of the book was what actually caught my eye when I was browsing B&N. I e-mailed Monica McCarty the author about the book hoping she would have copies of the book at RWA and she did.
So basically the plotline of this story which Monica did a lot of research is based on an actual clan that existed in Scotland. The couples for each book were real couples but of course they're love story is of Monica's imagination. In Highlander Untamed you have Rory MacLeod who is the Chief of the Clan MacLeod. The Clan MacLeod has been in a bloody battle for the past 2 years with the MacDonald Clan. In order to stop this battle between the 2 clans and to have peace King James of Scotland has forced Rory to enter into a handfast (a sort of probationary marriage for a year---full benefits of marriage but w/out actually being married yet) with Isabel MacDonald who is the niece of Sleat MacDonald the man who shamed Rory's sister and clan. Sleat has other plans for Isabel he has forced her into spying on Rory and his clan during this year handfast to find information that would help him destroys Rory and his clan. In return Sleat will help Isabel's family wage a war against the McKenzie clan. Isabel expects this to be an easy task and she does not want to fail her family, a family that she has been trying to get approval from. She is a favorite at the Kings court and is considered a rare beauty.

Isabel ends up falling for Rory and has the hard choice of either choosing between the man she has fallen for or her family. As for Rory he faces the struggle of whether to go with his heart or do what is good for his clan. I love this kind of plotline and for me Monica brought a fresh outlook. You will fall in love with Rory. He is so honest, sexy, and caring. His love for his people and his actions towards Isabel and his sister will make you love him. Isabel is a great heroine. She has her insecurities but does not let them stop her for fighting for what she loves. There were many times I had to root for her. She is no wilting flower. The chemistry between the couple is electric. Lots of sexual tension and the love story takes place over a period of a year, so you get to see the relationship grow from weary to caring and into love. Anyways if you love a good a sexy man in kilt and are looking for a good Highlander story with history, great details, a sexy hero, a sassy heroine and a evil uncle who'll stop at nothing to destroy the MacLeods give this book a try! It comes out on July 31st and the next 2 books in the trilogy which is Highlander Unmasked comes out at the end of August and Highlander Unchained comes out at the end of September.

And for the baseball fans out there Monica is the wife of former Red Sox Dave McCarty! Check out her website as well. She has excerpts up also for the other two other books and beautiful pictures of her visit to Scotland.

Highlander Untamed was a very enjoyable story. Feuding Clans The MacLeods and MacDonalds are order by King James to Handfast The chief of MacLeod's Rory to the Chief of MacDonald's daughter Isabel. There relationship starts out tremulous and very rocky, The couple just don't trust one another. Isabel's duty is to find the MacLeods legendary Fairy Flag and the Secret entrance to the Keep. She must seduce her new husband to tell his secrets. Rory is no fool and a excellent hero. Very sexy Alpha...

Highlander Untamed was a very enjoyable story. Feuding Clans The MacLeods and MacDonalds are order by King James to Handfast The chief of MacLeod's Rory to the Chief of MacDonald's daughter Isabel. There relationship starts out tremulous and very rocky, The couple just don't trust one another. Isabel's duty is to find the MacLeods legendary Fairy Flag and the Secret entrance to the Keep. She must seduce her new husband to tell his secrets. Rory is no fool and a excellent hero. Very sexy Alpha male. He suspects what Isabel is up. However these two have such strong chemistry and attraction to one another that it cannot be deny. They actually grow in Love. I loved to watch there relationship grow from lust to trust to love and finally forsaking all others. Isabel is a beautiful young women, kind and very intelligent. Rory is everything a women would or should want in a man. Tall, handsome, strong and intelligent, also very honorable. I fell in love with this couple. I couldn't stop reading this story and read it straight through. Monica McCarty is fast becoming one of my best and favorite Historical Romance authors. All her characters are based in reality of notable Historical figures. Her storyline figures around past historical events. She truly has done her research. If I had any complaint it would the near rape attempt. Not necessary and it sort of threw cold water on the story. Just for a minute. I Highly Recommend Highlander Untamed.

Native London actor Antony Ferguson gives a 5 star performance of this 4 star classic Highlander romance tale. This is the first book in the series of three concerning the MacLeods of Skye by Monica McCarty. I listened to this book and the next one - Highlander Unmasked on a long road trip. Ferguson's Scottish accents were excellent and he imbued each character with a unique voice. It's really a pleasure to listen to a highland romance when the tough male characters have a deep voice and th...

Native London actor Antony Ferguson gives a 5 star performance of this 4 star classic Highlander romance tale. This is the first book in the series of three concerning the MacLeods of Skye by Monica McCarty. I listened to this book and the next one - Highlander Unmasked on a long road trip. Ferguson's Scottish accents were excellent and he imbued each character with a unique voice. It's really a pleasure to listen to a highland romance when the tough male characters have a deep voice and the women's voices are all distinctive, not an easy task when the book is performed by one person.

I agree with other reviews that this book was genuinely interesting, loosely based on actual historical events, with characters that were well developed and intrigue enough to keep me engaged throughout. The progression of the romance was also very well written, especially as the couple, Rory MacLeod and Isabel MacDonald, were thrown together as many of that era were for political alliances and by royal manipulations. The antagonistic characters were not as well fleshed out, but gave enough flavor to create good dramatic tension between the interwoven characters.

I do very enthusiastically recommend this audiobook to historical romance lovers.