Lord of secrets by Mary Gillgannon

A story of an English Lord and Welsh healer she doesn’t really trust him as he’s English and has a bad experience with Englishmen in her past. They don’t have a good start when they first met but as he is a gentle soul she is drawn to him as they fight obstacles to find true lovei in this medieval romance.

An enjoyable read full of danger politics and drama a bit slow in parts. 3.5/5

I don't often read too many books that are set prior to the late 1700s/early 1800s (post Revolution era) but I found this one interesting. I also don't find too many with the Welsh, so it was very interesting to have a Welsh woman involved, even if the cover originally made me think Scotland, not Wales. I plan to check out the rest of the series. The H was so gentle and kind in the face of the h's troubled past and fears.

This is book 2 in the Lord of the borders series. You really don’t have to have read book 1 in the series to follow the story. I have to say I did enjoy this more than book 1. The story was well done and I enjoyed the characters. Looking forward to book 3.

An enjoyable book to read. This was the story of a Welsh healer and an English knight. There was a good storyline and plot. The main characters were interesting and fearless. It kept me interested and l would recommend that you read this book.

The Gentle Lord and the Healer Who Stole His Heart

You could not help but like William. Unlike so many men in positions of power, he was gentle and did what he could to care for his people. There were those that would see him brought low, and they take a path of murder and villainy to accomplish their goal. There was also a healer whose experience with English lords led her to fear him. She started by attacking him, but as time passed, she could not help but be drawn by the gentle lord. Their love grew, but there were seemingly insurmountable obstacles. After all, he was an English lord who must marry a woman of rank. Could they find a way to be together? This book has romance and action. It could have been a bit shorter, but I did enjoy it and would recommend it to lovers of medieval romance.

Lord of Secrets by Mary Gillgannon is the second book in the Lord of the Borders series. I did not read the first book, and found it works as a stand alone.

An enigmatic Welsh wise woman. A bold English knight. The first time they are alone, she draws a knife on him. From there, things get interesting. William Fitzhugh is proud to be named lord of Higham Castle on the Welsh border. But defending and managing the castle and the lands surrounding it is a huge responsibility. He needs a wife to aid him, but the only woman who interests him is the local healer, Rhosyn, a mysterious Welshwoman who wants nothing to do with him. Rhosyn fled the traumatic events of her life in Wales to begin a new life at Higham. She hopes to earn the trust of the local people and become accepted in the community, and she fears the new lord of Higham will ruin her plans. The English noblemen she’s known previously were arrogant and cruel. She doesn’t expect this giant of a knight be any different. From the beginning, Lord Fitzhugh confounds her. He seems to genuinely want to do right by the people of Higham and make certain they prosper. Rhosyn is surprised and intrigued by the handsome young lord’s generous and reasonable nature. Other people see it as a weakness and scheme to bring him down. William is entranced by the lovely young healer and admires her knowledge and dedication. But she remains wary and elusive. As the passion between them builds, so does the weight of the secrets keeping them apart. Secrets that have the power to sever the fragile bond between them and destroy all they care about.

Lord of Secrets is a well written romance with complex characters. I liked Rhosyn's character and thought she had a nice balance of strong and vulnerable. The exploration of power and the vulnerability of women, and men of lower classes as well, was handled well and in an honest way. I thought the secondary characters of the town were equally well written, with even the less agreeable characters carrying some complexity to make the reader understand a bit about their reasoning. Fitzhugh was also well developed as a character. His reasonable nature and willingness to learn from those around him made him stand out from other characters, and frankly many other romance heroes.While still very much in charge, he seems very aware of what he does not know, and is willing to lean on others to bridge the gap. I though the story was good. The politics, drama, and danger were all interesting and mostly came together in a satiafying way by the end of the book. However, I did feel like it ran a little long. About two thirds of the way through the book I was ready for the big wrap up, and it took awhile to get there. I am not sure if it was my mood while reading or if something could have been condensed for a smoother finish. I did enjoy the read, both for the story and the characters, but just found myself impatient for the end.

Lord of Secrets is a well written historical romance.

Welsh-English Border, 1209
William Fitzhugh was now the Lord of Higham, awarded through his father's backing of the King John. Now he had to figure out how to manage his holdings and keeping peace and prosperity.

He first meets Rhosyn, a healer, and asks for a sleeping potion but she doesn't know whether to trust him or not. He is English and she had bad experiences with other Englishmen.

The two slowly build a romance, but there is always a villain lurking somewhere, so enjoy the journey as William builds his new home and he and Rhosyn find love.

William Fitzhugh is now the new Lord of Higham charged to setting the estate back together after the former lord seized everything of value leaving castle a disaster. William will need to furnish the whole castle to begin with. He seeks out the healer the Welsh Rhosyn, he’s been having trouble sleeping ever since his wife died a few years ago. She’s not quite what he expected she comes out fighting him right from the beginning coming at him with a knife. Quite an interesting read as these two navigate their lives and around each other. Why was Rhosyn so fearful of him? He becomes quite intrigued by her and slowly ants to build trust with her and his new people. To prove he’s a good landlord and man. I have voluntarily read and reviewed this story.

You could really feel the continuous, build up of affection and mounting frustration which ricocheted between this main couple. From their curious, at first glance instant attraction yet foreboding impulse to ignore it in order to fight that feeling to the final result of their true love could not be denied, these two world and work weary love birds spent a lot of time in their own heads hashing all the reasons why they likely should never be a couple. You’ll have to be patient with both of them in that regard. But not to overly worry because in spite of all that, they still couldn’t kept apart for long.

A whole lot of time was also spent in the day and life of the constant setbacks, never ending struggles, and challenges that befell this caring, protective, English Knight widow Lord, as he struggled to put his newly gifted from the king castle and lands back together. Seriously, this guy could not catch a break. Whereas, the health of William’s newly appointed people rested solely on Rhosyn’s healer shoulders. In fact, daily castle life itself filled a lot of these pages. It was almost like Rhosyn and William were walking side by side working as one, even when they weren’t physically together. They stayed in each other’s thoughts.

There is a long list of subcharacters that went along with this castle package, as well. So many I must admit I’m not sure I always kept them all straight. But, hey, that’s likely OK because not all of them were pivotal to the plot.

I am scratching my head a little wondering how the title fits. You see, I felt the heroine was the one who had secrets she was reluctant to reveal. Other than William's insecurities he tried to keep hidden, he seemed an open book to me.

Though I did enjoy spending time with this couple, I have to admit by 70% I was thinking the story line was taking its good old sweet time in resolving the issues laid out and the pending drama was being put off longer than necessary. Things did pick up here and there at times, but I’d consider this a leisurely paced read. I was equally surprised at the abrupt conclusion. Perhaps it was the advanced reader copy edition I read and further editing of the ending took place before final publication.

You get at first stolen passionate kisses that eventually evolve into very heated, detailed, graphic smex scenes. Once they both pitch their knuckleheaded notions and turn their hearts, minds, and love over to fate and destiny, this main couple seem ready to conquer almost anything. Heaped with loads of back and forth uncertainty and relationship angst, that won’t happen until the verra end, folks.

Book 1 - Lord of Hearts
Book 2 - Lord of Secrets

Title: Lord of Secrets, Series: Lords of the Border (Book 2), Author: Mary Gillgannon, Pages: 324, pub date: 1/19/21, stand-alone but part of a series, new to me author, caring, protective English Knight widow Lord hero, Welsh healer, English vs Welsh backdrop, lots of relationship angst, dual POV, graphic smex scenes, lots of inner monologues, numerous subcharacters, slow paced at times, love birds but knuckleheads at times, reference to past attempted assault, perilous situations. Rating: 3 - 3.5 stars

(I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not given any payment or compensation for this review. There is no affiliation or relationship between this reviewer and the author, publisher, NetGalley, or PR firm.)

This hero, William Fitzhugh, has a mighty problem to solve. The villain of the book stole all the furnishing from the castle the King bestowed on William. How does one furnish a castle when there is no experience that he can draw from? Never had this young knight ever faced a problem to strange from the battlefield. Then he discovers a Welch woman living in the village that claims to be a healer. But when he goes to her for help, he finds that she pulls a knife on him and their relationship develops from there. He has lots of problems to correct, besides trying to help the people of the village. The characters are well developed, and the plot works.

I really wanted to love this book, because of how the book was described. The plot sounded very interesting. But for Me the book became more about the castle, getting it in shape. And the quarrels between the main male character and his cousin. The chemistry between the hero and heroine was nothing New. I had read it before.

I totally enjoyed the story line which takes place along the Welsh borders. William and Rhosyn are the two main characters and have instant chemistry between them when they meet. They also have a building friendship over time that turns to romance. Rhosyn does struggle with her attraction to William as the women in her family are healers and do not marry.
I missed the first book in the series when it came out so this is the first book by Mary Gillgannon I have read, and it won't be my last. I definitely plan on going back and reading Book 1.

I tried to love this story. I tried to appreciate the relationship between William and Rhosyn. The plot was sort of dull. Looking for furniture and arguing with a cousin. Wish it captured my imagination!

The Lord of Secrets by Mary Gillgannon is Lords of the Borders, Book 2.William Fitzhugh was the new Lord of Higham. Not for any worthy deeds of his own but because his father was a faithful minion of King John. That did not mean he wouldn't do everything he could to accomplish the task before him. Right now, the task was ascertaining the loyalty of the staff and the villeins. To that end he had his men remove their armor so they wouldn't appear warlike but enter the village as the powerful men they were. He was introduced to many men and saw many women but they were beneath the notice of their husbands. He had been having trouble sleeping since the death of his wife several months prior, so he sought out the healer in order to get a sleeping potion. There he was overwhelmed by her presence. She was overwhelmed as well. Assuming he was like the only other English lord she had ever known, she assumed he was there for rape, so she stabbed him. The knife made little more than a bite on his neck. He couldn't understand why she would have done it.

This was an entertaining story, but highly unlikely. An English lord and a Welsh healer? It was full of adventure, however. Rhosan was a quiet, but intelligent woman who knew the value of keeping her head down and doing her job to her best ability. She had replaced her aunt as healer and was not really accepted in the village...yet. William was not your typical English lord. He wanted to be a good and benevolent lord. He wanted to be loved, not feared. He had much to prove to his father so in his enthusiasm he made mistakes. The mistakes cost some lives. Those he carried on his back. One of the messages of the story is that one cannot trust another simply because they are family. In this story, Gillgannon tried to give these medieval persons morals and value from today. That makes for a good story, but is highly inaccurate. Still in all, it was a good read. I recommend it for a couple of hours respite from all that is happening today.

I was invited to read a free ARC of Lord of Secrets by Dragonblade, through Netgalley. All opinions contained herein are solely my own. #netgalley #lordofsecrets

William Fitzhugh is the new Lord of Higham . It will be his first time in total control of a castle and all the people that come with it. That is made even more difficult when he finds out that the previous Lord stripped everything out before he left. William is left with a huge responsibility and no experience.
Rhosyn learned her healing skills from her mother, but had to flee after her mother's death at the hands of a brutal English Lord. As a Welsh woman living in an English stronghold she can only hope that her trade as a healer can keep her safe.
There are lots of problems for our hero to battle with and lots of confusion for our heroine. They both have to fight for the strength they need to save themselves and the people that depend on them.
Lovely characters and really good fun.

One thing I know for sure after reading this story is that I would never want to be in charge of furnishing a castle from top to bottom! Such a lot of work!!! lol I have to admit I really struggled to finish this book because it just seemed to drag and it was just the same thing over and over again. There's also the fact that the "villain" Rhosyn ran away from is mentioned all through the book and yet he never shows up so I was a bit disappointed about that. Most of the story is based on William trying to figure out what the castle needed and bedding Rhosyn!

I'm not saying this is a bad story, it just leaves a lot of loose ends and what seems to be a problem all through the book is suddenly not a problem anymore and you're left to wonder why it was a problem in the first place! lol

I was given an ARC of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

In a violent era of British history, William Fitzhugh is named the Lord of Higham Castle, despite not being groomed for the responsibility. His first interaction with the village healer, Rhosyn, does not go well, but William is different from most knights of the British Isles. He slowly wins Rhosyn over, as well as many of the villagers. Unfortunately, there is more than one snake in the grass wanting to see him fail and William has his work cut out for him. I found this well-written book interesting and rich in the history of the period, as well as romantic as William and Rhosyn struggle with the attraction between them. The commentary on herbal remedies and their preparation is interesting, especially as even at that time, records were being kept and the purpose of herbs was documented. I received a copy of this novel through NetGalley and this is my honest and voluntary review.

I typically won't leave a review for a DNF because it doesn't seem fair, but I decided to go ahead this time since I read about 60 percent before giving up. My biggest gripe is that so much of the story is inside Rhosyn's or William's head, and I didn't like either of them well enough to spend that much time in the brains of two overthinkers. If you prefer that writing style, though, you might be fine with this book.

I just could not get into this story, in spite of the fact that the plot seemed intriguing; I love it when the h is skilled at something (in this case, healing). And for the most part, I did like Rhosyn. William, though, just didn't come close for me, except maybe for his kindness. As the new lord of a castle located on the Welsh border, he has his hands full. Sadly, he seems to have zero skills; he has no idea what to do or when to do it, and he often makes really stupid choices. Whenever he gets overwhelmed/tired/confused/horny, his solution is to drop by the healer's cottage. However, he knows he shouldn't give in to his lust because Rhosyn, like his dead wife who died in childbirth TWO MONTHS AGO, is really tiny.

I just kept plodding along in the hopes the story would pick up, but it never did. I read to escape, and it was just too much work for me. I'm really sorry that I can't leave a more positive review; writing a novel is quite an achievement, and I totally respect it. But I have to be honest.

I gratefully received an ARC of this book from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion. Thanks!

This is book 2 in the Lord series but can be read as a standalone.

I enjoyed most of the story. Some parts dragged a little and there was so much going on, that when it came to the last chapter and all the answers were just quickly written in a few sentences, it made me sad that it felt like the author was just done with the story and didn’t want to add more chapters, a big battle or a wedding.

I received this ebook arc from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is my fair and honest review, voluntarily given and in my own words for this ARC. The era, the location, the characters should have given this book an amazing aura. Unfortunately, for me, it didn't. To my mind, there was too much repetitive introspection for each of the main characters when other things could be played out much better.