I love Maya banks. Her writing is amazing and well written. I love her characters. You just fall in love all over again with new characters everytime

In book 1 we read about Ian McHugh. He was, in three words or less, a “big ole bastard”. Seriously, that man was demented. Now that he’s gone the Armstrong and Montgomery families have now banded together and 4 of their sons have descended upon the McHugh Keep and have found it in desperate straights. Patrick McHugh, Ian’s father and the true laird, has deserted his clan in fear and has taken most of their stores with them. The remaining McHugh’s are fearful but also belligerent to the new laird, who is Bowen Montgomery.
When they first arrive they meet Genevieve McInnes. They just know her as Genevieve and that she was Ian’s whore. She was however, kidnapped and kept as Ian’s prisoner. He raped her repeatedly and even cut her face so that no one else would want her. To say that Genevieve has emotional issues is to put it mildly. Bowen, however, sees a woman who is strong for having put up with not only the horrors of Ian but also the extreme disdain and hatred from the rest of the clan. When the keep is attacked and Genevieve becomes fierce in battle she’s thought of even less. Again Bowen comes to her defense.
On top of those issues then there’s the part she played in the kidnapping of Eveline in book one that Bowen may come to terms with, but Eveline’s husband, Graeme, isn’t too about. The decision for Bowen, after he falls in love with Genevieve, is to keep her and make himself happy or send her home and make her happy. Not an easy decision.
This was a very emotional read. Reading about Genevieve’s experiences was quite hard and pretty heartbreaking. There was yet another incident in the story that Genevieve had to deal with and that was pretty scary as well. I really liked Genevieve and the strength she showed throughout the story.
Bowen was a man with a huge heart. He saw the good in Genevieve almost from minute one and I loved that about him. He didn’t judge, he just opened himself up to listening and for a medieval man to do that was awesome. He even ended up thinking of Genevieve’s feelings before his own and that made me love him even more.
Overall it was a good book and I enjoyed reading it. I didn’t like it quite as much as book one but that would have been pretty hard to top. 🙂 I can’t wait to for the next book to see who’s paired up next. I’m really enjoying this series!

Rating: 4 out of 5