This book was interesting. When duty gets in the way of trust and love, relationships can become rocky. Magnus and Kendra are ordered by the king to marry. She sees this as a way out of an unwanted marriage. He reluctantly accepts his duty. Except that Kendra's father is ailing, her brother is gone, and her father accepted a bride price in gold, which is missing. She is grappling with all this and her growing attraction for Magnus. Magnus is duty bound, as a new Laird and in a mission to find his brothers killer. He has little time for his bride and his attraction to her. Things come to head when Kendra leaves only for Magnus to realize that she is above his duty and more.

Overall, it is a well paced, fast read with real struggles that the characters face.

#netgalley

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Bride Takes a Laird by Kara Griffin is a third person dual-POV historical romance set in the Scottish Highlands. Kendra’s father has fallen ill and is struggling to remember important things, including where he put the gold from a bride price he accepted without speaking to Kendra. When the king demands Kendra wed a laird, she finds a way to break the unwanted marriage contract, but as long as the gold is missing, it’s going to hang over her head.

Magnus is a more serious character than Kendra, rarely smiling and taking his responsibilities as a laird quite seriously. By the time the plot starts, there’s not a whole lot for him to be thrilled about. While he always wanted to be the laird, he only recently came into the position and it was on the back of his brother being murdered and several of his clansmen also being killed, including the person in charge of the accounting. He has too much to do, too little time, and now has to adjust to being a married man under the orders of his king.

Kendra’s major flaw is that she struggles to let her husband in. She’s already dealing a lot with her father’s health and she refuses to tell Magnus about the bride price situation. When it rears its ugly head, she admits that she’s ashamed of it and would keep it to herself forever if she could. Given that she didn’t want to marry the initial suitor, I think a lot of it is truly tied up in her father’s health and how much she’s had to do to keep their lands running, things that her father was expected to handle. I can understand that. When things are tied up in the health of a parent, it gets a lot more complicated.

I would recommend this to fans of Scottish romance where the male lead is more serious and devoted to his community and readers of historical romance who like plot points involving murder mysteries

I enjoyed this one. I liked the setting and the characters were interesting. I really enjoyed Kendra's character. She's determined, smart and kindhearted. She spends a lot of the book torn in two which I think was a great internal conflict. Magnus was a good male lead. He is trying to solve a murder mystery but at the same time cannot help but be distracted by his bonnie wife. I thought their relationship was well developed and romantic.

Would recommend if you like Highland romances.