Taken By the Laird (Regency Flings, 2)

Entertaining story that keeps you wondering where it will lead and how everything ties together.

Margo Maguire's latest novel Taken by the Laird has a decent plot with a sexy hero and an innocent impetuous heroine. On some levels this novel really is good but it is also redundant and sometimes the characters act, well, a bit out of character. Heroine Brianna Munroe is fleeing an arranged marriage to a disreputable nobleman. She sets off toward her aunt Clair's house in Scotland bust she is only with her aunt a short time before she passes away. Alone but for her greedy family in London, Brianna must stay hidden for the next two months until her birthday, then she will receive her inheritance and no man will ever dictate her life again. Brianna wants to be just like her aunt Clair, independent, making her own decisions without the interference of a man or family. The reader is told this repeatedly. Hero Hugh Christie, Laird of Glenloch runs a smuggling operation out of his old castle. He believes he is being cheated out of his profits and has returned to Glenloch to find the culprit. Instead he finds a cold Brianna who has broken into what she believed to be an abandoned castle. Brianna feeds Hugh a ton of false information about herself, claiming she is escaping a lecherous employer and she is only waiting out the rain storm in his castle. Hugh allows her to stay and quickly tries to seduce her and Brianne is almost seduced, and a little too quickly for a woman who wants nothing to do with men. Due to weather and circumstances Brianna must abide in the castle with Hugh. They quickly become lovers and have a very heated affair but Hugh does not want an emotional entanglement. His first wife committed suicide and he does not want to go through another disappointing marriage. (The reader is given this information about Hugh many times also.) Hugh and Brianna have a lust filled romance but not necessarily an emotional one until very late into this novel. At times, Hugh aggravated me because he was less than honorable with Brianna. He knew she was virginal yet continued to seduce her knowing he had absolutely no intention of ever marrying her. It seemed to take him a long time to see his actions were less than noble. Brianna is wildly impulsive but she tames her impulses fairly quickly. She has lied to Hugh and I cannot really say that she was wrong to do so. She truly did not know what he would do if he knew she was the daughter of a peer. The physical romance between the leads is blazingly hot and surprisingly Brianna is no retiring miss when it comes to the bedroom. The easy camaraderie between the two was also believable. But the redundant musings about Brianna's aunt Clair and Hugh's continual reminders of his first wife got to be old. Also there was little emotion between these two until almost the end of the novel. It's almost as if the characters would rather reminisce about the past rather than take a good look at their present and future.

i liked this book very much. thank goodness i buy by thr authors i like and just by number of stars assigned. glad i found you on the kindle books list! when is your next book?! thank you for the hours of good reading (though there are other things i should be doing )!

Brianna Munro escapes her wedding to a very evil man. When she arrives back in Scotland she finds that her aunt is dying and she is all alone in the world. She decides to hide away for a few months until she become of age and can inherit. She finds herself in the haunted castle of Hugh Christie, Laird of Glenloch - and he has just returned. Hugh and Brianna fall into lust for the first ½ of the book and then the consequences of their action exploded into a very good book. There are murders; a ghost, evil ex-bride groom, stealing and the main characters make it through all of chaos together. Off to get some of her previous work; Wild ,A Warrior's Taking, Saxon Lady (Harlequin Historical Series),The Bride Hunt and The Perfect Seduction.

In December 1829 her guardian Viscount Stamford, knowing she will no longer be under his control in just two months and disgusted with his disobedient ward, arranges for Brianna Munro to marry the son of a duke the contemptible Marquess of Roddington. As Stamford waits for her by the altar to give Brianna away, she avoids the nuptials much by dressing up as a boy and fleeing. Her hopes lie with reaching her beloved Aunt Clare in Scotland where she will hide until she becomes legally an adult. However, she makes the trek to her aunt only to find Clare dying. She says her goodbyes and though grieving her loss as she loves her aunt, she continues to run away from her evil appalling fiancé and her even worse guardian. After a day of traveling in a downpour, Brianna takes shelter in a dank, dilapidated castle owned by Laird Glenloch; Hugh Christie who assumes she is a thief though she insists she a maid on the lam from a lecherous aristocrat. He invites her to spend the night in his abode, but one night becomes two nights and three nights and much more as the guest and her host fall in love in his haunted run down ruins of a castle. Readers will feel the icy cold of December in Scotland in which even shelter feels cuttingly freezing. That backdrop sets the tone of a wonderful historical romance starring two delightful lead characters, a ghost seemingly seeking salvation and some nasty villains. Although the changes in viewpoint seem abrupt especially when the nasties or the ghost take the stage, fans will enjoy Margo Maguire's vivid nineteenth century tale just wears gloves, scarf and a sweater while keeping the hot chocolate nearby. Harriet Klausner