Keeper Shelf - Various Romances

JULIE GARWOOD



By edict of the king, the mighty Scottish laird Alec Kincaid must take an English bride. His choice was Jamie, youngest daughter of Baron Jamison...a feisty, violet-eyed beauty. Alec ached to touch her, to tame her, to possess her...forever. But Jamie vowed never to surrender to this highland barbarian.

He was everything her heart warned against—an arrogant scoundrel whose rough good looks spoke of savage pleasures. And thought Kincaid's scorching kisses fired her blood, she brazenly resisted him...until one rapturous moment quelled their clash of wills, and something far more dangerous than desire threatened to conquer her senses...




Set in 13th-century England and Scotland, this rollicking adventure is among Garwood's most enjoyable. The news that her despicable husband is dead has left beautiful 16-year-old Lady Johanna both wealthy and available. Wicked King John wants to marry her to one of his henchmen, but her beloved foster brother convinces the powerful highland laird Gabriel MacBain to put aside his natural repugnance for all things English and wed the girl.

Emotionally scarred by her first marriage, Johanna is intimidated both by her strange surroundings and by the outsized, gruff laird; but with the help of an eccentric old soldier and MacBain's illegitimate son, Johanna learns to hold her own with the soldiers, their wives and her new husband. Then an unwelcome surprise tests her newfound courage.

Garwood endows the novel with a first-rate setting, a splendid supporting cast and witty dialogue that more than offsets the rote predictability of Johanna's great beauty and MacBain's forceful charisma.




In Ransom, New York Times bestselling author Julie Garwood returns to her beloved Highlands and the dark days of the despotic rule of King John to reacquaint readers with Scottish chieftain Brodick Buchanan, first introduced in The Secret. Brodick finds himself playing protector to Gillian, an exquisite English beauty, who is desperate to find her long-lost sister and a treasure of incalculable worth--one for which many already have died, including Gillian's own father. Coerced by the fiendish Baron Alford, who murdered her father before her eyes and usurped her birthright 14 years earlier, Gillian must return to England with Arianna's Box, a bejeweled golden box commissioned by King John, or her beloved Uncle Morgan will be tortured to death. In spite of Gillian's fragile looks and her loathsome English bloodlines, Brodick encounters a woman of immeasurable courage and determination, one not at all intimidated by his legendary temper or imposing size. And as he realizes that he has met his match in Gillian--whose sense of honor and duty equals his own--their passion for each other grows ever stronger in this thrilling historical.




Review from Amazon:

Princess Alesandra's father and mother married for love. Her father gave up his title and position for her mother. Then he dies when Alesandra is really young. Alesandra and her mother go to live at a convent where her mother is taken ill and soon dies as well.

Alesandra grows up in the convent where she is looked at as a trouble maker. She means well. Things just tend to get a little out of hand when she is involved. Then her home country wants her to rule. There is a General after her to make her his wife so that he can gain power over her country.A long ago friend of her fathers steps in to take guardianship of Alesandra and to help her find a husband. Her guardian soon falls ill, along with the rest of the family so she is sent to stay with his son, Colin until everyone is well.

Alesandra is a fun character who is dying to marry for love, but is being forced to marry for necessity. Colin is a man who doesn't want to marry until his 5 year plan of success is complete.Soon, they are married... :)

Colin is a man with some issues physically as well as mentally. Alesandra is someone who craves love.

I liked the characters very much. Thought they were well suited to each other and enjoyed Colin and the way he finds humor in his wifes antics. He is the typical 1800's male, he has definite ideas as to a womans place. But he is also very caring and tender with his wife.

The Butler in this book is great. He practically worships the Princess.

http://www.juliegarwood.com/



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KATIE MACALISTER



Mystery writer Kathie Williams firmly believes in rules when it comes to romance, and falling in love at first glance is not one of them. Yet somehow one look at Iain MacLaren and Kathie forgets the conference she's attending to dream up ways to seduce the dishy Scotsman. She accepts a surprise dinner invitation from Iain, which leads to a much more intimate kind of evening than she ever could have imagined.

Throwing caution to the wind, Kathie agrees to spend the rest of her vacation with him on his sheep farm in the Scottish Highlands, but any hope of a long-term relationship with her laconic lover means dealing with his assorted relatives and neighbors, a scheming ex-paramour who is not about to let Iain slip through her clutches, and Iain's career, which involves letting adorable lambs become someone's entree.

With its wickedly witty writing, wonderfully snappy dialogue, and uniquely amusing characters, MacAlister's latest is perfect for any reader seeking a deliciously sexy yet also subtly sweet contemporary romance.

http://katiemacalister.com/




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KINLEY MACGREGOR



Caledonia MacNeely fights an unfamiliar shiver when she is offered in marriage to the infamous ‘Lord Sin’ who others claim is the Devil’s own son. One so hated his own mother refused to even give him a name.

Though Callie fears this feral knight less for the dark whispers that damn him than for the uncertainty in her that he evokes, she is under order of the English King to marry him or see her clan destroyed. But bringing the devil into her clan is not only foolhardy, it’s dangerous.

http://www.sherrilynkenyon.com/



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KRESLEY COLE



Can a ruthless Highlander ever learn to love?

Burning vengeance…

Ethan MacCarrick was a heartbreakingly handsome rake until a powerful nobleman ordered him brutally beaten and his face scarred for a crime he didn’t commit. Ethan’s reprisal—bankrupting the nobleman and forcing his exile—does little to appease his wrath. Ten years later, a haughty, mysterious beauty enchants Ethan—the daughter of his enemy. At last, Ethan will have the revenge he’s craved; he’ll promise her marriage, seduce her, then cast her aside.

Bitter hardships…

When Madeleine Van Rowen’s family was suddenly plunged into destitution and dishonor, she steeled herself against further heartache. She never weakened, never trusted, until a towering, scarred Highlander relentlessly pursues her, breaking down her defenses.

At what price forgiveness?

The passion between them burns hotter than Ethan’s fury, and soon he finds he can’t let her go. But when Madeleine uncovers the truth about him, can Ethan convince her to accept all he now offers—when he once destroyed everything she had?

http://kresleycole.com/



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JUDE DEVERAUX



Bestselling romance writer Hayden Lane just lost the “perfect” man. But what real man could compete with the dark intriguing character she writes about? When a psychic tells her that Hayden has had a past life, she yearns to know more.

Despite the psychic’s warnings, Hayden gets hypnotized and comes to in Edwardian England where she immediately faints. Upon awakening, Hayden embarks on an adventure beyond her wildest dreams. She gets a chance at love so rapturous that it defies the boundaries of time…




Jude Deveraux’s beloved bestseller has captivated readers the world over; now in a special edition featuring new material, this timeless love story greets a new generation. Abandoned by her lover, thoroughly modern Dougless Montgomery finds herself alone and brokenhearted in an old English church. She never dreamed that a love more powerful than time awaited her there…until Nicholas Stafford, Earl of Thornwyck, a sixteenth-century knight, appeared. Drawn to him by a bond so sudden and compelling that it defied reason, Dougless knew that Nicholas was nothing less than a miracle: a man who would not seek to change her, who found her perfect just as she was. But she could not know how strong were the chains that tied them to the past — or the grand adventure that lay before them.

http://judedeveraux.com/

Keeper Shelf - Lynn Kurland

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Genevieve Buchanan inherited a castle – and a ghost to go along with it. But Kendrick de Piaget was no typical ghost. He was a handsome and infuriatingly arrogant thirteenth-century knight.

At first he wanted to frighten Genevieve, though she was more charmed than scared by his ghostly tricks. But when his thoughts turned to wooing her instead, Genevieve had to face her greatest fear: falling in love.




Patrick MacLeod is haunted by his past, by events he has no control over and wishes desperately he could change. He hasn’t the heart for love, nor the time for rescuing maidens in distress of their own making. Until he sees a woman who touches his heart and stirs his soul … and makes him believe love may be possible after all.

For Madelyn Phillips, Scotland is the land of dreams filled with magic, romance, and handsome Highland lords. Unfortunately, the reality of her dream vacation is no car, no luggage, and a pesky ex-fiance determined to shadow her every move. She thinks her dreams are in vain until she sees a man standing on a windswept moor, a Highlander full of secrets and longing–and Madelyn knows she has seen her destiny.

But the past isn’t through with either of them, and it will take all the love each possesses to make their dreams come true.




James MacLeod is the most respected – and feared – laird in all of Scotland in 1311. He loves his men like brothers and his land with a passion. He allows no women to cross the threshold of his keep … until his steward brings in a strange woman and sets her down in Jamie’s chair as if she belongs there.

Elizabeth Smith has taken a walk in Gramercy Park in 1996, dozed off on a bench, and woken in fourteenth-century Scotland on Jamie’s land. She’s sure she’s seen him before … in her dreams. She will turn his ordered world upside-down and go where no woman had ever gone before: straight into his heart.




Set near the Scottish border at a rugged castle on the edge of the sea, this is the story of a courageous lord who lost everything he held dear, of a strong young woman willing to sacrifice everything for happiness, of two lost souls who find in each other a reason to live again, to laugh again, and to love for the first time.




Alexander Smith finds success in the world of corporate takeovers – but not happiness. Then, at the MacLeod keep in Scotland, he discovers a pirate map that miraculously answers his yearning – with a journey to another time. And when he is captured in Medieval England by Margaret of Falconberg, a fierce beauty hidden in knight’s armor, he rediscovers his own chivalrous – and passionate – heart.




A wish upon a star transports the luckless-in-love Jessica Blakely back in time to the thirteenth century, but her desire for a fair and gallant knight yields the fearsome Richard de Galtres.

Though wary of Jessica’s mysterious ways, Richard protectively harbors her in his castle by the sea. Though her stubborn will nearly drives him mad, the very sight of her puts a smile on a face that has known too few. And when Jessica’s tender desire pierces the armor around his heart, Richard fears he may never be able to recover – or resist.

http://www.lynnkurland.com/