eh. Would rather have had Ian as a more mature man than some weird man-boy. Sileas was great. ( )

The Guardian
By Margaret Mallory
Return of the Highlanders Book #1

Here is an author who can toy with the emotions of her readers which is a very good thing in my opinion. I felt so bad for the heroine in this story because the hero was such a jerk to her in the beginning of the book.

Sileas escapes her house at age 13 after her horrible step-father tries to marry her off to his son from another marriage just to gain control of her castle and lands because she is the rightful heir. She runs into her friend, Ian MacDonald who she has adored since she was a wee lass. He allows her to travel with him towards his home and even shares his plaid with her to keep warm when they camp but in the morning, his uncle rides into camp and thinks Ian has defiled Sileas and forces them to marry.

Ian is livid and despite knowing Sileas was in a bad situation and a good kid, believes she has trapped him into marriage. He thinks Sileas is too homely and skinny with wild red hair so he will never be attracted to her. He does not consummate the marriage and runs off with his friends to France to fight. He is gone for five years and never writes or asks about how Sileas is doing.

Five years later, he and his friends are back from France to discover their clan is in trouble. Their chief is dead, killed at the Battle of Flodden, and his brother has taken over but does not care for the welfare of the clan. He only cares about power and his own comfort. Ian’s father lost a leg at Flodden and has taken to his bed, depressed so now Ian has to become the man of the house and figure out a way to help the clan.

Sileas has lived with Ian’s family, working her finger to the bone, trying to help them out and she has grown into a beautiful woman. Ian notices right away and all of the sudden is interested in her which irked the heck out of me. What a tool!

I can tell this is going to be a great series. The other characters are interesting and the ongoing struggle of the corrupt chieftain will definitely be entertaining.

www.paranormalromanceslut.com ( )

The Guardian
3 Stars

When visiting a soothsayer, four young highland boys receive prophecies of their future brides. Ian MacDonald is told that he will marry twice - once for hate and once for love. Years later he is forced to wed a childhood friend and deserts her to fight in France. Upon his return, he discovers that gangly Síleas has become a beautiful and spirited young woman with little patience for a man who chose war over hearth and home. Is it too late for Ian to prove his love for her?

Ian has to be one of the most self-centered, obnoxious and irritating heroes ever to disgrace the pages of a historical romance novel. He returns home and expects the woman he deserted to welcome him with open arms and kiss the ground he walks on . . . Well, he is in for a big surprise!

Síleas is a charming heroine - beautiful, caring and independent. The only problem with her character is her love for the undeserving Ian. It seems that love truly is blind…and deaf … and stupid!

The rest of the plot revolving around a struggle for leadership of the Clan is well developed with some exciting action scenes. Unfortunately, it never quite succeeds in compensating for the weak romance.

The rest of the series focuses on the other boys: Alex the womanizer, Duncan the tormented and Connor the leader. As their characters are far more likable than Ian, I am willing to give their books a chance.
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This review is also published at http://thebookaholiccat.com

The Guardian is the first book of The Return of the Highlanders Series by Margaret Mallory and it’s also my first book by this author.

Ian MacDonald has always taken care of the young girl Sìleas as if she were his own little sister. But Sìleas has never seen Ian as a brother, since ever she has been secretly in love with him.
When Sìleas learns her abusive stepfather is planning to marry her the following morning to his disgusting and deprave son, she escapes from her castle in the middle of the night. Soon after escaping, she crosses path with Ian who is returning to his home from Stirling. Ian listens to Sìleas accusations against her stepfather and promises to take her the following morning to his father and uncle who is the chieftain of their clan, they would be able to help her better than him. As it’s very late at night they decide to camp and sleep couple of hours before continuing with their journey. In the early hours of morning they are awaken by the sounds of horses. The riders are Ian’s father, uncle and others clansmen. When they see them sleeping together they ask who he is with, Ian tells them and explain the circumstances, but they tell Ian he has to marry Sìleas because he compromised Sìleas virtue at sleeping together. The last thing Ian wants is to marry her, Sìleas is just a feeble child of thirteen and Ian is a young man of nineteen who doesn’t feel any inclination towards her. But his pleas are not listen and he is force to marry her. Ian blames Sìleas for the situation and doesn’t want to be with her, he decides to leave Scotland the next day of his wedding and go with his best friends Alex, Connor and Duncan to France. Ian and Sìleas didn’t consummate their marriage.
Upon receiving notice from home of the disastrous Battle of Flodden these young men decide to return home after five years of absence.
In these five years, Ian hasn’t thought about Sìleas once and has lived as if he was not a married man. But now with his imminent return she is brought back to his mind, he is just waiting to arrive home to request an annulment of the marriage. But when he arrives home, things are not as they were. Their Chieftain has died in the battle in suspicious circumstances, his father was also seriously injured and Sìleas is not the same scrawny girl he left behind. She is a beautiful grownup woman who has help to keep his family together in his absence. And if he doesn’t want her, that is not a problem, half the male population of the town would kill to have her as a wife.

Sìleas is a great heroine; she is a very strong, lovable and determined girl. She has been psychical and emotional abused by her stepfather. Also she has been the laughingstock of the town for five years because “she wasn’t woman enough to keep her husband”. But any of these things have deterred her, she continue to walk with her head high and despite everything she still loves Ian. But now she is mature and values herself enough to know that if he wants her, he has to prove it and make up for everything she has suffered because of his actions.

Ian is a handsome, sexy and interesting character, who is also somehow naïve, he didn’t have a clue of how to win a woman’s heart and sometimes I wanted to hit him in the head and scream at him what was he thinking. He was so innocent that it was funny to watch. Ian is also a very loyal and caring friend.

Sìleas and Ian’s romance was believable, and well paced. It was very nice to see them discover their feelings and see how their love grew even more.

The supporting characters in this book are awesome. Ian friends Alex, Connor, and Duncan are all so very different, but they are great together. Connor is all serious and responsible, Alex is the womanizer with a very colorful personality and Duncan is the good hearted gloomy one. Their friendship is very valued and protected, almost as a brotherhood and I really liked them.
I also liked Ian’s little brother Niall, I love how he takes the man of the house roll. And how he loves and tries to protect Sìleas.

I love books about Highlanders and Mrs. Mallory delivered with The Guardian. It was a terrific read, with a nice pace, a good plot and rich characters that will make you fall in love with them.
Each of Ian’s friends will have a book. The next book of the series The Sinner will be release in November 1, 2011. It’ll be Alex book and I can’t wait to read it. I’m dying to see which woman will be the brave one to tame him. I hope Niall gets his own book too. After everything he has done he deserves his HEA.

I recommend this book to all Highlander and historical romance lovers ( )

Good historical romance with plenty of action while the hero fights to save his clan and at the same time romance when he works to build his relationship with the heroine. After five years of fighting, Ian returns to Sileas, the wife he was forced to marry before he left. Looking forward to the next in the series.
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