Public Service Announcement – Do NOT begin this book before you go to bed unless the following day is completely free. Once you start reading, you absolutely will not be able to stop – and it will linger in your mind long after you are done.

The characters are so engaging that you’ll think of them as your own family. James and Anice are from totally different backgrounds, but they have so much in common. They both focus on their own flaws more than their own strengths and both want the best for their clans.

The Borderlands are an extremely dangerous place to live – especially for the residents of Werrick Castle. The Earl of Werrick, Warden of the English West March, has taught his five daughters to fight just as well as the men because they’ve been under constant attack by the Graham Clan for over ten years. The Grahams are reivers with no land or home of their own and Laird Graham covets Werrick castle and all of its riches. The Grahams managed to take Werrick Castle once, briefly, and it cost the Countess of Werrick her life.

The current siege of Werrick Castle has gone on for many, many months, the food stores are gone and the people are slowly starving. Anice knows she has to do something to save her family and her people – but what? If Marin, her sister, were there, she’d know what to do, but Marin is married and living at her own castle now. Therefore, it is up to Anice as her father is at a loss for ideas as well. Nothing is going to happen if the two leaders don’t speak, so Anice sets about making that happen. She sneaks out of the castle through the secret entrance and makes her way to the reivers encampment where she encounters a very large, very muscled man and asks him to take her to Laird Graham.

A meeting is set and now Anice has to convince her angry father that it is for the best that she snuck out to set things up. When Laird Graham arrives, that large warrior is with him – and he is definitely an imposing man. As Lord Werrick asks what terms Laird Graham will accept to end the siege, Graham shocks them all. Laird Graham requires that Lord Werricks daughter, Anice, must marry Laird Graham’s son. Yes, that very large, very imposing man is Graham’s son, James. James is as shocked as Anice, but both reluctantly agree in order to save Werrick Castle and her people.

James Graham is tired of reiving. He wants peace for his clan – and a steady supply of food and a safe place to live for them all. He’s tried and tried to persuade his father to give up reiving, but there is no hope for it. His father loves the excitement and thrill of the battles, raiding the castles they take and – well – all of the other vile things they do. James sees this marriage as an opportunity to gain land and a home for his people as a part of Anice’s dowry. He just won’t love her – because – well – beautiful women are deceitful and don’t belong with people like him.

There are so many wonderful, fun, entertaining, scary, suspenseful things I’d love to tell you about this book – but I don’t want to spoil it for you. I will tell you that I absolutely adored James Graham. He’s so large and fierce – but has the most gentle and loving heart. He could easily be my favorite hero – ever. The love between Anice and James felt real and I totally believed these two could come together and bring out the best in each other. Trust was an issue for each of them – James because he’d been betrayed by a beautiful woman – and Anice because the Grahams were the cause of so many horrible things that have happened to her family and Werrick Castle. I loved watching them come together and overcoming almost insurmountable odds.

This is the second book of the series and could easily be read as a stand-alone, but everything is so much richer and more exciting if you’ve read the first book. I highly recommend this book and the entire series.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ( )