Giveaway and Review: "The Guardian"

"The Guardian"
 by Margaret Mallory

Publisher: Forever
Release Date: May 1, 2011

Source: sent by publisher

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
 

Summary from goodreads.com:

Four young Highlanders - Connor, Ian, Alex and Duncan - hurry home from France after hearing news of the disastrous Battle of Flodden against Henry VIII's forces. With his father among the dead, Connor must take his place as chieftain. Before he can lead his clan through the perilous times ahead, however, he must first dislodge the usurper who has taken his family's castle and claimed leadership of the clan. Connor's cousins and best friend, Ian, Alex and Duncan, will stand shoulder to shoulder with him in every fight. They are willing to give their lives for their clan and their new chieftain. But taking wives to serve the clan's interests is a different matter altogether...

My Review:

I was really looking forward to this book because I loved the author's previous book, "Knight of Passion" (review here). Most of the reason why I loved that book so much was because I loved the hero, Jamie, and the romance. Here, I was disappointed in both of those aspects that I was really looking forward to.

There were many great characters in this book, but the hero, Ian, wasn't one of them. Sileas had what I like to call "Twilight" syndrome, where she is surrounded by great guys who respect her and care about her but she 'loves' the one guy who treats her disrespectfully.

Sileas spends more time with Ian's brother, Niall, who I absolutely love, than she does with Ian. Niall is so sweet and caring, even accompanying her on a dangerous trek. But she's not into him. She also is very happy when she's around Alex, Ian's cousin. Alex treats her well when Ian doesn't and picks up the slack for his cousin, trying to smooth things over. Also, Sileas is always laughing and happy around Alex but not around Ian. I would love to read the books where these two upstanding young men are the center of the story.

I really liked Sileas' relationship with Ian's family. They really were her family too, and there was a lot of love there. I don't think Ian would have had much of a chance with Sileas if it weren't for her bond with his family.


Main Characters: 3/5
Supporting Characters: 4/5
Setting: 3/5
Romance: 3/5
Uniqueness: 3/5
Cover: 3/5 (not really a fan of this one, where's the romance!?)
Writing: 4/5


Bottom Line: I felt like all Sileas and Ian had was the physical bond, and it just wasn't enough for me. I would have loved to see the heroine with either Niall or Alex, who both clearly respected her and cared about her.

GIVEAWAY RULES:

Hachette books has generously provided three copies of this historical romance for readers of my blog!

All you have to do is follow my blog publicly and leave a comment on this review with your email address! Please follow publicly or I can't tell that you are following :) Also, if you aren't comfortable leaving your email here, go ahead and leave a comment and then send me an email with your email addy

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Rules:

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• Ends Wed May 25

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