Challenge Corner discussion

Ewan McCabe, the eldest, is a warrior determined to vanquish his enemy. Now, with the time ripe for battle, his men are ready and Ewan is poised to take back what is his—until a blue-eyed, raven-haired temptress is thrust upon him. Mairin may be the salvation of Ewan's clan, but for a man who dreams only of revenge, matters of the heart are strange territory to conquer.

The illegitimate daughter of the king, Mairin possesses prized property that has made her a pawn—and wary of love. Her worst fears are realized when she is rescued from peril only to be forced into marriage by her charismatic and commanding savior, Ewan McCabe. But her attraction to her ruggedly powerful new husband makes her crave his surprisingly tender touch; her body comes alive under his sensual mastery. And as war draws near, Mairin's strength, spirit, and passion challenge Ewan to conquer his demons—and embrace a love that means more than revenge and land.

Chapters 1-9 (view spoiler)[I don’t know how I feel about how aggressive he is towards her. He seems very demanding and controlling. (hide spoiler)]

Chapters 10-19 (view spoiler)[Of course she ended up getting shot. I don’t know how she didn’t notice. (hide spoiler)]

Chapters 20-29 (view spoiler)[I was not expecting that it was actually him they were trying to kill. (hide spoiler)]

Finished (view spoiler)[ I love how the king showed up and gave them her dowery. I couldn’t even imagine what she might have been through trying to keep her unborn baby alive. (hide spoiler)]

Read this one tonight.

Chapters 1-10
(view spoiler)[
Mairin has certainly not had an easy time of it so far in this book. She's kidnapped, almost forced to marry a crazy guy, beaten, and now she's being forced into another marriage (granted it's with someone who is seemingly better). Not loving all the ordering about bit so far, I haven't read a Scottish romance in a while so I forgot how prevalent that is in them.
(hide spoiler)]

Chapters 11-20
(view spoiler)[
Ok this is getting better. Still not loving the whole ordering around thing, but they're cute together. Plus I like how she just does what she wants anyway. And how did she end up getting shot? Was it actually an accident or was it deliberate?
(hide spoiler)]

Chapters 21-30
(view spoiler)[
Damn, Mairin is just unlucky. First she's shot with an arrow and now she was poisoned. It makes sense that they were actually trying Ewan but poor Mairin caught it both times. I am liking their relationship a lot more. But now we're going into the final chapters, I'm interested to see how this whole Cameron thing wraps up.
(hide spoiler)]

Chapters 31-39
(view spoiler)[
Well that was way more dramatic than I was expecting. I'm glad she wasn't with Cameron long and that Ewan and his brother rescued her. The fact the king was being poisoned was crazy but I'm glad he righted the wrongs of his cousin once he knew.
(hide spoiler)]

Melanie wrote: "Read this one tonight.

Chapters 1-10
..."

(view spoiler)[Typically I don’t love the demanding alpha male either, but I just found it funny in this book. Could have been the way the narrator did it though. (hide spoiler)]

Read this one today.

Chapter 1-7: (view spoiler)[Although I read a lot of historical romances, Scottish heroes are not my cup of tea and I try to steer clear of the same. As such, this is not shaping up to be a great read for me personally because the kind of brute strength and demeanour these guys emanate is what repels me away. The heroine being headstrong is a sort of a relief though and I am a tiny bit curious to see how she plans to escape from the clan (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 8-15: (view spoiler)[huh kinda weird that Ewan was able to just boss Mairij into marrying him so easily. I mean the reasons he gave kinda made sense but one would think someone so hell bent on not marrying would put up a bigger fight when being forced to do the same thing she has been running from, just in a slightly different way. I like the bond she is developing with Cripsin though (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 16-23: (view spoiler)[It's kinda endearing how innocent Mairin is with respect to the matters of love and her seeking out Maddie for guidance was a testament to the same. I am glad to see a beautiful connection developing between the husband and wife although it being a marriage of convenience. I am curious to see if there is indeed a traitor among them and whether the attack was intentional (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 24-31: (view spoiler)[Well someone trying to kill Ewan makes sense because then Mairin would be free to marry another and anyone could turn traitor in order to gain access to the lands that come with Mairin's dowry. I liked MacDonald's daughter honestly and am curious to see her match with Alaric, that would definitely make for a more interesting story than this one. I am not a fan of how Ewan resolves conflicts tbh. (hide spoiler)]

Finished: (view spoiler)[Well that was a satisfactory end. I am pretty lukewarm towards this entire book. There were a few moments that I truly enjoyed it especially when the men were supposed to work at the keep after belittling women's efforts. But I was annoyed with Mairin's lack of knowledge about everything for most of the part although it was understandable given she grew up with nuns. There were quite a few unexpected thrill moments in this one as well (hide spoiler)]