Pink Heart Reviews
The Maid Of Lorne
Terri Brisbin
ISBN# 0373293860
Harlequin Historical, Jan 2006, 296 pp
Medieval circa 1308
$5.50 (US) $6.50 (CDN)
Reviewed by Laurel
January 2006
Lara MacDougall thinks she is doing the right thing when caught in a battle for her home Dunstaffnage, fearing for the safety of her siblings she sends them outside the castle walls and straight into enemy hands. After the capture of the castle, Lara is stunned when Robert The Bruce orders his man Sebastien to wed her or kill her…by nightfall. Forced into a marriage and facing an uncertain future, Lara is now caught between two sides, her families who have shunned her and offered her a chance to redeem herself by becoming a spy and her husbands who over time won her love and heart. She wants to tell Sebastien all she is hiding from him, but she knows their will be a heavy price to pay for her betrayal.
Sebastien of Cleish always fought for the side of Robert The Bruce, he is a smart man with mercenary skills and a brute force enabling him to make people bend to his will. As a reward for the efficient and timely fall of Dunstaffnage he is granted Lordship over the castle and lands. Securing it and the people inside for Robert The Bruce. There are many people inside that would love to see him fall and expelled from within these walls…people who would do anything to see this happen, including his wife Lara. He knows that she is keeping a secret from him, he sees it on her face and sees the torment such a secret is doing to her. Vowing to protect the woman he has come to love, will he be able to keep everything he has coveted without losing her or his life in the process?
With Robert The Bruce on the rampage to have all of Scotland under his rule, the history and the battle scenes add a sense of realism and understanding that is a welcome enhancement to the love story. I enjoyed reading about Lara and Sebastien and the other characters within these pages. Lara’s actions in this novel will indicate a woman who is against the new rule, but really she is woman searching for a place to finally belong. James Douglas is in this story and he is a character I would love to read further about in future stories by Terri Brisbin. He added if nothing a touch of humour to the story has he tried to match Lara in verbal sparring wars and wits, leaving this reader with a chuckle as she turned the page. Lara and Sebastien’s story proved to be a test of wills, a test of love and the test of family devotion and loyalty. They were untrusting of each other but slowly bonded and revelling in the love that lies hidden waiting to be discovered. But Lara’s actions can undo everything Sebastien has secured for her and their future. In a climatic and gripping conclusion to this story where the pages leap before your eyes, secrets are revealed, betrayals are exposed and a love that can be possibly severed.
THE MAID OF LORNE is a novel that any medieval reader can read and enjoy. It is a well written and executed love story set in the times of utter turmoil on Scotland’s rich and beautiful soil.
