Meet the Author:

Cathy MacRae lives on the sunny side of the Arbuckle Mountains where she and her husband read, write, and tend the garden—with the help of the dogs, of course. You can visit with her on facebook, or read her blogs and learn about her books at www.cathymacraeauthor.com. Drop her a line—she loves to hear from readers!
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DD MacRae enjoys bringing history to life and considers research one of the best things about writing a story! With more than 35 years of martial arts training, DD also brings breath-taking action to the tales. You can connect with DD through www.cathymacraeauthor.com. It’s always exciting to hear from readers!

Connect: Site | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads - Cathy | Goodreads - DD

About the Book:

Calder MacGerry, laird of an impoverished clan, has resolved to end the bitter feud between the MacGerry and Sinclairs. He jumps at Laird Sinclair’s offer of marriage to his only daughter, Katja, to seal the agreement between their clans—only to get more than he bargained for. Katja’s chance to escape her father’s harsh treatment appears to be too good to be true. But becoming Lady of a clan that despises her because she’s a Sinclair, doesn’t make life any easier. When the attacks turn deadly, she fights her way out, making a dangerous passage to the Shetland Isles for refuge with her Viking family. Calder and Katja’s marriage, built on mistrust, rushes quickly into disaster. As Calder seeks to repair the damage, Katja discovers not another enemy, but a husband who pledges a new beginning.

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REVIEW

The story starts with the hero losing his father and becoming laird. It's an emotional start, that, unfortunately for me, gave me high expectations for the book.

The story is built around the marriage of convenience trope, which I love, and the BIG misunderstanding one, which I don't. Katja, the heroine, is forced to marry Calder to stop the feuding between their clans. Katja has "the sight", she can read auras, and she uses it to discern the true feeling of those around her. Unfortunately, she always jumps to conclusions and can't communicate to save her life.

Calder is new to the laird-ing business, so he strives to do everything himself and can't delegate. This leads to him being absent for days from his home and to Katja to do what she does best: jump to conclusions. Also, he can't talk to his wife either. As you can all imagine, this leads to the BIG MISUNDERSTANDING! Katja goes to greet her husband home, but stops to listen at doors(because this always leads to hearing great stuff/ends sarcasm) and hears a discussion that obviously is out of context. But instead of barging in and TALKING to he husband she decides to jump ship and leave. I can't say more without spoiling the whole book, but everything could have been avoided if they could have taken 5 minutes to talk...

Besides the big misunderstanding trope, the other thing that I disliked was how her dad was made into the villain, giving me the expectation of him doing villain-y stuff in the book, and then forgetting everything about it. I need resolutions to conflicts, don't introduce one if you don't want to actually flash it out.

All in all, the premise was good, but then the author seemed to change her mind mid-story and changed it... The research seemed sound, the characters a bit 2 dimensional, the scenery descriptions and settings were great, I only wish my expectations at the start of the book were met.

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