Book Review and Giveaway: X Marks the Scot by Victoria Roberts

Enjoyable even though parts seemed familiar.
X Marks the Scot
by Victoria Roberts 

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (February 5, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402270097
• ISBN-13: 978-1402270093

Genre: Historical Romance
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0

Book Description:
Release date: February 5, 2013
"An exciting Highland adventure with sensual and compelling romance."—Amanda Forester, author of True Highland Spirit on Temptation in a Kilt

He was a Highland Rogue Wicked with a Bow and Just as Wicked with the Ladies.
 Declan MacGregor hadn't a care in the world beyond finding a soft bed and a willing woman...until he had to escort Lady Liadain Campbell to the English court. The woman needles him at every turn, but he can't just abandon her to that vipers' nest without protection.
She Never Asked for a Bodyguard... 
Liadain wasn't thrilled to be left in the care of her clan's archrival. It was as if the man never had a lady tell him no before! And yet as whispers of treason swirl through the court and the threat of danger grows even sharper, her bitter enemy soon becomes the only one she can trust...

Review:
Liadain is the sister of a clan leader who was an enemy of the MacGregors and who has been killed for treason. She is at court waiting for the king to decide her fate.  As a healer she is always quick to help others but whispers of witchcraft begin to place her life in danger.

Declan is a rascal and a lady’s man. He escorted Liadain to court and now feels responsible to remain and watch over her until a decision is made regarding her future. She is lovely but her independent nature and resistance to his obvious charms has him rankled.

While passing time, Declan is approached by several other men to participate in friendly games, particularly archery where his skills lie. The men talk and pose questions that could raise issues of treason. Declan dances a fine line away from the political and religious pitfalls that surround the court.

Liadain’s first love, who abandoned her without a word, suddenly appears at court with a very pregnant wife. Liadain is stricken to see Robert but can’t turn away when his lady wife needs assistance. The King throws a celebration to honor Robert and an archery contest, with a fine purse prize, is part of the festivities. But Robert whispers to the King who adds a greater prize for the winner – the forfeited lands of Liadain’s brother.

A twist of fate, through whispered hints, result in forcing Declan and Liadain to wed. Neither is pleased to be hastily pushed into marriage and anger, resentment, frustration and misunderstandings mar their mutual attraction. Liadain particular despairs of winning Declan’s heart.

When the King is nearly assassinated by a long distance arrow, Declan is the prime suspect. With the traitors using Declan as a pawn how can Liadain save the man she has come to love?

There is fun banter between Liadain and Declan but I had some difficulty with Declan’s character which is mercurial as he runs from playful and tender to angry and outright cruel.  There are, somewhat usual, conflicts associated with insecure emotions from a forced marriage. The romance is written nicely with good tension. I enjoyed the intrigue in the traitors’ plots that adds some substance beyond the romance.

I think I am losing taste for highland stories. The story is enjoyable but I just didn’t find it special. Still, if you enjoy Highlander stories I think you would enjoy this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I felt Liadain’s frustration:

Living most of her existence with Archie, unnoticed and alone, had been difficult, but how cruel it was to have the second part of her life beginning very much the same. She and MacGregor had to find a way to reach a compromise.  Page 116.

I received this title from Sourcebooks for an honest review.

ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY FOR ARC COPY.

ENTRY FORM HERE

For 3 Extra Bonus entries Visit the author's website and tell me something you find of interest.

* This contest is open US and Canada Only.
* This contest will close 10 PM (Central) on March 8, 2013.
The winner will be randomly selected from all entries.
WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED on March 9, 2013.
Winners are asked to respond by email or the linked winners form within 72 hours of the announcement.

Random at Romance Book Offerings AND a Giveaway!

Random House has some great new romance titles to share and a Giveaway for me to Host. :-)
Stay up to date on all of their latest romance news and enter to win books at:  https://www.facebook.com/RomanceAtRandom

Two titles on sale this week – CLICK the title for an Excerpt!

Edge of Dawn 
by Lara Adrian

A Most Scandalous Proposal

by Ashlyn Macnamara

(Check my 4.5 rated review HERE!)

Books you can read now:

HOW TO MISBEHAVE by Ruthie Knox


And,

THE NOTORIOUS LADY ANNE by Sharon Cullen, "a swashbuckling romance fans of Johanna Lindsey will adore."


Coming soon:

Along Came Trouble by Ruthie Knox


And,

Hero of My Heart by Megan Frampton

CHECK OUT THE NICE FLASHY COVERS IN THESE WIDGETS!

Ruthie Knox’s Camelot Series:
--> -->

 Toni Aleo’s Assassins Series: --> -->

And, Loveswept Historical Romances: --> --> 

 AND NOW - FOR THE GIVEAWAY!!

Thank you to ROMANCE AT RANDOM for offering a Galley Print for One US Commenter on this post for Debbie Macomber’s next release, STARTING NOW – a Blossom Street novel.

ENTRY REQUIRES COMMENT

FOR ENTRY:
a) Share why you would like to win Starting Now.
Extra entry:
b) Visit RomanceatRandom Facebook page and tell me something you find of interest  and/OR
c)  -- if you don't do FB -- visit the eBook Romance pages at Random House and share a title of an ebook you would like to read. [I might just pick a name for a RAK ebook :-)]
2 Extra entries if you share the giveaway in any fashion - FB, Twitter, blog sidebar or even email a friend. Share the link in a comment below or email me with the info if you don't want to share all of it in a comment. Send to mesreadsATgmail.com

(Total possible entries per person = 4)
* This contest is open US Only.
* This contest will close 10 PM (Central) on March 15, 2013.
The winner will be randomly selected from all entries.
WINNER(S) WILL BE ANNOUNCED on March 16, 2013.
Winners are asked to respond by email or the linked winners form within 72 hours of the announcement.

Book Review: Fatal February by Barbara Levenson

This is an entertaining and fun read, filled with legal procedures.

Fatal February (Mary Magruder Katz)
by Barbara Levenson

• File Size: 335 KB
• Print Length: 265 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 193351552X
• Publisher: Oceanview Publishing (February 1, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005Y2AEBY

Genre: Cozy Mystery, Legal Procedures
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

Book Description
Publication Date: February 1, 2009
For half Jewish, half Southern Baptist Miami criminal defense attorney Mary Macgruder Katz, life starts to spin completely out of control when a minor fender bender turns out to be an unlikely shot from Cupid’s bow.

Review:
Mary is a feisty defense attorney who works in a prestigious law firm with her fiance of five years.  One morning her car is rear-ended coming out of a car wash. She is ready to berate the loud, pushy driver until she gets a full look at the man’s Latin good looks and charming smile. Then things begin to spin out of control.

Carlos grabs Mary to serve as his attorney on a real estate transaction with some strange arrangements. When client relations heat up, Mary and Carlos are caught in a compromising scene by her boyfriend who fires her on the spot. She fires him as a fiancé and off she goes to set up her own office with encouraging support from Carlos.

Mary lands a new client through a referral from her brother who is an estate attorney. Lillian Yarmouth is accused of killing her husband though she claims she found him on the bed already stabbed and bleeding. The police and prosecutors fail to do a thorough job of investigation so Mary is pretty sure she can win a dismissal at an early hearing.

Mary has to fend off some nasty, low-blow proceedings brought by her ex who is more angry about losing to Mary than losing Mary. She is also coping with slashed tires, rocks thrown windows and a ransacked home.

I like Mary’s ‘go get ‘em’ attitude even though she did seem a little reckless (for my conservative nature.) Carlos is a little suspect but you have to appreciate that he is there giving Mary moral-- and other--support. It was fun that he was always sharing Spanish quotes that didn’t “seem to translate very well.”

I enjoyed the several court room scenes where Mary really kicked butt. Ms. Levenson also blends in some commentary on the lack of resources for proper investigations. This is an easy read with writing that flowed well with a chatty feel to it.  The characters are cute and Mary’s dilemmas make for fun revelations, especially with a little extra digging at the end of the case.

I picked this title out of my “Free Kindle” TBR library as it had “February” in the title. I am very glad I got to read such a fun mystery and I would be glad to read more from this author. I recommend this to fans of light, cozy mysteries and those who enjoy legal procedures and courtroom entertainment.

This was my choice for February from my Kindle Free Reads library shelves.

The story is set in Miami, Florida for my 2013 Where Are You Reading Challenge. This is also a New Author for me.

Mailbox Monday February 25, 2013

Welcome to Mailbox Monday.
For FEBRUARY: the Mailbox Monday Tour host is Audra @ Unabridged Chick!

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week and explore great book blogs.  This Meme started with Marcia at A Girl and Her Books (fka The Printed Page) but is now hosted at Mailbox Monday and through various blog hosts.

Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists. 

I added a good group of books this week. :-)
How are your mailbox and TBR piles doing?

Review Titles

I received a print from Glass Road PR
for review on March 7, 2013:

The Return of Cassandra Todd
by Darrel Nelson

 I picked up a new audio for review through Audiobook Jukebox:

Silver (An OgmiosTeam Adventure)
by Steven Savile

Since I haven't booked March with tours, I picked up some eBooks at NetGalley for review:

Hammer of Angels: A Novel of Shadowstorm
by G. T. Almasi

I liked the first book in the series and wanted to read the next.

AND

Scent of Magic (The Healers)

by Maria V. Snyder

I enjoy Snyder's fantasies.

Wins

I won:



Pilgrims Don't Wear Pink
by  Stephanie Kate Strohm

through
Just Another New Blog
Thank you Stephanie and Dina.




I have another win not yet received. :-)

Purchased

None this week.

Free

I received more books from Free Partay and
I did download more free Kindle Titles linked through Inspired Reads, Pixel of Ink and Kindle Review.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? February 25, 2013

This meme starts at Book Journey!

What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

This week I lost work time while helping my daughter clear out the basement and drawers for a Yard sale she is planning. Then they were here most of Saturday to help with a fan installation and.  Children played with my computer as daughter and I watched over her soon to be momma dog. The dog finally had seven pups after they returned home.

I had a good reading week: completed six books (two with summaries below) and posted five reviews. There were two reviews with giveaways. I also posted the usual Friday Pick Giveaway, Saturday Snapshot, Sharing Beyond Books Comment Giveaway and Sunday Words.

I did get to visit although it was late in the week. :-)
Thanks as always to all the nice people who visit me too.

These were last week's posts:

• It's Monday What are You Reading? February 18, 2013.

• Mailbox Monday February 18, 2013.

• Book Review and Giveaway: Waiting for Monday by Margaret Brownley; Historical Romance, Inspirational; my rating 4.5. Open US Only. Ends 3/1/13.

• Book Review: Into the Dark by Stacy Green; Suspense; my rating 4.25.

• Book Review: A Most Scandalous Proposal by Ashlyn Macnamara; Historical Romance; my rating 4.5.
  

• Martha's Bookshelf***Friday Pick Giveaway February 22, 2013. Open Worldwide. Ends 2/21/13.
  

• Saturday Snapshot (2/23/13) Family Pictures from December.
  

• Audio Book Review: Love in a Garden: What Happens After Happily Ever After by Mia Jasper; Contemporary Romance; my rating 4.25.

• Book Review and ARC Giveaway: Wait Until Dark by M.L. Buchman; Military Romance; my rating 4.25.
  

• Sharing Beyond Books #87 Comment Giveaway 2/23/13. Ends 3/1/13.

• Sunday Words of Encouragement February 24, 2013.

Finished Reading:
1. ebook/Kindle
 

Into the Dark
by Stacy Green
I enjoyed this suspense romance. The review is linked above.

2. Print

Wait Until Dark
by M.L. Buchman
I love this series and the review and 
ARC Giveaway are linked above.

3. Audio

Love in a Garden: What Happens After Happily Ever After
by Mia Jasper (Author, Narrator)
[Unabridged] [Audible Audio Edition]
This is a quick, sweet listen.
Review is linked above.

4. ebook/Kindle

First Love Second Chances 

by Jenna Bayley-Burke

This was a 2008 Holiday Freebie at Samhain Publishing
that I picked from my TBR files.
Sadly, I cannot find a link anywhere.
Dana had recently moved back to her home town and decided to 'deck the halls' for the first time since her divorce two years before. She hadn't been able to fit the tree and all the trimmings into her car so she paid the fee for delivery. A bit later she was surprised to open the door and discover her High School prom date from 15 years earlier. Ben explains that he isn't the delivery boy but the store owner. Before he leaves he asks her out to a choice of events and she accepts in a fun way. It took only about 10 minutes to read.
I liked the crisp writing and sweet implications. It left me wanting to read more.

5. eBook/Kindle

Lights Out
by Ann Campbell
This is another short book in my TBR from an April 2009 Blog Contest win. Ms. Campbell also sent me a few small gifts to go with the pdf. Below is the blurb. The writing is good and I liked the characters. However I skimmed the steamy scene from about 70% to 87% and then read the ending which had a cute surprise.
Book Description
Publication Date: March 6, 2009
Spending time with your best friend makes life on the mountain perfect. But when your best friend is the man who stars every night in her most erotic fantasy--and has a girlfriend--what’s a girl to do? Forced to spend the night alone with Caleb and trapped by a snow storm, Payton finds herself yearning to do much more than talk to pass the long hours.

Caleb has spent the past four years harboring secret fantasies about Payton. When the lights suddenly go out and they find themselves surrounded by candles, will they realize they could be more than just friends?

6. eBook/Kindle
 

Fatal February (Mary Magruder Katz)
by Barbara Levenson
This was my choice from Kindle Free reads. I really enjoyed it and will post a review early this week. 
Book Description
Publication Date: February 1, 2009
For half Jewish, half Southern Baptist Miami criminal defense attorney Mary Macgruder Katz, life starts to spin completely out of control when a minor fender bender turns out to be an unlikely shot from Cupid’s bow.

Line Edits/Releases:
We are completing the last details for more releases.

Currently reading:

1. Print

Lady Eve's Indiscretion
by Grace Burrowes
I am 20% in and I really like Eve and Lucas together! Reviewing for Sourcebooks.
Book Description
Release date: February 5, 2013
"Burrowes delivers red-hot chemistry with a masterful mix of playfulness and sensuality."—Publishers Weekly Starred Review
Lady Eve's Got The Perfect Plan
Pretty, petite Evie Windham has been more indiscreet than her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Moreland, suspect. Fearing that a wedding night would reveal her past, she's running out of excuses to dodge adoring swains. Lucas Denning, the newly titled Marquis of Deene, has reason of his own for avoiding marriage. So Evie and Deene strike a deal, each agreeing to be the other's decoy. At this rate, matrimony could be avoided indefinitely...until the two are caught in a steamy kiss that no one was supposed to see.

2. Print
 

X Marks the Scot
by Victoria Roberts 
I am 20% in to this and
I like Liadain and even the rogue Declan.
Reviewing for Sourcebooks.
Book Description:
Release date: February 5, 2013
"An exciting Highland adventure with sensual and compelling romance."—Amanda Forester, author of True Highland Spirit on Temptation in a Kilt

He was a Highland Rogue Wicked with a Bow and Just as Wicked with the Ladies.
 Declan MacGregor hadn't a care in the world beyond finding a soft bed and a willing woman...until he had to escort Lady Liadain Campbell to the English court. The woman needles him at every turn, but he can't just abandon her to that vipers' nest without protection.
She Never Asked for a Bodyguard... 
Liadain wasn't thrilled to be left in the care of her clan's archrival. It was as if the man never had a lady tell him no before! And yet as whispers of treason swirl through the court and the threat of danger grows even sharper, her bitter enemy soon becomes the only one she can trust...

3. eBook/Kindle
 

The Midwife’s Revolt
by Jodi Daynard
I hope to do this by the end of the week too. 
I picked this up through NetGalley. 
Book Description
Publication Date: December 2, 2012
The Midwife’s Revolt takes the reader on a journey to the founding days of America. It follows one woman’s path, Lizzie Boylston, from her grieving days of widowhood after Bunker Hill, to her deepening friendship with Abigail Adams and midwifery, and finally to her dangerous work as a spy for the Cause. A novel rich in historical detail, The Midwife’s Revolt opens a window onto the real lives of colonial women.
"A charming, unexpected, and decidedly different view of the Revolutionary War."
-- Publishers Weekly
This humorous, exciting and touching story retells the familiar saga of the Revolutionary War in a stunning new way that feels fresh and alive."
-- Kirkus Indie Reviews

4. Audio

Silver (An OgmiosTeam Adventure)
by Steven Savile
I am only a couple of chapters into this and still determining where it is going.
I am reviewing this for Crossroad Press through Audiobook Jukebox.
Book Description
Publication Date: January 5, 2010
Sometimes the truth is anything but honest.

Sometimes the stories everyone knows by heart are lies.

Sometimes lies are all we have left.

Two thousand years ago, thirty silver Tyrian shekels were paid to secure the most infamous betrayal of all time. Melted down by the grandsons of Judas Iscariot, in the dark heart of the Sicarii fortress, Masada, the silver was re-forged as a dagger. When the Sicarii zealots committed mass suicide in AD73 the dagger of Iscariot and the truth of his sacrifice were lost. Until now.

A religious cult calling itself the Disciples of Judas has risen in the Middle East. Its influence is pernicious, its reach long. In thirteen cities across Europe thirteen people martyr themselves in the name of Judas, promising forty days and forty nights of terror. They twist the words of ancient prophecies to drive home the fear. Everything you believe in will be proved wrong. Everything you hold true will fail.

Day by day the West wakes to increasingly harrowing acts of terror. As fear cripples the capitals of Europe, who will be the next to fall? London? Rome? Berlin?

In a race against time - and prophecy - believing the terrorists intend to assassinate the Pope as part of their plan to bring down the Catholic Church, Sir Charles Wyndham's team of combat specialists, codename Ogmios, tracks a labyrinthine course through truth, shades of truth and outright lies that takes them from the backstreets of London to the shadow of Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin and all the way into the heart of the Holy See itself.

Forty days and forty nights of fear. And today is day one.

I continue to listen to The Listener's Bible NIV read by Max McLean. [Reading and listening on MP3.]  I am studying with the Tyndall One Year Bible this year, hoping to read daily along with my DH.

Line Edits: I did well on conversions this week and continue to progress.

I started the month with 17 titles + TBRs. I read 16, reviewed 13, summarized two and have one  to be reviewed this week. That leaves three I hope to finish this week. One title was archived so won't be reviewed and the audio, Silver, will go into next month. A good month. :-)

FEBRUARY Scheduled: completed

Unscheduled 

Sourcebooks
      X Marks the Scot by Victoria Roberts
      Lady Eve's Indiscretion by Grace Burrowes  

Random House - done

Thomas Nelson - done

NetGalley
     Fix-It and Forget-It Holiday Appetizers, Finger Foods, and Beverages - Archived so no longer available.
     The Midwife’s Revolt by Jodi Daynard

Audios: (more to come) 
(Added Silver for March)

From TBR Collection - Done
Won Book - Done 
Free Kindle/Nook or Smashwords: Fatal February (Mary Magruder Katz) - review to be posted