THE THORN AND THE THISTLE by Julie Moffett

Publisher: Carina Press

Date published: January 28th, 2013

ISBN: 978-14268-9499-2

Historical Romance

E-book

Reviewed by Helen

Weblink: http://ebooks.carinapress.com/19B00C41-5BD1-41F5-BDB6-3CA398E1FF66/10/134/en/ContentDetails.htm?ID=59641BB7-812C-4578-9630-A73866A4B55F

Obtained via publisher

 

The Black Wolf, the leader of the MacLeod clan, is killed, along with some of his men, in an ambush. Megan, his daughter, takes on the mantle of Laird in the clansmen’s ongoing battle to get their lands and homes back from the English. She also attempts to bring the other clans into an alliance against the English. She has many secrets to keep from everyone around her.

Rolf St. James has been sent by the king to stop the fighting and troubles in the Scottish lands. He is a man of honor, but it’s not easy to be wise and all-knowing in this situation. However, one thing he knows is that he wants Megan.

It’s 1751 a turbulent time in Scottish history following the Jacobite rising, and this book is set in the midst of the turmoil. It’s well balanced politically, with good, bad, and just plain misled on both sides.

As is only to be expected with such a long book (over 80,000 words) there’s a huge cast of characters, and many of them are very well drawn indeed, with layers, depths, and much to commend them to the reader.

Meghan is feisty and opinionated, tough yet caring, loving and determined, and Rolf is a good match for her. The fact her people demonstrate their love for her and trust in her says a lot for the community as a whole as well as for her.

As well as being a romance, this is a great adventure story with battles, fights, and love intermingled. I enjoyed the secret passageway which is historically accurate for that time period as well as exciting. I also was engaged by so many of the characters, who were interesting, well-rounded people with flaws and charms. I was not so enchanted with the very Scots dialogue, which I found distracting at times, instead of enhancing the storyline, or with the POV in quite a few places which was decidedly wobbly, if not downright wrong.

A big read, but worth the time because it’s a big story.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.