When the Laird Returns: Book Two of The Highland Lords

Rating:
Summary: Incredible - Satisfying - Couldn't put it down.
Review: Karen improves upon her first book in this series with When the Laird Returns. Her books are more intense than most authors in this genre, but very satisfying. I could not put the book down and stayed up half the night reading it. She is one of the better authors out there. I also loved After the Kiss (not in this series) but just as satisying to read.

Rating:
Summary: A Beautifully written and enjoyable book
Review: Karen Ranney's masterful use of the language of the story to get you engrossed and keep you intrigued is outstanding. With a few words, she makes you feel the characters' emotions and feelings. There are few long narrative paragraphs, but you are always "in", or a part of, the story. Isaebal is wonderful as the heroine. Ms. Ranney can create the most villainous villains. It's always a pleasure to see their demise.

Rating:
Summary: Promising beginning - a real letdown overall
Review: This is my first Karen Ranney book. I looked forward to it and assumed that I would enjoy it and many of her other books in the future. I will try Ranney again and I still hope that she is an author I can depend on for a good read. But When the Laird Returns had just too many overused, trying, romance plot lines to abide with much patience.

Alisdair MacRae has arrived, for the first time, in Scotland as an adult. His family had fled their former Highland estate prior to his birth. Alisdair wants to see his birthright, Gilmuir castle with it's surrounding lands, and falls in love with it. The castle had been partially destroyed when his family had been forced to flee Scotland but Alisdair finds that a large portion of it has been systematically dismantled. Although the MacRaes no longer occupied their former Scotland home, the land and castle remains still belong to Alisdair. In addition, Alisdair finds sheep grazing on his land and orders the shepherd and his sheep off his land. He begins looking for the man who is apparently using his land as his own and finds the dreaded villain in this book, Magnus Drummond. Magnus has claimed the lands as his own and has apparently obtained legal ownership. Alisdair is a wealthy successful ship builder and decides not to fight Magnus and agrees to pay him an unbelievable sum for his own birthright. But Magnus has a further provision for Alisdair's purchase of this property. Alisdair must also wed Magnus's daughter, Iseabal.

Iseabal is a free spirited woman who lives in the shadow of constant fear of her father. Her times of running free for a day across the Scottish highlands must be kept from her father. Although she doesn't escape her father's oppressive treatment often, she lives to relish the few times she is able to wander among the beautiful highlands around her. Her father sees her as nothing special and believes her to be totally biddable. When Alisdair realizes whom he will be marrying to obtain his birthright (he had seen her earlier in the castle ruins of Gilmuir), he considers her to be somewhat of an empty being - certainly no one he would be attracted to. Iseabal accepts her marriage sensibly. Once she leaves the island with Alisdair, he informs her that he will obtain an annulment of their marriage once he reaches England. Of course, he will support her in some manner. He refuses to bed her - nothing will come between him and his determination to have the marriage annulled. He doesn't really care about the future he is forcing upon Iseabal or rather he doesn't really think about the ramifications upon her life his determined annulment will cause.

During the voyage to England, Alisdair begins to see beautiful qualities in his unwanted wife. Iseabal, in return, sees in Alisdair a man she could be happy with. Their relationship tenderly begins to evolve into something more than a forced marriage. Alisdair stays committed to the idea of the annulment but finds it harder and harder to find his reasons for it.

Alisdair is a nicely written hero with a capacity to love before the end of the book (we often don't get to see this in romance writing until the end of the book). He has all those hero like masculine attractions we want to see in a male lead. We discover he is a very considerate and understanding man. Iseabal eventually convinces us, as the readers, that she has a desirable personality and strength of character. Their relationship has some great moments but then the last half of the book falls into some sort of hole. I never regained my interest in the happenings once I passed the mid-point.

Magnus is a horrible villain - so awful that you cringe thinking about all of the despicable things he will do before the book ends. He is just too mean. Alisdair remains consistently likable and loyal throughout the story. Iseabal, however, sinks into some pretty ridiculous behavior that makes no sense during the last half of the book. I won't attempt to explain her convoluted thinking because I don't think we, as readers, can understand it.

The last third of the book found me skimming page after page as THE BIG MISUNDERSTANDING plays itself out. The book became predictable, hellish, and boring the closer it approached the end. Even the love scenes were boring in the good parts of the book. There were pages and pages of description of these sensual scenes that were so artistically yet vaguely described, that you totally lost track of when he had even kissed her. The sensual scenes rate about a 3.0 to a 3.5 out of 5.0 (see More About Me for rating guidelines).

This is not a book I will keep to read again. It had some great possibilities but got lost in subplots and secondary characters and THE BIG MISUNDERSTANDING. There was some great interaction between the leads that was highly enjoyable during the first half of the book. I was so disappointed in the last half of the book because the first half had been extremely promising,

Rating:
Summary: Promising beginning - a real letdown overall
Review: This is my first Karen Ranney book. I looked forward to it and assumed that I would enjoy it and many of her other books in the future. I will try Ranney again and I still hope that she is an author I can depend on for a good read. But When the Laird Returns had just too many overused, trying, romance plot lines to abide with much patience.

Alisdair MacRae has arrived, for the first time, in Scotland as an adult. His family had fled their former Highland estate prior to his birth. Alisdair wants to see his birthright, Gilmuir castle with it's surrounding lands, and falls in love with it. The castle had been partially destroyed when his family had been forced to flee Scotland but Alisdair finds that a large portion of it has been systematically dismantled. Although the MacRaes no longer occupied their former Scotland home, the land and castle remains still belong to Alisdair. In addition, Alisdair finds sheep grazing on his land and orders the shepherd and his sheep off his land. He begins looking for the man who is apparently using his land as his own and finds the dreaded villain in this book, Magnus Drummond. Magnus has claimed the lands as his own and has apparently obtained legal ownership. Alisdair is a wealthy successful ship builder and decides not to fight Magnus and agrees to pay him an unbelievable sum for his own birthright. But Magnus has a further provision for Alisdair's purchase of this property. Alisdair must also wed Magnus's daughter, Iseabal.

Iseabal is a free spirited woman who lives in the shadow of constant fear of her father. Her times of running free for a day across the Scottish highlands must be kept from her father. Although she doesn't escape her father's oppressive treatment often, she lives to relish the few times she is able to wander among the beautiful highlands around her. Her father sees her as nothing special and believes her to be totally biddable. When Alisdair realizes whom he will be marrying to obtain his birthright (he had seen her earlier in the castle ruins of Gilmuir), he considers her to be somewhat of an empty being - certainly no one he would be attracted to. Iseabal accepts her marriage sensibly. Once she leaves the island with Alisdair, he informs her that he will obtain an annulment of their marriage once he reaches England. Of course, he will support her in some manner. He refuses to bed her - nothing will come between him and his determination to have the marriage annulled. He doesn't really care about the future he is forcing upon Iseabal or rather he doesn't really think about the ramifications upon her life his determined annulment will cause.

During the voyage to England, Alisdair begins to see beautiful qualities in his unwanted wife. Iseabal, in return, sees in Alisdair a man she could be happy with. Their relationship tenderly begins to evolve into something more than a forced marriage. Alisdair stays committed to the idea of the annulment but finds it harder and harder to find his reasons for it.

Alisdair is a nicely written hero with a capacity to love before the end of the book (we often don't get to see this in romance writing until the end of the book). He has all those hero like masculine attractions we want to see in a male lead. We discover he is a very considerate and understanding man. Iseabal eventually convinces us, as the readers, that she has a desirable personality and strength of character. Their relationship has some great moments but then the last half of the book falls into some sort of hole. I never regained my interest in the happenings once I passed the mid-point.

Magnus is a horrible villain - so awful that you cringe thinking about all of the despicable things he will do before the book ends. He is just too mean. Alisdair remains consistently likable and loyal throughout the story. Iseabal, however, sinks into some pretty ridiculous behavior that makes no sense during the last half of the book. I won't attempt to explain her convoluted thinking because I don't think we, as readers, can understand it.

The last third of the book found me skimming page after page as THE BIG MISUNDERSTANDING plays itself out. The book became predictable, hellish, and boring the closer it approached the end. Even the love scenes were boring in the good parts of the book. There were pages and pages of description of these sensual scenes that were so artistically yet vaguely described, that you totally lost track of when he had even kissed her. The sensual scenes rate about a 3.0 to a 3.5 out of 5.0 (see More About Me for rating guidelines).

This is not a book I will keep to read again. It had some great possibilities but got lost in subplots and secondary characters and THE BIG MISUNDERSTANDING. There was some great interaction between the leads that was highly enjoyable during the first half of the book. I was so disappointed in the last half of the book because the first half had been extremely promising,

Rating:
Summary: I would love to give this book 20 stars!!
Review: What can I say about this book? It is absolutely wonderful! I just LOVED Alisdair and Isabeal. I really like Karen Ranney's style of writing. The heros arent too harsh, the females are strong and the love scenes arent nauseatingly explicit. All in all, that makes for an excellent book! Alisdair is so wonderful and I loved how Isabeal loved him so much! I also like how Patricia was factored in. A nice way to add to the story. This book was wonderful, this whole series is! To anyone browsing, pick up this book, no, the whole series, and dig in!

Rating:
Summary: I would love to give this book 20 stars!!
Review: What can I say about this book? It is absolutely wonderful! I just LOVED Alisdair and Isabeal. I really like Karen Ranney's style of writing. The heros arent too harsh, the females are strong and the love scenes arent nauseatingly explicit. All in all, that makes for an excellent book! Alisdair is so wonderful and I loved how Isabeal loved him so much! I also like how Patricia was factored in. A nice way to add to the story. This book was wonderful, this whole series is! To anyone browsing, pick up this book, no, the whole series, and dig in!