Susan King is a remarkable, uniquely-talented author. She shares her Scottish devotion and knowledge in a sweet, memorable way in the story of Sebastien and Alainna in The Stone Maiden. From the first dreamy scene to the last, you will love every page-turning moment of this book. If you listen real close, you may even hear the bard's harp weep as the story of The Stone Maiden unfolds. I truly enjoyed this one!
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Summary: A fascinating glimpse of life in 12th century Scotland.
Review: A knight of humble origins, Sebastien Le Bret is an ambitious man with a mission: to find his young son and claim his son's aristocratic heritage in Brittany. It certainly isn't his idea to go to Scotland and rescue the MacLaren clan by marrying their beautiful, young laird.Alainna MacLaren's clan has been nearly wiped out by a feud with another Highland clan. About to lose the protective spell of the magical Stone Maiden, Alainna begs the king to send her a Celtic warrior to wed her, take her name, and help her continue the MacLaren line. She certainly did not expect the king to send her a Norman (although Sebastien is technically from Brittany, where the inhabitants are also descended from the Celts) knight, and also one who planned to desert her as soon as he could to settle with his son in Brittany.
But, oddly enough, the rest of MacLaren clan heartily approves of the marriage. Sebastien begins to regret that his responsibilities preclude him from making his home with them, especially as he comes to admire the strength of character of his intended bride. But how can he forsake his responsibility to his son?
On her part, Alainna succumbs to Sebastien's charm in spite of her misgivings, but she fears becoming too dependent on him because she knows he must leave her in the end.
A charming romance, this book offers a fascinating glimpse of day-to-day life in 12th century Scotland that will keep your attention riveted to the story even if you're not a diehard medieval fan!
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Summary: Nice story, but boring!
Review: As a heavyweight (no, not my dress size) in the romance readers dept. I must say that I don't understand all the high praise this book has received. I went out and bought it because of all the great reviews. Sure there are some wonderful moments, the male lead is interesting, the setting full of promise....so why was I so bored? This book is very easy to put down.
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Summary: Entertaining medeival, slow at times
Review: Determined to save her Highland clan, Alainna MacLaren makes a desperate plea to King William for a husband to protect her clan and take her name. King William gives her Sebastien le Bret, a hardened knight with noble asperations. Although willing to wed the beautiful Highland chief, he has no intentions of taking her name.
Alainna is outraged when she finds out that King William has sent her a Briton knight to wed, it is against her wishes. Sebastien and Alainna finally realize that the only way to please the king and save Alainna's clan is to marry.
Alainna and Sebastien begin their marriage with distrust, but slowly fall in love. Susan King has written a beautiful love story of two unlikely lovers.
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Summary: A Subtle, Beautiful Love Story
Review: Either Sebastien "clicks" with readers or he doesn't. If he dosen't, those readers found the story to be slow. But for those readers like myself who were drawn to him from the beginning, Sebastien was the perfect hero. (He didn't have a silly line anywhere.) Since I did like him so well I found everything about this book endearing and interesting. I hated to see it end. I loved Sebastien's humble ways, I loved the way he respected the elder clan members, and respected Alainna as a clan leader; he never once doubted her ability to lead a clan (although she never actually "led" her clan in my opinion). Sebastien was the perfect man.
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Summary: Painful........
Review: I have never really given a bad book review, so here goes, this is my first.
THIS BOOK WAS SO BAD; I WAS IN "PAIN" FROM READING IT.
I have run across some badly written books in my time. But this one takes the cake. It was just too slow and nothing ever happen (nothing). I have to put it down half through the book. I couldn't take it any more. If you are brave enough to read this book, then by all means go ahead. But I told you so.
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Summary: Sebastien Was The Perfect Hero...
Review: I kept waiting for the book to really get started and I feel it just never happened. This is my first book by this author and it will probably be my last. Save your money, if you need to try it, get it from the library or a friend.
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Summary: It was good, but not stop my heart good.
Review: I kept waiting for the book to really get started and I feel it just never happened. This is my first book by this author and it will probably be my last. Save your money, if you need to try it, get it from the library or a friend.
