Warrior's Redemption by Melissa Mayhue

Laird Malcolm MacDowylt & Danielle Dearmon's book




Warrior's Redemption


By Melissa Mayhue


Book Blurb: 
Will the magic of modern romance help him defeat an evil ancient power?

MALCOLM MACDOWYLT sees himself a failed warrior, haunted by the death of the woman he married to become laird of Clan MacGahan. Neither his Viking heritage nor his claim to descend from Norse gods can restore his confidence in his ability to protect his people. His sister is held captive, her life in jeopardy, and his Magically powerful half brother wants him dead. The last thing he needs is more responsibility, but that's exactly what he gets when his Faerie mother-in-law arrives seeking justice for her daughter in the form of an enticing woman from seven hundred years in the future.

DANIELLE DEARMON has waited fifteen years to discover the life she is supposed to live. She just never dreamed she'd end up in the thirteenth century with a handsome Scot bent on saving everyone but himself.

With the lives of those most dear to him hanging in the balance, Malcolm sets out to battle a powerful evil Magic, only to learn that the redemption he seeks exists only in the arms of the woman he loves.

A very enjoyable read for sure! 
I enjoy a great Highlander story and the premise for Warrior's Redemption was just awesome. A little bit of magic, a little bit of Faerie, a little bit of time travel and a whole lot of Highland Warrior made for a wonderful romance story.  


I briefly met the author Melissa Mayhue in June 2012 at a Readers & Writers Convention. I attended one of the workshops she helped facilitate. Melissa Mayhue talked about the research that authors investigate for a historical romances. I've always had respect for the amount of research that is put into a historical romance novel and this time period of 1294, I admit to not having any knowledge of this era. I kept her presentation in my mind a lot. I won this book, Warrior's Redemption during that presentation so it was a freebie for me. I loved the book so I am really happy I won it. 


I'm fairly new to a time travel book genre. The only other time travel stories I can recall reading was the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon (my all time favourite) and the Highlander series by Karen Marie Moning (which I didn't care for). So I was going into the Warrior's Redemption with a completely open mind not really knowing anything about it. I liked it a lot. I will get the next book in the series. 


One of the things that I like about Melissa Mayhue's writing is that she answered questions that a reader would have regarding the story through the book characters. For instance, I was puzzled about how all these Scots could easily welcome this blonde attractive newcomer with perfect teeth to their land and then not notice any difference in the way she spoke. I mean really, if they were speaking English at all, would they not notice how an American girl from Wyoming would speak compare to the clan? That question gets answered and other questions that I had that were similar. I love when the author explains and doesn't just hope the readers won't notice. 


The attraction between Malcolm and Dani was believable. I also loved that they didn't sleep together the first night they were together. It was perfect. In fact, I was laughing when Dani made her way to his chamber by her determination to find out about her surroundings and he sends her away. 


The MacDowlyt's siblings consist of an evil magical older brother, who is the villain we love to hate, Torquil then Malcolm (who is the main protagonist in Warrior's Redemption), Patrick, Dermid and a younger sister, Christina. Each of the siblings have a magical ability or a gift from the Gods. With the exception of Dermid. I found that odd and wondered if there was more to the story there. I liked the various different abilities. Each had their own usefulness. 


Danielle was easy to like. She seemed to adapt to the time change really well. It would have freaked me out more than it did her. I really think she did find her soulmate with Malcolm. 


However as great as Malcolm and Dani were, I think my favourite character was the Faerie, Elesyria. I truly have no idea how to pronounce her name but I loved all the extra she brought to the story. 


Teasers: milk in trees are gifts to Faeries, ruby ring, sleeping with the horses, flour escape, marriage misunderstanding