The Hellion and the Highlander by Lynsay Sands

Lady Averill Mortagne and Kade Stewart's book




The Hellion and the Highlander (final book 3)


by Lynsay Sands


Book Blurb:
Only one man could set her heart ablaze . . . 

Lady Averill Mortagne learned to control her fierce temper as a young girl. But if her father insists on parading her before one more English lord who looks askance at her flame-colored hair, she'll simply scream! Her only respite is the time she spends with Kade Stewart, the wounded Scot her brother brought home from the Crusades. Who could have imagined a Highland warrior would be the only gentleman around? 


Lady Averill helped save his life, and for that Kade is truly grateful. She is also almost unbearably beautiful, but he could never subject such a sweet and gentle lady to the rough life of a Stewart laird's bride . . . or could he? When she braves an unexpected danger by his side, Averill will prove to Kade that her heart is as fiery as her hair . . . and that submitting to their scorching passion would be heaven indeed.


Hellion and the Highlander was my favourite of Lynsay Sand's medieval Highland series. There was just something so heartwarming when the talkative Lady Averill nurses the gravely injured Kade back to health. 


Lady Averill has red hair and in the English medieval times, red hair superstitiously meant that the person had a devil temper. Couple that with the strawberry birthmark on Averill's cheek, she was turned down for marriage quite a few times. 


Kade's injuries left him blind for awhile so all he got to know of Averill was a sweet docile lass that took much care in nursing him back to health. Once Kade gained his site back, he was strongly attracted to her beautiful red hair but wished she had a stronger demeanor.  She'd never last in the harsh Highlands as sweet as she was. 


One particular night Kade witnessed Averill's hot tempered side and he was a gonner. He immediately asked for her hand in marriage and her father eagerly accepted. 


Once back into the Highlands at the Stewart holding, there was trials and obstacles that Averill had to overcome. One was putting up with drunken in laws. It was a tough situation as Kade needed to take over as laird and have his clan accept him. He was gone for many years and the clan was in complete disarray. 


As Kade took over as laird of the Stewart Clan, there was someone trying to kill him. It was certainly quite a mystery as there was no obvious villain to point the finger at.  


In no time at all, Kade and Averill fell in love but not admitting it to each other. I loved that the couple are married at the beginning of the book and the entire story is of how they fall in love and work as a team. Highly enjoyable. 


Teasers - adorable Laddie, wet chemise on horseback, Averill & Evelinde meet, chest of treasure

Devil of the Highlands by Lynsay Sands

Evelinde & Cullen's book


Devil of the Highlands (book 1) 

By Lynsay Sands

Book Blurb:

They call him the Devil . . .

He is the most notorious laird of Scotland: fierce, cold, deadly . . . and maybe even worse. Yet Evelinde has just agreed to wed him. Anything, she thinks, is better than her cruel stepmother. Though Evelinde should be wary of the rumors, she can't help but be drawn to this warrior . . . for the Devil of the Highlands inspires a heat within her that is unlike anything she has ever known.

They may call him whatever they wish, but Cullen, Laird of Donnachaidh, cares only for the future of his clan. He must find a wife, a woman to bear him sons and heed his commands. He has no need for beauty or grace, but one taste of his lovely bride's sweet lips and the sultry feel of her skin arouse an untamed passion. Perhaps there's more to marriage than he thought . . .

I thoroughly enjoyed Devil of the Highlands. I was craving a light hearted historical romance and Lynsay Sands delivered. I've read four of Lynsay Sands historicals and I adore her whimsical light humour and her heroines.

The Devil of the Highlands , Cullen, isn't really a devil. His reputation hails from the attitude of having people believe what they may and he does nothing to encourage nor discourage the devilish stories. His sole concentration is the well being of this men and clan. 

The first encounter between Evelinde and Cullen is so awesome that my cheeks hurt from the smiling. I am not going to spoil it and I'd rather just share that it is the perfect beginning to having the couple fall in love with each other.

Evelinde is adorable and has endured a lot of verbal abuse by her step mother. In fact, it is her step mother who asked the king to marry off Evelinde to the legendary Devil of the Highland. Her hopes of Evelinde receiving beatings from her husband certainly back fire. 

There is a bit of mystery in Devil of the Highlands as somebody seems to want to harm (if not death) to fall onto Evelinde. The mystery is who? And why?

Great book to read about historical times within the Scottish Highlands. I can't wait to dive into the last book The Hellion and the Highlander. 

Teasers -  river meeting, actions speak louder than words, Evelinde in a tree, harrowing cliffs

Taming the Highland Bride by Lynsay Sands

Merry Stewart and Alexander d'Aumesbery's book





Taming the Highland Bride (book 2)

By Lynsay Sands

Book Blurb:
She was ready to let her heart run wild . . . Merry Stewart has had enough! Enough of her brothers, whose behavior would make even the most improper lady blush. Enough of their Highland home, which would surely have fallen to ruin were it not for her. She dreams of escaping into the arms of her betrothed, Alexander d'Aumesbery;even though they haven't yet met. But when they do, Merry is devastated. It seems he's no better than the men in her family. 

So beautiful, so brazen...From the moment he meets Merry, Alexander is determined to make her his. Desperate to convince her he's nothing like the members of her roguish clan, he will prove he is every bit the well-mannered gentleman. Yet, beneath it all beats a heart as intense and uncontrollable as hers. And finally, when his life is threatened, Merry realizes he's the husband she's been waiting for ...and their passion becomes the one thing that cannot be tamed. 

Another fun historical read by Lynsay Sands. I kick myself for reading them out of order because Taming the Highland Bride is book 2, not book 1 like I had thought. I should have checked Goodreads first instead of the inside covers. Oh well. I have book 1 The Devil of the Highlands and I also already have book 3 The Hellion and the Highlander so I'll just have to step back one book and start it. 

Taming the Highland Bride was a very enjoyable read that included a bit of a mystery too. Someone was out to hurt or kill Alexander and unfortunately Merry was even a suspect.  It was creative to have the villain so obvious yet there was always a thought that perhaps that person was not necessarily the true villain. Right up until the end when I saw I only had a few pages left, I still wasn't sure who the culprit was. 

Poor Merry grew up having the need to take an adult role her entire life. Her father may have been Laird Stewart but due to his drunkenness and his lazy sons, Merry seemed to be the true laird of the clan. She really didn't have anyone to rely on before. 

Not having the need to depend on anyone, made it difficult to accept Alex and even something as simple as heeding his advice of taking her time to walk after dismounting from a horse made her suspicious. 

Since someone was constantly out to hurt Alex, Merry seemed to save him from peril more than a few times. Being a brave warrior, that was hard for him to accept that his hero was his tiny wife. It was nice to read how smart Merry was in each of these rescue situations. 

I enjoyed the journey of their blooming love and was piqued by the mystery of who was out to get him. Excellent read and I can't wait to step back to book 1. 

Teasers - Stewart Shrewd, big claymores, draining the dragon, genius horse rescue by Merry

The Deed by Lynsay Sands

Emma & Amaury's book







The Deed

By Lynsay Sands

Book Blurb:
An innocent young beauty finds herself the fulcrum of a struggle for feudal power. Along with her ample dowry, Emma finds herself promised to Amaury de Aneford, a landless knight whose able sword has preserved the King's crown-and whose rugged good looks make her heart skip a beat. But on the wedding day, as a rival knight gallops toward the bridal chamber, Amaury will find that making love to his naive new bride will take consummate skill. For in the conjugal bed, Emma is astonished to learn there is more to a wedding night than just a sound sleep-and more to true love than she's ever imagined. 

What a witty and fun read The Deed was. Poor Emma was so naive that she didn't understand what consummating the marriage meant exactly. Sure her husband slept with her one night but the only noise coming from the bed chamber was his snores. 

Emma's misunderstandings about many different things made me chuckle quite a few times.  After two years of marriage and with only one night of sleeping together Emma is desperate to have a child. She takes her plight to the king to see if he could order her husband to bed her. That time in court explaining her dilemma to the king was probably the most humourous part of the book. Here is a sample from last Tuesday's Teaser where I shared a few lines. 

Although the king does side with Emma, by the time the deed was to be completed, her husband passes away. The king then orders a knight, Amaury de Aneford to marry her. Of course Amaury hears about Emma's visit to see the king and immediately thinks that Emma must be an old hag. 

The bumbling antics these two encounter with their super quick wedding and then their growing love for each each made for a delightfully lovely read. I enjoyed from page one right until the end. 

You'll enjoy reading all about their growing care and love for each other and you can't help but have Emma win your heart over. The only thing I wish I could understand more clearly is why her first husband decided not to bed her. It seemed to be left in the air a bit and perhaps left to the reader to determine that answer. 

I am happy to have purchased this book during a time where proceeds are donated to the Ovarian Cancer National Alliance. Avon sponsored the Kiss and Teal campaign. 

Teasers - black clothes, head injury, damiana concoction, moat swimming

Teaser Tuesday - The Deed by Lynsay Sands

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The Deed 

by Lynsay Sands

"My lady, did your husband share your bed on your wedding night?"

"Oh, aye." Emma smiled her relief. She had been consummated. "Aye. His men undressed him and put him there, my lord. He made quite a racket, I can tell you. I thought his snore would lift the roof."

page 12

Very humourous book. I like that proceeds to go to Ovarian Cancer research.