Bride of the Beast

Twice wed and twice widowed, Lady Caterine Keith has no need for a champion. She can fend off unwanted suitors on her own and guard her Scottish stronghold without the help of any man. But her sister, knowing better, sends a make-believe husband---a knight with a battle-scarred face almost too frightening to behold. Sir Marmaduke Strongbow has a secret ambition. He wants not Caterine's land but her hand in marriage and her heart to own. With tantalizing caresses, he will show her how a real champion lays siege...and how love is impossible to fight.

I liked this book quite a lot. I could relate in ways to each of the "demons" who plagued both the hero and heroine. I appreciate how, they each had to fight those demons to be able to come together. I wish the heroines final demons had been exorcised a little better, or more obviously.

I enjoyed Leo, the antithesis of the dog in Devil in a Kilt. I'll keep trying Ms. Welfonder's work. Book 2 in the MacKensie Series.

Devil in a Kilt

A FIERY ANGEL, A COLDHEARTED DEVIL AND A MARRIAGE HOTTER THAN HELL!

Linnet MacDonnell was the youngest of seven sisters and not the family beauty. With her flame-bright red hair, sharp tongue and strange gift of second sight no man wanted her. But the devil would take her. Bartered as a bride to her father's long-sworn enemy, the nobly born Highlander Duncan MacKenzie of Kintail, she had no choice but to enter a marriage with a man rumored to have murdered his first wife and said to possess neither heart nor soul.

Forbidding and proud, Duncan MacKenzie wanted only one thing from his new bride -- to use her special gift to determine if young Robbie was truly his son. He never expected the MacDonnell lass to stubbornly follow her heart, chase away the darkness in his castle with light and laughter and ignite a raging fire in his blood. How dare she defy him and tempt a devil like him to feel what he feared most of all -- love!

I enjoyed this book. It was paced well. I understood some of the sadness and insecurity the heroine faced, and appreciated that even though she had some issues, she was not whiny. Duncan was a strong character who obviously didn't want to fall in love. He does some self preservation to keep Linnet away, but was not cruel. Some authors really take it to the extreme. Ms. Welfonder did not. Duncan stayed a sympathetic character, and one I was rooting for. I liked the irony that there was a Great Dane and a Marmaduke. (But Marmaduke was not a Great Dane! hee hee) I rate this a 4 maybe a 4.5 since I immediately want to get the next in the series.

I'll read more from Ms. Welfonder and hope that the books written as Allie MacKay are just as good. I have to say I'm growing addicted to men in kilts and/or plaids.