The Hawk

by Monica McCarty

Other authorsRobert McNab (Reader)

CD audiobook, 2010

Status

Available

Call number

813.6

Publication

Recorded Books (2011), Edition: Unabridged Audiobook, 12 CDs, 14 hrs 15 mins

Description

Fiction. Romance. Historical Fiction. HTML:THE LEGEND OF THE HIGHLAND GUARD CONTINUES. . . . Handpicked by Robert the Bruce to help him in his quest to free Scotland from English rule, the elite warriors of the Highland Guard face their darkest days. When Bruce is forced to flee, his bid for freedom rests on the shoulders of one extraordinary warrior. Erik MacSorley is a brilliant seafarer who has never encountered a wind he could not harness or a woman he could not win�??until he drags a wet, half-naked �??nursemaid�?� out of the waters off the Irish coast. Ellie�??s ordinary appearance belies the truth: She is in fact Lady Elyne de Burgh, the spirited daughter of the most powerful noble in Ireland. Worse, this irresistible woman is determined to prove herself immune to Erik�??s charms�??a challenge he cannot resist. Her captor may look every inch a rugged warrior, but Ellie vows that it will take more than a wickedly suggestive caress to impress her. Yet Erik will sweep away Ellie�??s resistance with a desire that resonates deep within her heart. Still, he is a man driven by loyalty, and she is a woman with secrets that could jeopardize Bruce�??s chance to reclaim his throne. As the battle for king and country sounds across the shores, will Ellie�??s love be enough to finally tame the legend known as the Hawk? Surrender to the pleasure of this novel from… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member melorem

The second book in the Highland Guard Series. Erik is a seafaring chieftan who supports Robert the Bruce's bid to be King of Scotland. Lady Elyne comes across Erik by mistake finding herself at the wrong place at the wrong time. He has no choice but to take her with him. She hides her identity

thinking it will keep her safe but there never seems to be the right time to set things right.

This book has a good mixture of political intrigue and romance.

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LibraryThing member JorgeousJotts

I left this as a DNF, but eventually came back to it after readers in my group raved on and on about it saying every other historical romance was ruined for them after reading this one. (How could I not give it another try after that, right??).

DNF- I got a few hours in, and it wasn't *terrible* but

I've determined this series isn't for me. This is my third book by McCarty and in every one there's an awful female lead. I scanned ahead reviews for the next 5 books or so in the series and it looks like that's one of the most common complaints in each of them. That's just not going to work for me. Which is a bummer, because I'm interested in this time period and I like the idea of a 'Special Ops' team each with a special skill-set, who we get to know throughout the series. I think the problem is that McCarty tries to make the men nearly perfect, so she needs the women to create the drama. There's a war going on, so it seems like that could account for most of the drama, but instead it's the women, mostly through stupidity, recklessness, and fits of irrational anger. The women are a very immature foil to the Scottish He-man males. Like modern-13-year-old levels of decision making and attitude. For example- This woman has been abducted by pirates. The captain of the pirates beckons her to cross the ship to him, (and is smiling even, so it's not like he's sharpening a knife menacingly). But she *doesn't care to be beckoned*, so she looks right at him and then, nose in the air, turns her back. ... To a pirate captain she just met, on his own ship, surrounded by all his pirate crew! (We know he's the hero and won't straight up rape and murder her for her insolence, but she couldn't possibly know that!) Add to that, to protect her identity she told them she's of the servant class, (might not want to then immediately out yourself as *clearly not* a servant). AND, this is right after she nearly got everyone aboard the ship killed! AND after he saved her from a grisly death, TWICE, in like the past hour!!! ... I wouldn't want a heroine to just meekly submit to everything all the time, (though that behavior would be extremely common for the time period!), but for F's sake! She's *reckless* for snubbing her nose at a pirate captain she's entirely at the mercy of, an *idiot* not to keep up a lie her life may depend on for even an hour, *arrogant* to not be even the least bit agreeable after endangering everyone's lives, and an *ass* for being so rude to someone who went out of their way, TWICE, to save her measly life! I just can't.

Second attempt- lol. It perhaps got somewhat better from the low point where I had left off. Maybe. For about the last half of the book, it was actually the hero making horrible decisions! So, that's mixing it up a bit I guess... Both are noted for being clever people, but actually each of them were quite slow at catching onto some very basic things. The heroine doesn't come right out and say she's an in-law to the Bruce until late, but she does ask with concern after the welfare of his wife and call her "the queen" which at least shows some sympathy to their rebellion, (one does not risk treason lightly!) and later refers to the king as just 'Robert' and says 'that's what the family calls him', and the hero doesn't pick up on any of this! Or, later on, guards *address her by her title*, but she doesn't realize until it's pointed out later that they must have known her identity...? (Poor sods were trying to rescue her, but, *shrug* RIP). ugh. But those sort of things pale in comparison to the hero being so terribly slow on the uptake of basic social understanding (after he's supposed to be such a socially savvy character!). Terrible first reaction after taking her virginity! (But it somehow takes him ages to realize it.) If he were just generally socially awkward, it would be understandable, but he's supposed to be very charming! Worse, when he decides he'll marry her, doesn't bother mentioning it to her, she tells him she loves him and he shrugs it off super callously(!), *still doesn't mention that he even cares for her at all or intends to marry her* and then is super confused when she cools on him! Well, duh!!! Then he gets mad at her for having a secret, (even though he'd had his own secrets and had never asked for her trust, or showed he could be trusted with her secrets). She saves his life and mission anyway, (good on her). Later, she risks her life to save him and his mission, again, (even though he hadn't bothered to contact her at all when they'd been separated for weeks and he'd had a bit of downtime (even though he knew she was a lady by then (whom he'd deflowered) and related to his king). She still offers the blighter her love *again*, -(and he even figures out (then) where it went wrong last time 'oh, she wanted to be loved in return!' (who'd a thunk?!), AND he finally realizes that he does actually love her back as well... -he STILL doesn't tell her! In some high-minded 'for her own good better to break her heart now just in case I don't make it through the war' sort of decision. Bah! Lots of time passes, he ends up regretting his choice, yet still does *nothing* about it, until he's sent on a specific mission to retrieve her by direct order of his king. ...?? Totally unimpressed with his love for her! He's then all shocked and appalled that she would consider marrying someone else, (even though she'd been engaged since before they even met **and he rebuffed her love** TWICE!) But he swoops in, on the day of the wedding, and abducts her to keep her captive until she'll agree to marry him instead! And then he acts totally entitled to her love and the rest of her life and like he's doing her a favor! Ugh. Zero groveling for being such an ass for several months. He'd had potential in the first half, but really went downhill after that. Too bad that the main couple couldn't both be decent for the second half of the book. I wanted to root for them!

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