Years ago, Christina Blackburn posed for a scandalous painting that rocked the Victorian art world—and nearly ruined her life. Now a proper antiquarian for the National Museum, Christina hides her smoldering beauty behind an icy façade and prim spectacles. When the museum sends Christina to examine an ancient Highland treasure, she comes face-to-face with the same notorious painting—and its … dangerously handsome owner.
Sir Aedan MacBride knows that a local legend of a sleeping maiden says the estate’s heir must never fall in love, which suits him fine—until he meets Christina Blackburn. Convinced that the painting’s beautiful model is the key to saving his threatened lands, he is desperate to discover what she knows about the old legend—yet he never expects love to interfere.
REVIEWS:
“Unsurpassed… Susan King is one of the best!” ~Cathy Maxwell
“Susan King makes a delicious leap to the 19th century… never has Scotland been more magical or more romantic!” ~Mary Jo Putney
THE SCOTTISH LAIRDS, in series order
Taming the Heiress
Waking the Princess
Kissing the Countess
THE CELTIC NIGHTS, in series order
The Stone Maiden
The Swan Maiden
The Sword Maiden
Laird of the Wind
THE BORDER ROGUES, in series order
The Raven’s Wish
The Raven’s Moon
The Heather Moon
OTHER TITLES by Susan King
The Black Thorne’s Rose
ABOUT Susan King:
Susan King is the bestselling, award-winning author of 23 historical novels and novellas praised for historical accuracy, master storytelling and lyricism.
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Christina Blackburn is a widow and she is an antiquarian with the National museum. Thanks to her job she is sent to Dundrennan to investigate a wall that was found during blasting for a road to see if it had any historical significance. She does not want to go there because of a painting that was painted of her when she was younger that was considered scandalous and is now owned by the Laird.
Sir Aedan MacBride is Laird of Dundrennan through tragedy and even though he is a scientific man he still believes that his family is cursed. There is a local legend of a sleeping beauty that ties into the family curse. So he is very adamant not to fall in love. He is also very determined to finish his road as fast as he can despite having Christina there. The rest of the book is an interesting tale of them discovering the history of his lands and family with a few twists and turns.
I enjoyed this book. It is the 2nd in the series but other than having some of the characters from the 1st book (which I enjoyed) there was nothing that I needed to know from the previous one to read this one. There was some pretty imagery written in here and has some really good tales in it. I enjoyed reading it.
I got this book for free to review from ebook discovery in exchange for an honest review. The opinions in this review are 100% my own
His princess may just break the curse.
Sir Aedan MacBride is a Scottish laird with several problems, but the worst is an ancient curse that keeps him from marrying for love.
Mrs. Christina Blackburn has spent most of her adult life studying the past. After the death of her husband and the ensuing scandal, Christina has vowed to never, ever fall in love again.
Susan King’s talent is showcased in Waking the Princess. The characters are likable and well suited. The story is interestingly sweet with a touch of myth, some humor, a few twists, and lots of romance. The charming ending and epilogue are both smile worthy.
My only complaint, and the reason for 4 instead of 5 stars is the excessive descriptions. I understand relevant information, but not mundane details. Still, this book is a good read.
Content 411: This book contains very little swearing, but there are a couple of mildly descriptive sexually intimate scenes.
Disclosure: I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily review this book. This is my honest review.
I loved the first and third books in this series and was so happy to be able to read book two, even out of order. I enjoyed the fact that Aeden was already a little in love with Christina when he first met her, all because of the painting she posed for several years prior that he owned. While he refuses to fall in love because of the so-called family curse, his feelings for her just get stronger as the story goes on. Once again the descriptions are so vivid that the reader is transported to that time and place. A treat to have Meg and Dougal appear from book one. Great read! I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily post this review. This is my honest review.
Legend come to Life with touch of magic
You jump into the 6th century legend of the sleeping princess from the prologue and then we see how this affects so many things at Aedan’s home, Dundrennan. Christina arrives as a scholar to investigate an ancient stone wall found while Aedan, a road engineer, is building a road through his property in 1858. These two are inexplicably, magically drawn together from the start, but there is also a curse to any wife of the Laird if he loves her, therefore Aedan does his best to avoid her (and generally fails). The conflicts are many layered from exploring the ancient wall versus completing the road, past tragedies on both their parts, other romantic player, and the stringent requirements of Aedan’s father’s which put the entire property into jeopardy.
Aedan’s loving revelations are beautifully reveled, but Christina’s are more jolting back and forth almost disjointed, presumably to reflect her wild spirit versus the plodding conservatism she has adopted to protect herself. There is, of course, also a quite satisfying ending. I have received this book for free from eBook Discovery and this is my voluntary, honest review.
I absolutely loved this wonderful book. The history within the pages immediately drew me in and didn’t let me go till the end. I didn’t want to stop reading for anything, I wanted to find out if Aedan succumbed to what he was fighting or not. I loved how Christina was able to know so much she was extremely bright. Watching Aedan and Christina getting to know each other and pulling for them to make it was awesome. It was great how I was able to get to know the side characters and feel a part of everyone’s lives.
I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily reviewed this book. I also bought it cause I loved it so much.
His love came back to him.
This is a tale center around a painting and a fairytale. The paint is of a young maiden and for the widow of the artist it holds bad memories it was a painting that should never had been sold. The fairytale was about a Druid warrior and his lovely lady who is wasting away and he could not let her go. This was a magical story where the fairytale blended into the lives of the characters. I will admit right from the first introduction of the character I knew who the bad guy was but I was still completely engaged in the book. I loved the flow and detail in this work the author did a splendid job. I highly recommend this book. I received this book for free from eBook Discovery and voluntarily chose to review it.
According to the curse on his family, it was dangerous for Sir Aedan MacBride, Laird of Dundrennan, to find true love. When Cristina Blackburn comes to his estate to investigate possible discoveries for the museum, Aedan finds himself longing for dreams and wishes that he thought were impossible. Legends are present all the time. Cristina has a definite purpose and Aedan fights to keep her safe from his passion and his sad fate. First story I read from this Scottish Lairds series and found interesting the folklore, the intriguing paintings and was keeping an eye on the digging. Cristina’s interesting character had me thinking in how she is involved in a passionate relationship when she believed everything was lost for her. Strong, smart and passionate woman no matter that others didn’t see her for real. Many and detailed descriptions, a slow pace, a troubled romance, and a Machiavellian villain that was lurking in the dark.
This book was an enjoyable read with a good storyline and characters that were so well detailed that I remained totally engaged until the turn of the very last page!