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    The Recruit: A Highland Guard Novel
    The Recruit: A Highland Guard Novel
    The Recruit: A Highland Guard Novel
    Audiobook12 hours

    The Recruit: A Highland Guard Novel

    Written by Monica McCarty

    Narrated by Antony Ferguson

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Fiery, aggressive, and bold, Kenneth Sutherland is a true champion-skilled with any weapon and driven to win. Now Kenneth is ready for his greatest challenge: joining Robert the Bruce's secret army to fight among the elite. Kenneth's best chance to attain that honor is by winning the Highland Games. Focused and prepared for victory, he is caught off guard by a lovely wisp of a woman-and a stolen moment of wicked seduction. Her innocent arousal and her shameless hunger fire his blood. He will win his place in the guard-and in Mary of Mar's bed.

    The ruggedly handsome hero-in-the-making stirs a heart that should know better. Mary vows that her surrender will be sport only-no promises, no heartbreak, just one night of incredible passion. Nothing, she swears, will persuade her to give up her hard-wrought independence and put her fate in the hands of another powerful man. But with every gentle touch and heart-pounding kiss, Kenneth makes her want more. Now Mary wants his heart. But is this determined champion willing to surrender everything for love?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateDec 30, 2013
    ISBN9781452687476
    The Recruit: A Highland Guard Novel
    Author

    Monica McCarty

    Monica McCarty is the bestselling author of the Highland Guard series, the MacLeods of Skye trilogy, and the Campbell trilogy. Her interest in the Scottish clan system began in the most unlikely of places: a comparative legal history course at Stanford Law School. After realizing that her career as a lawyer and her husband’s transitory life as a professional baseball player were not exactly a match made in heaven, she traded in her legal briefs for Scottish historical romances with sexy alpha heroes. Monica McCarty lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and their two children.

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    Reviews for The Recruit

    4.5/5

    65 ratings9 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Good book. This is the first of this series I have read, and though reading the others would help with information about the other characters, it's not necessary. I really enjoyed the setting of the book as I haven't read many from this time period. The characters were well done and I liked learning more of this time in Scotland's history.Mary has had a rough life so far and she's only twenty-six years old. She was married at fourteen to a man older than she was. She idolized him, as a warrior and a hero. But he was a terrible husband. He never stopped seeing her as his child bride, even as she got older. She tries everything she can think of to get him to fall in love with her. Her love for him is destroyed when she discovers that he's far more interested in other women than in her. Then he changes sides in the war, causing the king to take her infant son from her, and eventually ends up hanged for treason. Her sister comes to England to try to take her back to Scotland, with disastrous results, and Mary is stuck in England. She is determined to survive, and also that she will not marry again and put herself in the same position. She is also finally in the same place as her son, who is a squire, and getting to know him again. Then she is sent to Scotland with a delegation working on a truce, and asked to spy on the Bruce who was her brother-in-law. There she meets Kenneth Sutherland, who really shakes up her life. She discovers that he's being put forward as a husband for her. She's not interested, she finds him far too much like her late husband to want him for a husband.Kenneth is a second son who is tired of coming in second to everyone and everything. He is determined to earn a place in the Highland Guard. He has an excellent chance at it, if he can just keep his temper and his attention on what he's doing. A chance encounter with Mary is a distraction he doesn't need, but he's determined to get her where he wants her. When he succeeds in his seduction, it leaves a greater impression than he expected, and a distraction at just the wrong time. He ends up losing the competition that would secure his place in the Guard. Not only that, he discovers that Mary isn't just some maid, she's the woman that the Bruce wants him to marry. He's not wild about the idea of being married at all.From there, Kenneth and Mary part ways, never expecting to see each other again. Kenneth gets a second chance at the Guard, undergoing rigorous training, but not able to forget Mary. Meanwhile, she returns to England, with a secret she's not sure what she's going to do about, also unable to forget that incredible encounter with Kenneth. But Fate isn't done with them yet, and Kenneth's first mission for the Guard has him right back in Mary's life.This is where it gets really interesting. The attraction between Mary and Kenneth is just as hot as ever. When Kenneth discovers the secret she's been keeping, he is determined to marry her. He's got a big secret of his own that he's keeping from her, and as time goes on it begins to weigh on him. He looks at their marriage as a way for him to gain her love and therefore make her willing to do what he needs her to do. He's not used to having to work for a woman's attentions and it was rather sweet to see the lengths that he went to in order to win her. But Mary still has the same trust issues regarding Kenneth's ability to be faithful and to protect her. As the weeks go on, they get closer. Mary tentatively starts to believe in Kenneth and finds that she has lost her heart in spite of all her efforts. Kenneth was only supposed to concentrate on his mission, not get sucked into marriage and love. His overprotectiveness and jealousy get him into some trouble both with Mary and with his team.There was so much intrigue and secret keeping that I kept wondering what was going to happen next. The initial interactions between Kenneth and Mary, which only seemed to reinforce Mary's opinion of him, were hot enough to scorch the pages, but didn't look promising for a happy outcome. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the training that Kenneth went through and the grief that he got from the Guard members went a long way toward increasing his maturity. When he was in England he had to call on that maturity to stay on task, not an easy thing for him to do, especially as things really started to heat up. Mary also had some growing up to do, as she began to realize that maybe there was more to Kenneth than she had previously believed. She had to face her growing feelings for Kenneth and decide if she was going to trust him or not. And then there were the things that Kenneth was trying to discover for the Bruce while maintaining his cover. This became more difficult with his marriage, because he made an enemy of one of Mary's suitors. The final showdown was heartpounding in its intensity, and the happy ending for Mary and Kenneth perfect for them.
    • 5/5
      Kenneth Sutherland is bold, fierce, strong, a great warrior but has a temper that always gets the best of him: he always comes in second, no matter what he do.Determined to prove himself to Bruce in order to be part of the Guard, Kenneth, with some rules imposed by Magnus MacKay, needs to win every tournament of the Highland Games to become his partner. But they are enemies for a long time and it's hard not to provoke him.Mary of Mar is a virtual prisoner in England, a stranger to her son and a widow of a traitor rebel. Since the time her sister, Janet of Mar, tried to rescue her and had disappear on the process that Mary sustains herself. But all changes when Bruce summons her to Scotland in order to marry Kenneth. Mary goes to Scotland has a spy for Edward and tells Bruce that she has no intention to marry anyone but one look at Kenneth and lust and a night of 'freedom' becomes very appealing.But the night of 'freedom' had come with a price and now they must do the best they can, for themselves and for Scotland and Bruce.I liked this one. Kenneth turned out to be a 'better person' that I expected. Although in this book there isn't much action scenes or scenes about the Guard as an ensemble, we can understand the motif. There is a continuity since book one that is missed if we don't read it in order. Kenneth needs to prove himself to him and to the others, especially Mary. Even if this story is loosely based on real historical facts, it's a great one.
    • 4/5
      Well I jumped right in this and loved second of it - A rollercoaster of emotional ups and downs - McCarty has a way of writing that lets you feel it all right along with her characters and I often found myself wanting to strangle Mary & Kenneth =) I had missed the last couple of books in this series but was able to jump right back in without any problems - Great story - Highly enjoyable - I would recomend to everyone!
    • 4/5
      With attention to detail, this novel is a fun historical read! With great depth in characters, they become people you really can connect with. Taking you back in time to the rugged life in Scottish history. Full of life, passion, secrets and spying you can get your fill of a warriors life. Add to that the love ran away from and you have an epic adventure.
    • 4/5
      I received my copy of The Recruit through Library Thing's Early Reviewers program. While historical romance isn't my favorite romance genre, the right author can always rope me in and Monica McCarty did just that. Within the first few pages I was quickly swept back into time and completely wrapped up in the characters. The Recruit was a great read and I look forward to the future books in the series.
    • 4/5
      This is the 6th installment of the prospective 10-12 books in the "Highland Guard" series. Although readers do not have to read them all in correct reading order, but personally, I would recommend reading the first book ("The Chief") would be helpful, not only get yourself acquainted with these warriors in kilt and their background, but much enjoyable for you as well to start where it all began. Or, if you don't want to read the first book then go to author's website, click on "Books", then "All about Highland Guard Page" and print out six pages of the "Who's who" in Highland Guard... Voila! you're good to go. It will give you some background and insight into the ten deadliest ancient warriors, the "commandos" of old, the equivalent of the present days Elites/Special Ops/SEALS team of the 1305 Scotland during the time of Robert the Bruce who handpicked these ten warriors himself to be his secret highland guard. They are "the deadliest, the best of the best, chosen for their superior and specialized skills in combat". If you love historical romance and have that special soft spot for "Men in Kilt"... well, I just can't think how you can miss reading this book, or the entire series for that matter. This series is also rich in histories of Scotland vs England at the time as well. I believe McCarty did a good job and thorough in her historical research to bring us this blend of romance and history wrapped together deliciously in gorgeous kilts in her books, not one but six times over (and counting)."Recruit" is the story of Kenneth Sutherland who is known to be skillful in many weapons and he's winning driven man, met his match by the name of Mary of Mar.
    • 4/5
      I received this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. I really liked this book. I have read all previous 5 books in this series and think this is one more great addition. This is the story of Kenneth Sutherland and Lady Mary of Mar. The story line is one seen before in many other romance novels; the woman has been hurt in the past and the man reminds her of the hurt but is still endearing and different enough to let her fall in love. I think I would have tired of this trope if McCarty hadn't been such a good writer. It is apparent that she puts the effort in to develop her characters and doesn't let the story drag along. I also appreciated her attention to detail regarding the time period and events that are taking place during the story. At the end of each of her books she also explains how she tried to blend as much fact into her stories as possible. Overall, I think it is a great historical romance read and I look forward to reading the next Highland Guard novel.
    • 5/5
      I loved loved loved this book!!! This was my first book by Monica McCarty and I was NOT dissapointed! I felt like the book stood on it's own well even though it was hard at times keeping all of the characters straight that I am guessing appeared in the earlier books in this series. I loved all of the characters and am now compelled to go back and read the rest of the series!! This was a great book if you like historical romances.
    • 4/5
      When I first received this book and saw the cover, my thoughts were "SIGN ME UP" recruit! The cover is awesome and I am happy to say the book didn't disappoint either!Mary's first marriage was not what she had hoped it would be. Her warrior husband was gone more than home, he was unfaithful and left her and their son vulnerable. After his death, she is caught between Edward's rule (whom has her son) and Robert the Bruce whom has her family's loyalty. After a chance encounter with a warrior she can't fight attraction for during a peace treaty mission, her life will never be the same.Kenneth is a warrior to the hilt! As he fights to earn a spot on an elite secret army, he battles an attraction like none he has had before to Mary. One that costs him more than he ever imagined it would. When their paths cross again, he has to decide if she was as forgettable as he convinced himself she was.What a great Scottish historical romance! Kenneth is definitely a smokin' hot alpha male and the chemistry between the two are great. The story is interesting and this novel definitely does not lack it's steamy love scenes! Just disappointed I didn't start from book one of this series...can't wait to read more by this author.