Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Review: Aleen Malcolm’s RIDE OUT THE STORM – Intricately Woven Tale From the Scottish Highlands to America before Independence!

This is the continuation of the love story of Sir Alex Sinclair and Cameron, the wild Scottish lass he was forced to marry The Taming. While the author catches you up, and you can read this as a stand alone, I do recommend you begin with book 1. It was a very worthy post Culloden story of a proud Scot and his young Scottish bride.

Ride Out The Storm begins in 1762 as Alex and Cameron, now wed, are traveling back to his ancestral hall, Glen Aucht. Young Cameron is feeling unprepared to assume the role as his lady. Worse, when they arrive, the English redcoats have taken over and Alex has been recalled to service. The surly English colonel in charge has taken over the estate perpetuating all sorts of crimes on the people and the servants (a very worthy cast of secondary characters), who have resorted to stealth to protect their young mistress.

Cameron’s origins hide a secret. She has a twin brother she has not seen since she was eight. She believes he is on the Isle of Rona, but learns he has left Scotland for the New World. Alex and his errant bride are separated as she defies him and they are swept from the Highlands to the wilderness of the New World near Ft. Detroit on the St. Lawrence River. Alex will serve as a British scout, hoping to regain his lands in Scotland and Cameron is on the run searching for her brother.

The plot is intricate, the characters well developed and the story intriguing with some exciting, if not disturbing, action scenes. The pace is a bit slower that your typical romance, especially in the beginning, but it picks up to move along at a good clip. I loved Cameron’s free spirit and her courage and Alex’s persistence in claiming his bride, though during their separation, he was not faithful.

Malcolm captures the frustration and anger of the Scots and the Indians at the cruel treatment they receive from the English. The story has a very satisfying feel and is obviously based on much research into the history of the period.

I do recommend it!

Buy used in paper on Amazon

The Cameron trilogy:

The Taming
Ride Out the Storm
The Daughters of Cameron

2 comments:

  1. I remember exactly where I was when Alex, Cameron and company boarded the ship to the new world -on the shuttle bus between the two campuses of the college I attended at the time- and being totally invested in the story, a double whammy because I'd recently finished The Taming, and Alex and Cameron were still oh so very real in my mind.

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    1. It's funny how that happens, Anna. A sign of a good story. It's one reason I always take a romance set in the country I am traveling to. I read Lady of the Glen on my last trip to Scotland and I will never forget it.

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