SPEAK OF LOVE

Author: Linda Madl ISBN: 0759945551 12/2005 HISTORICAL Publisher: HARD SHELL WORD FACTORY
Time Period: English Civil War 1644

Honora, a duke's daughter, knows better than to expect her marriage to be a love match, but her uncles' choice of a vain, greedy widower won't do either. She has her welfare and the future of her sisters to think of. "I'd rather marry the devil himself," she tells them, and then she meets ... Brec McCloud, the mysterious new Laird of the Isle of Myst. He seeks a lady for his castle for his own dark reasons, and he is willing to give up much to win Lady Honora's hand in marriage. One suitor rejected and war on the horizon, Honora is forced to accept his magical courtship and passionate attentions. Ultimately she accepts his proposal of marriage which sets her on a journey to the western isles and world of healers, pirates, and sinister superstitions. At the Laird's ancestral home where she reigns as the lady of the castle, she discovers a kelpie, a fairy flag, a tale of murder and cruel betrayal. With a woman's special strength, she fights for her Laird as an enemy's lies threaten to tear them apart...before they can speak of love.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Oh, the sheer perfection of this book! Every time I read a Linda Madl book, I feel as if I am being blown away right into the wonderful story and into the wonderful characters' lives.

Honora is everything that I love in a heroine. She is spirited, beautiful, loyal, and has a wonderful sense of humor that had me chuckling more than once. She has her mind set about what she wants to do, but doesn't realize at the very beginning how she is setting herself up to fall right into Brec's arms.

Brec is a big, brawny hulk of a man that just took my breath away. He is determined and aggressive; he defines what a great alpha male should be. The McCloud, as he is called, also has a wonderful dry sense of humor that melted my heart.

SPEAK OF LOVE has all the elements that I look for in a good romance novel. Linda Madl is fast becoming a must-read author, in my opinion.

Kristal Gorman