This book was filled with a unique look into the border marches of the 16th century. I’m still wrapping my head around the reality of people’s lives back then, and am pretty sure I would not have made the cut.

Margaret, the protagonist, was a victim long ago and has since vowed revenge for herself and her family. She is on a mission to exact revenge, at any cost to herself. She is strong, independent, determined, and stubborn. This gets her into trouble more than once. There are other elements involved, including a curse, that make her life difficult.

Enter Angus, a Scot from across the border who continually looks after Margaret and helps her time and time again. He was a wonderful hero and one of my absolute favorite parts of the book!

I have to say I really have no great love for Margaret. She is obsessed, and takes no thought for anyone else or the consequences of her actions. She is rude, unfriendly, and callous to Angus over and over, and then some. I couldn’t figure out why he liked her so much, or why he kept coming back to save/help her.

And the way she dealt with her curse in the end felt very contrived. I would think she would have already tried that method, verses suddenly coming up with it. I kept reading, loving the supporting characters and the idea of the story, and hoping Margaret would change or improve with time, but it was not meant to be.

There was a nice HEA ending, for which I was glad, and Angus almost made the sweet clean romance believable for me, as Margaret couldn’t.

Still a very well written story detailing some of the realities of that time period, even if the protagonist was a bit frustrating.

Julie Daines is quickly becoming a favorite author for me. From Ash and Stone takes place on the border of Scotland and England, in the wild untamed area where lands are raided and cattle stolen.
Lady Margaret Grey lost her family to these raiders when they started a fire at her house. 6 years later she has returned to bring justice to her family and to end a curse that has plagued her since. Her plans are foiled when a young man tries to befriend her.
From Ash and Stone is a story of redemption, family, belonging, forgiveness, and love. I loved reading about the area that it takes place in and the loosely based history that the books includes. Lady Margaret is a strong willed character, who meets her match in Angus Robson. If you're looking for a fun, engaging read, this is it.

The Scottish Borders. For many years they held little interest for me, my heart lay in the grandeur of the Highlands - a few hours further north. But then on my 3rd wedding anniversary, we travelled to the Borders and visited a beautiful castle ruin in Caerlaverock. It’s twin towers still stand and is surrounded by a moat. The day we visited there was a low lying fog and the crows cawing. It was ethereal. Northumberland is likewise sparsely populated and barren. But the history and the beauty of the moors are captivating to me. I love reading stories set here, and considering how long it takes you to travel to this area, it’s no surprise it’s lawlessness was common during an era where travel to the region would have been even more laborious.

This book is set during the reign of King Henry VIII. It’s not a time span I generally look for stories from, however I’m a fan of Julie Daines work, and the cover and title for this book are stunning. There were moments when I was struggling with the plot. There is so much repetition in the amount of revenge the heroine Margaret has planned, yet she rarely acts on the opportunities she is given. I wanted a strong female lead for the set she is placed in. The descriptiveness of the land, her home - the Pele tower, her ruthless neighbors. Then there’s Angus and Gillis, who appear like magic at all the right times. I love Hamish, he seems like a perfect companion for the setting. Osanna was another well written addition.

This isn’t my favourite but, I did appreciate and enjoy following the story in a place I would dearly love more historical fiction to be based.

I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley. I also bought my own paperback copy. This is my honest review.

I loved this story. Angus is a hero..braw but sweet. Margaret is filled with the need for revenge. There are extraordinary secondary characters that will captivate you. I won't give the plot away, but I promise you'll feel wonderful when you come to the end.

I love medieval stories. This one was one that I couldn't put down. I read parts of it and listened to parts of it because I was hooked. I've long been a fan of Julie Daines and was so excited to see she had a new book coming out. I loved the cover of this book and knew that it was one I was definitely going to read.

Lady Margaret is a spitfire of a character. She's had sorrow hit her life pretty hard. And with that sorrow, a curse. In the beginning of this book she is finally returning home to take revenge for the sorrows of her life. Her plans don't quite align as she had hoped. She happens to run into some bandits, and a couple brothers Angus and Gillis and their dog. From there her hopes to quietly seek out those she wishes to enact revenge upon has extra helpers. Although they don't quite know what her purpose is.

I enjoyed the cast of characters in this one. The unlikely friendships, the working together to help Lady Margaret, and of course a budding romance. Everything is not always what it seems and Margaret must work quickly if she wants to get her revenge, protect her heart and survive.

Without spoiling anything I will say that I really liked Margaret's curse. I liked how the author used it to help drive the story as well as create angst in the story. I loved the growing love and romance between Margaret and her beau. No spoiling. ;-) There were definitely some sad moments throughout this book. Sorrow and heartache. But throughout, I loved watching the characters find healing and closure to their sorrows and heartaches. There are a couple more characters that I haven't talked about. The dastardly villain and another great friendship. I loved all the dimensions that the different characters brought to this story.

Read it, listen to it, but however you choose to enjoy this one, I hope you take the chance and try it. My daughters weren't happy when they only were able to hear parts of the story since I was reading and listening to it. My oldest has it on her list to listen to through a subscription that I have.

Content: Clean. Some moments of peril. The villain is a creep and does not treat females well. He beats up Margaret a little but nothing more. Nothing more than kissing.

I received a copy from the publisher, Covenant Communications, via NetGalley. As well as listening to a copy through my Deseret Bookshelf subscription. All thoughts and opinions in the review are my own.

Happy Reading!!!

From Ash and Stone is a historical fiction novel set in the Medieval ages along the border of England and Scotland. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It brought tears to my eyes and had me laughing out loud a few times as well. The theme of forgiveness and mercy comes through clearly at the end of the book. It's a revenge story with a twist. I'm usually not a huge fan of paranormal happenings in my novels, but it worked for this book.
Disclosure: I received a review copy of From Ash and Stone via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of this novel. I enjoyed this historical fiction that had a bit of fantasy element in it as the main character can sense emotions with touch. I appreciated the clean romance aspect of this book. This was an engaging read that had the power of forgiveness as a major theme.

Opening line:
"Margaret laid on the ground with her eyes closed."

Margaret lives in the time of King Henry VIII and she lives in the path of men, on both sides of the border of Scotland and England, who raid homes with no thought to the people's lives they destroy except to take what they want.

Margaret's family died at the hands of such a band of reivers, and she has come home for revenge. Her plan is simple: find the man responsible for leading the attack on her family and kill him. Then, maybe, she will find the peace she desires for her family and herself.

Of course, Ms. Daines throws in the perfect guy to distract Margaret from her goals. Meet Angus Robson. Poor fool practically fell in love with "Meg" as he likes to call her. But Meg constantly pushes him away. She has a secret, a curse, that keeps her from any contact with skin. When she touches bare skin, she "hears" the thoughts and desires of those whom she touches. This is another reason she wants to kill the person responsible for her family's death: she hopes it wipes out the curse.

In the meantime, Angus is always trying to rescue her, which Meg can do on her own. She's quick, smart and knows how to use a crossbow. But sometimes, we need someone who loves us to save us from ourselves. And sometimes, we need to show mercy to those we hate.

Ms. Daines does a marvelous job of building her characters and the slow burn of the romance. Because of her, I was late to work! I couldn't put the book down!

FIVE STARS!
Thanks to netgalley

From Ash and Stone by Julie Daines. Covenant Communications, 2018

From Ash and Stone is set in Northumbria in the mid 1540s, a time when reivers along both sides of the Scottish and English border preyed viciously and indiscriminately against their neighbours to survive and to profit. When border reivers murder her family and destroy her household, Margaret survives by slashing her attacker’s face with a knife. The story begins six years later when Margaret returns to search for her attacker, intent on revenge. Before she quite reaches her old home, she is captured and robbed by reivers, then rescued by Angus, heir of a neighbouring lord.

Margaret is an empath, a power she hides, uses when convenient and mostly considers to be a curse; this paranormal element supports rather than overwhelms the story. Margaret, Angus and other characters, particularly members of Angus’ family, are described so well they almost come alive.

Many Scottish historical romances set near the border around this period feature aspects of a predatory way of living; this book weaves the practice into an interesting and unusual story, explaining and describing border reiving in a meaningful way that I appreciate and had not previously encountered.

I thoroughly enjoyed this well written and very engaging book.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of From Ash and Stone via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

posted to amazon, link to follow.

I was provided with an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Interesting story, but as a student of history, I felt there were a lot of details missing for the time period to explain why there were Reivers and fighting between England and Scotland. It felt very light on real substance and the characters were lacking detail and a good fleshing out. A decent effort but lacking.

Thank you Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I wasn't blown away by this novel. I liked that the author stayed true to the historical time period but that's as interesting as this novel gets. Meg is on a mission to get revenge for her parents death and travels back to her childhood home to get answers. She meets Angus who is kind and protective of her but she rejects his generosity in fear of getting too close. She also has the ability to read people through touch and she avoids letting anyone near. I was a bit turned off by Megs stand-offish ways. She wallows in her misery and doesn't allow herself to build relationships. Just not my type of novel.

6 years ago Lady Margaret Grey of Hartfell lost everything but now she's back. She's back to avenge her family and to finally find peace, even if it means that she could die trying to bring the enemy down...

This sad and beautiful story will not be forgotten for a long long time. I don't think any book, in the past 6 months, has pull the string in my heart like this one did. I'm not sure it was all necessary (all the tragic) but I understand what author wanted to show her readers. Forgiveness is a powerful tool that only the strongest can handle.

I cared of each character as I think everyone was unique and brought something to the story. Everyone had their role and was needed to see the change made in our heroine. I think this is what I actually liked the most in this story- that every person had purpose and there was no pointless interactions.

I had a slight issue with writing itself but I believe this could be easily fixed with the right editor. No grammar or stylistic mistakes just overall sometimes story just went too quickly without going into the detail.

I really enjoyed this book even though there seemed to be a tragic event in each chapter. I just wish there was maybe more romance?


Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

WOW! A very intriguing story!
This is a MUST-READ for sure!
I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it.

Six years ago, Lady Margaret Grey had everything taken from her. On one dark night, her home was burned to the ground, her family was murdered by border reivers, and a mysterious curse was placed upon her that gives her unwanted perception and unbearable pain. After scraping by on the streets of sixteenth century London, Margaret has returned to what's left of her home, determined to discover the identity of the man who organized the raid and to execute vengeance on him no matter the cost.

When a sturdy laird saves Margaret from a band of ruffians, she refuses to tell him her name or where she hails from. But Angus Robson is nothing if not persistent. With the help of his mute brother Gillis, Angus provides food, shelter, and protection for Margaret. He draws the line at helping her exact vengeance, however, and Margaret becomes increasingly frustrated by his attempts to thwart her. She doesn't mind that she'll be hanged, drawn, and quartered after her plan succeeds, but it turns out that Angus minds that fact very much. When Margaret runs afoul of the crooked King's Warden, even Angus is hard pressed to save her, and it looks like her curse may remain unlifted as her quest goes unfinished. 

Set during the reign of Henry VIII, this book was a tumultuous ride along the wilds of the Scottish border. I have always been interested in the lawless reivers, pirates who preyed on the sheep and cattle of their neighbors, burning, raiding, and killing Scots and English indiscriminately. The fast pacing of this book showed the dangers of the period, although Margaret did seem to lead a charmed life that resulted in Angus happening by every time she got in over her head.

In this novel, Angus Robson is a man who cares for his own with fidelity and constancy, but he's also no milksop when it comes to a midnight melee. His father is a harsh man, blaming Angus for the death of Angus' older brother. But even as Angus tries to live up to his father's expectations, he also continues to have a soft heart toward the helpless. As a damsel in distress, Margaret's green eyes and long black hair draw Angus like a moth to a flame. But Margaret is consumed by her hatred, refusing to consider any thoughts of romance when her family still goes unavenged. In the end, she must break the vicious cycle of vengeance, learning that mercy is a gift more to herself than to her adversary.

Margaret's curse brings an element of the paranormal into the book. It added an interesting twist to the book, although it did seem a little too tidy the way that the curse was resolved. All in all, this was a good romance and a page-turning adventure making me interested to read more by Julie Daines.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This book was very intriguing with a great plot. It was suspenseful, action packed and romantic. I loved how the main character was greatly changed through the storyline. She started out with a stone heart and it gradually thawed. Definitely a great read!

A story of loss and vengeance that will take you through a turbulent period in history. Margaret lost her home and family one night by reivers and she was lucky to have escaped. But she did not get away unscathed. One of them bashed her in the head with a rock and it gave her an ability to sense the thoughts of someone when she touches them. It is really almost a curse so she stays away for several years and keeps herself apart.
Revenge. Now she is going back and is determined to find who killed her family and when he is dead, hopefully the curse will end. But the best laid plans so not always happen and when she runs into Scotsman, Angus Robson it seems she will never be alone. He constantly is there bringing her food and chipping away at the wall she has built against others.
Angus was such a good heart and he was determined to help Margaret. The author pulls you into the times with her descriptions and makes you feel invested in the characters. This was the first book I have read by her but it will not be the last!

Set in the turbulent times of Henry VIII’s rebellion against the Catholic Church, From Ash And Stone follows Margaret Grey, a young woman from the dangerous lands just south of the Scottish border. Reivers are a way of life in the borderlands, and England’s king is too busy to care, whereas Mary Queen of Scots is a babe in arms. The law in the borderlands is made by the strong, a lesson Margaret learns only too well when in the space of a single night her family and home are all destroyed. Six years later, older and wiser, she returns to her home with only one thing on her mind. Vengeance.

Margaret has a special skill, though, one she believes to be a curse. Her head was struck against a standing stone the night she lost her family, and she gained the uncanny ability to know another person’s thoughts at the touch of their skin.

Unfortunately, almost everyone really is out to get her in this story, and using her gift causes her pain, so she doesn’t realise until it’s almost too late that the one person she can trust is her Scottish neighbour, Angus Robson, and his mute brother Gillis. Angus is, frankly, adorable, even if he does keep thwarting Margaret’s chances for revenge. His acceptance of her ‘gift’ and of the girl Osanna she takes under her protection (who is definitely a witch) is heart-warming, and his brother Gillis is heart-breakingly sweet.

The sheer lawlessness of life in the borders at the time comes across very well in this novel, which was why I found one particular plot point so incredible; how did one young girl, friendless, alone and injured, make her way all the way to London and back again? And why would she even do so? It’s not as though she could appeal to the king, or had any family there to turn to. It made no sense to me for Margaret to go so far, and one other thing also got to me, the Almost But Not Quite trope. I honestly lost count of the number of times Margaret was Almost But Not Quite raped or killed, always saved just in the nick of time, either by her own wits (at least she didn’t always have to be rescued) or by the intervention of Angus. It got kind of predictable after a while.

The end of the story left me somewhat dissatisfied as well, since I’m afraid I like villains to get what’s coming to them and the Big Bad of this story just… didn’t. In terms of historical accuracy, this is superbly written, and the characters were very realistic, but there were a few too many things which just didn’t quite sit right for me. Three stars.

This was a great story, it was also a story with a lot of holes in it. Our heroine is so stubborn and hard headed it becomes hard to like her at times. We have our unbelievably patient hero who is rebuffed more times than I could count but keeps coming back for more rudeness and getting kicked out of her "home".

I have to admit up front that I am a total revenge junkie and this story led me on for about 240 pages and left me with little satisfaction, the romance was done well, the action was decent but the revenge left me like "What?? You gotta be kidding me!!"

I have to add this last note, price seldom comes into play in my reviews unless the price and the story/length/etc are far out of sync and this is where this book falls, 240 pages of a decent but not exceptional story for $11 ebook and $16 paperback is just not even close to fair pricing so you be the judge but also let me point out that my taste for revenge stories played a big part in my feelings about this story, yours may be very different as evidenced by the other reviews. So I give what I felt might have been a 3 Star rating a 4 Star for people who might be a bit less bloodthirsty than myself .

This was a wonderful story. It was a great weekend read. The characters were wonderful with growth throughout the story. The plot was even more exciting knowing that it was based off history. I did feel the ending was rushed a bit but that may have been due to my enjoyment of the story.

I am becoming a huge lover of Historical Fiction and From Ash and Stone has become one of my faves. This book made me cry, sigh, and smile. I truly loved the narration of this book. The characters, Angus was one of my favorite characters. I loved his personality. Margaret is such a strong woman. Hell-bent on finding out who killed her family.

The setting was so beautiful. I truly enjoyed reading this book.


I really loved the ending. A happily-ish ever after.