MacIan's Gift

4 stars

MacIan's Gift by Terry Graham is the first book in the Tartan Threads series, which centers around Scottish Highlanders in the mid-seventeenth century. In this story, Jamie MacIan believes that his family is cursed. He is a bard who saved money to purchase and restore his old family home after most of his people were slaughtered including his wife and child. When he arrives at his home, a frail emaciated woman literally falls into his arms. It turns out that Sarah Clinton has been hiding there. She recently escaped the clutches of her abusive stepfather, who held her captive and wanted her to marry his son due to her lineage.

This is the first book that I’ve read by Terry Graham and I really enjoyed it. I will absolutely read the rest of the books in this series. The story moved quickly and there was so much action. I didn’t want to put it down because I was excited to hear what would happen next. The story took the reader on an emotional journey. There were light and funny moments as well as heartbreaking ones. The story includes violent battles, steamy love scenes, ghosts and family curses. Jamie and Sarah are great characters. Both trying to heal from past traumas.

The reader should be aware that this book does cover some heavy topics including Sarah’s abuse. There are also some violent fight scenes and not all of the supporting characters make it out alive. However, the author does not gratuitously use violence. Both topics, while heavy, are used respectfully to further the plot.

I was invited to read an ARC of MacIan's Gift by Terry Graham. #MacIan’sGift #NetGalley

Parts of this book are simply heartbreaking and heartwarming in turns. Sarah had an extremely sheltered life which made her emotionally immature and seem too young for a relationship. However, as the book progressed so did Sarah's maturity. Jamie, is driven by his duty to those he cares about, which includes Sarah. As he tries to protect her from her uncle a bond blossoms between them. Overall, it is a really good story!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rather than endure another day of abuse, Sarah flees her home, finds shelter in a crumbling tower and discovers love in the arms of her stepfather's enemy. Sarah Clinton shakes with fear every time her stepfather and stepbrother are in the same room as her. When her stepfather demands she marry his son to carry on the name, she refuses. She runs as hard as her crippled leg will carry her and finds refuge in an old deserted castle. It's not vacant for long, though, as the heir, Jamie MacIan, discovers her inside his ancestral home. He talks about ghosts and family curses, yet his kisses are pure heaven. She vows to keep her identity from him, for once he knows the truth, he'll surely seek revenge on her stepfather. Can this be love? Can she and Jamie break the curse through their love for each other? Or will they sacrifice their love to pay for what their ancestors did so long ago?

MacIan's Gift is a truly special Scottish historical romance. I connected with Sarah right away and my heart went out to her several times. Her stepfather and his son are despicable animals who need to be fed to the dogs, slowly and painfully. It takes great writing talent to write such evil characters, but Terry Graham pulls it off with ease. The emotional narration is deep and grabs the reader's heartstrings. Both Sarah and Jamie deal with heart-wrenching circumstances yet the author portrays the abuse and grief with historical accuracy. The plot moves at a good pace with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader turning the pages. What makes this book so special are the romantic scenes. The author beautifully describes every facet of falling in love including emotional, physical, and spiritual with intricate detail. The reader gets to experience every sensation. So well done. If you're looking for an escape to historical Scotland, pick up MacIan's Gift. If you love historical Scottish romance, you've got to read MacIan's Gift. Highly recommend!

My Rating: 5 stars

MacIan’s Gift by Terry Graham. Set in Scotland this book follows the main characters Sarah, who has led a very sheltered life and Jamie MacIan who is a bard convinced there is a curse on his clan after many of them were slaughtered. After Jamie finds Sarah in the rundown castle of his family that he is planning to restore, he does everything he can to protect her from the stepfather she has escaped from. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. In my opinion it has just the right amount of bloodshed, steamy romance and suspense. There was lots of wondering where it was going next, who would survive and what would eventually happen to the main characters.

This book was a very sweet romance novel. The story had some heavy topics like abuse and violence, but they weren’t overly described and did move the story along. There were steamy scenes, but they were more sweet than spicy. I enjoyed the historical fiction with a touch of the supernatural thrown in. This book had a sweet innocent heroine, a somewhat gruff hero, ghosts, curses, and more. The only thing I slightly disliked is I wished Sarah had grown a bit more and had more self-confidence and self-worth towards the end. Her character was almost too innocent and naive.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

MacIan’s Gift is Jamie and Sarah’s story of duty, curses, ghosts, and ultimately love. Jamie has purchased his clans' castle and is determined to bring his clan back after they were wiped out. He believes in ghosts and curses. That if he does not protect everyone and do his duty by them all, he will be cursed to repeat his past. Sarah has an abusive stepfather and brother that have nothing but bad intentions for her. She may not understand what it all means but she does know that she needs to leave. She ends up hiding in a ruined castle to be found by none other than Jamie. He knows that he has to protect her but can he? Will she bring the end of them all or break the curse? Will she find not only herself but love?

This book is one of my favorite historical romances that I have read. I devoured this book in hours (staying up far too late doing so). I did not want to put it down in any way.

Parts of this book will make you see red, break your heart, and then put it back together again. Filled with Scottish Highland politics, action, danger, and miscommunication; this book will take you on a wild ride that you cannot put down.

But with all good books come some downfalls. Sarah is extremely naive in things of the world and it makes the things that Jamie thinks kind of...icky for lack of a better term. There are also allusions to sexual assault and death in portions of the book but not enough to deter me from reading on. The penultimate moment in the book is also kinda lackluster in my opinion. The things leading up to it that Sarah supposedly heard, we were never made aware of. Having that background would have made the ending that much better.

Overall, I rate this book a 5/5 and would highly recommend this to anyone that is wanting to get into historical romance but doesn’t know where to begin. This would also be a great book for lifelong historical romance readers who are wanting an easy, enjoyable read.

A historical romance set in Scotland. This book is full of excitement and at times horror and bad deeds. The main characters were interesting and I liked how the story enfolded and ended.

I loved this book and soon as I was done I purchased another book by Terry Graham! This book sucked me in from the beginning and swept me along until the very end. The author did a wonderful job moving things along and keep me invested in the characters. I was sad not all the good guys made it to the end but TG softened the blow a bit in the end. Neither the H nor the h were perfect but they were always good and so were very easy to like.

If you are looking for an interesting historical romance that’s a bit dark but very good then this is your next read.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

MacIan’s Gift by Terry Graham follows the story of Sarah, a young woman with a permanent injury to her leg as a result of a fall from a horse that left her with a limp and a harsh life of judgement and violence at the hands of her mother’s late husband. Repulsed by his stepdaughter’s condition and meek demeanor, Hammond Mitchell does not hesitate to treat Sarah with a threatening hand, determined to keep the young woman in check in order to obtain power over the other lairds in the land. Realizing she is soon to be forced into marriage to her her stepbrother, Sarah runs away, uncaring of the dangers the wilderness presents as she soon finds herself at the hands of a group of scotsmen who are both bothered and intrigued by the strange woman they can’t help but wish to protect. Jamie, leader to the burly men, can’t help the way his heart and body respond to Sarah and the two must face conflicts of familial ties while also resisting the desire they both share for each other’s body.

Being fairly new to historical romance, I was very comfortable reading this novel considering the amount of context is provided regarding the relationships between lairds, the people, and the connections obtained through political marriages. The background information of the novel’s settings helps emphasize the obstacles Sarah and Jamie have if they wish to indulge in their feelings for one another as there are high stakes.

Sarah’s narrative depicts a woman carved by years of violence and fear, making her very naive to her interactions with her male counterparts in the novel, especially in regards to Jamie whom she believes does not like her when it is quite the opposite. Despite having a few side characters, there are practically no other female characters presented in the novel, making it difficult to establish the position of women in this timeline – though it can be assumed that women are generally treated as being beneath their male counterparts based on the timeline. The third person perspective does excellent work in giving constant insight into Sarah’s thoughts, establishing that she is uncertain of things due to being sheltered and forcibly confined by her stepfather. The language also goes along with the narrative to create an elegant and innocent tone for Sarah’s narrative and effectively changing it to a rougher and more brisk tone when following Jamie’s perspective.

This novel was primarily categorized as an erotica, though aside from one or two scenes with Jamie and Sarah, there is not much else to indicate this as being anything other than a historical romance. Despite missing the mark on the spicy interactions between the primary characters, it doesn’t fail to present a cute and attractive romantic story between the two. I would recommend this novel to those who are new to historical romance or are like me and would like to tackle the genre with a world that doesn’t require much historical awareness.

This novel was provided to me by NetGalley, all thoughts and opinions presented here are my own.

Jamie Maclan believes in ghosts and family curses due to the loss of his clan years ago. When he sets out to restore his ancestral home, he finds a beautiful innocent young woman. Sarah Clinton was obedient and dutiful but when she is being forced to marry her step-father's son, she flees and hides in the old castle. When Jamie saves her, she can't let him know that her uncle destroyed his clan. She feels so connected when lying in his arms. I recommend this book.