The Sinner by Margaret Mallory

The Sinner by Margaret Mallory

My rating: 4 of 5 flames

”Four fearless warriors return to the Highlands to claim their lands and legacies. But all their trials on the battlefield can’t prepare them for their greatest challenge yet: winning the hearts of four willful Scottish beauties.”

I loved The Guardian, so I was super excited to read this one. The Sinner is about Alex, and he didn’t disappoint. I liked the banter between our hero and heroine. Glynis is a stubborn and sassy lass who was sent back to her clan in shame after stabbing her husband of 3 months (she stabbed his inner thigh, guess where she was aiming?). Her father wants to marry her off again, but she has sworn to never marry again.

Enter Alex, who has sworn a similar vow. The two of them hit it off, even though they didn’t want to…isn’t that just the way of it? You aren’t looking for love, then POW! hit upside the head with all these feelings and emotions.

I liked Glynis’ father, even though I’m not sure we’re meant to like him until later on, but he was a very realistic laird, and he acted like it. I wish we’d seen more of the other 3 warriors, the bits we got of Duncan, Connor, and Ian were good scenes—I just wanted more of them.

At one point, Glynis has conned Alex into taking her into Edinburgh to live with her mother’s family. But she’s never met them. She never even thought to ask to stay with them for a visit. So while they are very welcoming to have her as a guest, they also want to marry her off. She’d never thought in a million years that they wouldn’t just allow her to be the spinster relative who grows old in the attic. I laughed at that, just because it made more sense than having rude relatives, or super sweet ones. When Alex came to say goodbye, she threw herself at him, begging him to take her home—cracked me up!

Loved Alex, and I really liked Glynis, but after they got married, her whole personality changed, or reverted, I guess. It bugged me because she kept saying she trusted Alex, but then she wouldn’t trust him. His actions were definitely hard to ignore, but at the same time, why why WHY just bail? She just froze up inside, refusing to talk anything over with him at all. At least, until it was almost too late. But that ending was tense, and had me turning the pages as fast as I could.

There were several surprises, and it’s action-packed. I really have begun to love Margaret Mallory’s storytelling. Whenever someone asks me what a good Highlander book is that they should read, I usually suggest something like Monica McCarty’s highlanders. I think Margaret Mallory’s writing reminds me a lot of Monica McCarty’s. It has that historically descriptive prose that instantly transports me to the wilds of Scotland, and weaves in everything from Gaelic phrases to actual historical events without making it feel tedious.

All in all, a great story, a fabulous Scottish Romance, and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who loves a good Romance.

***ARC courtesy of netgalley.com

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