In the second book of the Clan MacLerie series, Rurik Erengislsson has been living with the MacLerie clan for several years while in exile, but his father, a powerful and wealthy Viking earl, finally summons him home, ready to accept his bastard son as heir. But before he can begin his journey to the Orkney Islands, Rurik must retrieve the daughter of his father’s counselor and escort her home as well.
Margriet Gunnarsdottir has lived in a convent for the past ten years and doesn’t wish to return home. Though she’s not a nun, she doesn’t trust Rurik or the men in his party, so she and her companion pretend to be nuns in order to protect themselves from unwanted advances. As the women journey north with the motley crew of Scottish and Viking warriors, Margriet realizes Rurik is an honorable man, but she continues to wear her nun garb to hide her swelling stomach—and the baby within.
Rurik and Margriet are likable, flawed characters. Love and romance bloomed slowly between them since lies and social status, and then the knowledge of her pregnancy, kept pushing them apart. The only sex scene is in the last chapter of the book, which was surprising.
I like Ms. Brisbin’s use of Scottish words. The description of the Orkneys and the Scottish countryside were beautiful, and the long, sometimes arduous journey north through Scotland seemed realistic. Ms. Brisbin really must’ve done her homework, so kudos for that!
Though I liked the story, I sometimes had a hard time following along due to the head hopping and the use of he/she, instead of names. I also found some of the details a little confusing (for instance, Rurik’s age doesn’t seem to match up to the years he’s been in exile). There are some unanswered questions as well, but none affected the main plot.
Overall, I enjoyed the world building and characters, and I’m sure fans of Viking romances would appreciate this book.
3 Stars ( )

The second book in Terri Brisbin’s The MacLerie Clan has turned out to be just as captivating and heartwarming as the first book. I fell in love with the heroine of this story because she was smart, brave and bold in a time where women had few rights and fewer choices in life.

Rurik Erengislsson has lived the last 13 years in the Highlands of Scotland serving the MacLerie clan but his father has summoned him home to the Orkney Islands to his rightful place as one of his heirs. On his way there, he must pick up the daughter of his father’s counselor from a convent where she has lived since her exile ten years ago when she was just eight years old. From her father’s letter, he thinks he is picking up a young girl but when he gets there, he realizes she is a full grown woman.

Margriet Gunnarsdottir has been ordered back to live with her father. He sends a group of warriors led by to travel with her on the long journey home. Because she fears for her safety, she grabs the laundry girl and they both don nun habits and pretend to be nuns for the journey with the men.
Margriet also has a secret she is hiding from everyone. She thought she was in love with a rich merchant who claimed to love her and said he wanted to marry her so she gave him her virtue and now she is pregnant. He told her his name was Finn and that he was from her home town. She hopes when she gets there, to find him so they can be married but in her heart she knows something is wrong with his story.

I laughed at one scene where Margriet has second thoughts about wearing the habit once she has to travel in the hot sun and is sweating under all the layers and the wimple. She and the other girl go down to the river and act like they accidently fall in to get cool. They laughed as they struggled to get out and kept falling back in. It was pretty obvious to Rurik that she planned it when he saw her pick up her shoes after getting out so he knew that she had taken her shoes off prior to the accidental slip into the water.
Rurik’s father is the Earl of Orkney’s but he hasn’t told Margriet his surname. He is bastard born. He has a younger half-brother named Thorfinn who is actually Margriet’s Finn but she has no idea. Thorfinn is evil and cruel. He is out to ruin Margriet’s father because he is the one who suggested to his father that Rurik come back into his father’s household so he met and seduced Margriet on purpose. He has something planned but we don’t know exactly what it is.

On the journey, Margriet and Rurik start falling for each other. Rurik is mad at himself for liking a nun but and Margriet has her secrets so they both can’t act on their feelings. It’s sad because Margriet thinks even if she wasn’t pregnant that her father would never allow a marriage between them because she thinks Rurik is not of noble blood but in actuality, it is Margriet who wouldn’t be qualified to be Rurik’s wife because he is an earl’s son.

I was so into the book that I read through the night. I finally had to put it down when the words became too blurry to decipher because I was so tired. I finished it when I woke up. Now, I’m getting reading to dive into the next book.

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This book was a bit of a surprise for me. I came into with high expectations because I really liked Rurik's character in the previous novel [b:Taming the Highlander|825834|Taming the Highlander (The MacLerie, #1)|Terri Brisbin|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1178723779s/825834.jpg|811580] and really wanted to read his story. And while this book didn't meet my intial expectations exactly, I was really impressed with the direction it took.

There is a lot more to the plot than the description gives. Without giving it away, there is simply more to the characters and the situations they find themselves in. I found this part to be refreshing and I feel that Terri Brisbin does a good job of mixing lots of plots together in her stories.

The book isn't very steamy despite the fact that the hero is a notorious playboy. I appreciated that because I felt that the two built a relationship that wasn't purely physical. However, I didn't get why Margiet liked Rurik so much, I felt that it was more obvious why he loved her

I also didn't get why Rurik's dialogue changed from the first book. Maybe because they were talking in a different language? I'm not sure. Like a few things in this book, I felt that they were lost in translation (perhaps I just misread a key paragraph?).

Like with the first one, it wasn't the best story I've ever read but it wasn't the worst. I doubt I would ever reread this series but they were a nice way to pass the time.

(Want to see if the series is worth reading? Check out my blog:http://seriesousbookreviews.wordpress.com/) ( )