Untamed

MacKinnon's Rangers, Book 2

By: Pamela Clare

Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith

Length: 13 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Though forced to fight for the hated British, Morgan MacKinnon would no more betray the men he leads than slit his own throat - not even when he was captured by the French and threatened with an agonizing death by fire at the hands of their Abenaki allies.

Only the look of innocent longing in the eyes of a convent-bred French lass could make him question his vow to escape and return to the Rangers. And soon the sweet passion he awoke in Amalie had him cursing the war that forced him to choose between upholding his honor and pledging himself to the woman he loves.

©2012 Pamela Clare (P)2013 Tantor

Another great read!

What made the experience of listening to Untamed the most enjoyable?

Kaleo Griffith had a large cast of characters to bring to life and he did a wonderful job of it, accents and all.

What did you like best about this story?

All of it! It was so well written and very descriptive. I could picture the scenes in my mind.

What does Kaleo Griffith bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Hearing the characters speak, whether it be in English, Scottish, etc. It gave the story so much more dimension and made me feel as a reader that I was right there in the middle of it all.

All the feels

This book was even better than the first. The epilogue warmed my heart! Onto the third!

Outstanding....

An outstanding tale of frontier adventure and romance! I read this book many years ago and loved it... the audible version only enhances it! Time well spent! Kaleo Griffith you are an amazing narrator!

Love this series!!

I couldn't stop listening to this series! thank you Pamela Clare for such engaging stories.

great story

A great audio book! I love the frontier/colonial time period. One of my favorite genre's! The narrator made the book come alive! I love hearing the Gaelic tongue!

I love me some, Pamela Clare’s “Rangers!”

The second book in the Rangers series did not disappoint. If you haven’t read or listened then, you’re surly missing out. The characters are rich, the adventure takes you along and, the love will sweep you away. Go ahead and love yourself some Pamela Clare too! 100Stars!

Great addition to the series :D

4.5-5 stars

This was a great story. I loved both Morgan and Amalie and their story was really good and kept me engaged from beginning to end (and on the edge of my seat for most of it).

Amalie is the daughter of a French officer and a woman of the Abenaki Indian tribe. Her mother died in birth and her father (being a military officer and not in a position to raise a daughter) sent Amalie to a convent to be raised. Amalie ended up leaving the convent and going to live with her father in the fort when he was ill and needed nursing back to health. Her father died in an attack by the British (and the Rangers) and Amalie has been stuck in the fort since then due to travelling being too dangerous.

Morgan is the second brother of the McKinnon brothers. They were teens when their family was exiled from Scotland due to an attempted revolution against the British rulers. Their family was sent to the colonies (America during the settling times before it becomes a country) as traitors and his family has hated the British ever since. Unfortunately, a British officer (Lord William) used dishonorable methods to force the McKinnon brothers in to leading his ranger squad. Morgan wasn't happy about the situation but would do anything to keep his brothers safe.

The British soldiers and McKinnon's rangers are in a battle attempting to attack a French fort but some things go wrong and Morgan is captured when he stays behind to help a fallen comrade. Morgan is very badly injured when he's taken captive and it seems iffy that he'll even live. The fort's commander, Bourlamaque, became Amalie's guardian after her father died. Amalie frequently helped the surgeon tend the wounded and Bourlamaque asks her to help tend to Morgan. Both the surgeon and Amalie are unsure about how ethical it is to save his life because everyone is very clear on the fact that once Morgan recovers he'll just be tortured for information and then turned over to the Abenaki Indians to be burned to death slowly over days. Despite Morgan's fate, they do nurse him past his fever to the point where they believe he'll live. Bourlamaque asks Amalie to nurse Morgan and spend time with him, hoping that Morgan will let information slip when talking with Amalie that he might not normally. Amalie agrees but soon finds that she's attracted and intrigued by Morgan. She doesn't want to be because this man could be the one that fired the shot that killed her father. But as she speaks with Morgan, Amalie starts to realize that he's a good and honorable man that doesn't deserve what's planned for him. She also realizes that war is hell on both sides and her side doesn't have the moral high ground she thought they had in the beginning.

Because of some help and suggestions by Amalie, Bourlamaque changes his mind about Morgan's fate and decides to try to turn him to their side. Morgan really wishes he could turn traitor but knows he can't take the chance that something he'd do to help the French might hurt his family or his men (in the rangers). He decides to act the turncoat and get any info he can and escape at his earliest opportunity. He isn't given much freedom at first but gives the French some (out of date) info that would make them think that Morgan did switch sides (without a serious risk to his men). As he stays in the fort, Morgan and Amalie end up eating dinners together and spending some time together. Morgan tries not to encourage Amalie because he knows he'll hurt her when he escapes but it's hard when he wants her so much and she so obviously wants him as well. This causes some difficulties for Morgan, especially when Bourlamaque is surprisingly willing to let Morgan court Amalie and even encourages it. Morgan finds that he's soon tied in knots as he wishes he could stay but he has to return to his brothers and doesn't think he can take Amalie with him. To be honest, I didn't know how this would work out either but as the story progressed, things do work out so that Morgan and Amalie are able to stay together. Or course they have some major issues to get past even then and things look pretty bad for a while. Thankfully the mess gets worked out and Morgan and Amalie end the story with a sweet HEA.

I found this story to be greatly enjoyable. I loved the characters (well except for the bad guys and Lord William who's kind of a jerk but has his good moments) and thought that Amalie and Morgan made wonderful MCs. It was also nice getting to see a bit of Iain and Annie from book #1 in this story. The plot was very engrossing and had me wondering what would happen next and how things could possibly turn out well. I'm no expert on historical accuracy but to me (a layman on the subject) the historical details seemed believable. I'm planning to read book #3 immediately so I can see Connor get his woman. I'd recommend this book. 2 thumbs up. :D

* note - The narrator did a great job, especially on the accents.

3.5

I rate the first and second book 3.5. There is really no real chemistry between the hero & heroine for me. The story is interesting but not a huge page turner. Maybe I’m jaded from all the great historical fiction I have read. I suggest it as part of the romance pkg but not if you need to use a credit.