Captured by a Laird

The Douglas Legacy, Book 1

By: Margaret Mallory

Narrated by: Derek Perkins

Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

The Douglas sisters, beauties all, are valuable pawns in their family's bitter struggle to control the Scottish Crown. But when powerful enemies threaten, each Douglas lass will find she must face them alone. Captured by a Laird Haunted by his father's violent death, David Hume, the new laird of Wedderburn, sets out to make his name so feared that no one will dare harm his family again. The treacherous ally who played on his father's weakness is dead and beyond David's vengeance, but his castle and young widow are ripe for the taking. The moment David lays eyes on the dark-haired beauty defending her wee daughters, however, he knows this frail-looking lass is the one person who could bring him to his knees. Wed at thirteen to a man who tried daily to break her spirit, Lady Alison Douglas is looking forward to a long widowhood. But when the fearsome warrior known as the Beast of Wedderburn storms her gates, she finds herself, once again, forced to wed a stranger. Alison is only a pawn to serve his vengeance, so why does this dark warrior arouse such fiery passion and an unwelcome longing in her heart? With death and danger looming, these two wounded souls must learn to trust each other; for only love can save them.

©2014 Margaret Mallory (P)2014 Margaret Mallory

Captured My Heart

This first book in the Douglas Legacy series is a dramatic, well paced Scottish historical romance. It delivers a true "Scottish era" tale of Alison and David. Alison is a gutsy young woman who was married at 13 to a dishonorable man. Enter David, a determined Laird, who captures her castle, lands, and her heart. This story has just enough passion, danger, courage, and vengeance to keep any historical romance enthusiast entertained.

I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. ;-)

Great Entertainment, Exciting!

What made the experience of listening to Captured by a Laird the most enjoyable?

It had everything that makes a good book; a revenge tragedy (a drama popular in the 16th - 17th centuries), romance, intrigue, a handsome, fierce Highlander who storms a lovely widow's gates to exact punishment on her clan and force her to marry him. The new Laird has trouble inside and outside the Castle/Keep he's conquered. It was concise and flowed right along; no boring interludes.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Captured by a Laird?

There were many but when the Laird's youngest brother (a lovable, meek nature young man with little training with the sword) rides into the path of a renown French swordsman was certainly memorable. The young Hume brother was leaving the Keep (unaware his two older brothers had been in a skirmish with the Frenchman and his men) when he saw his Laird brother and his next oldest brother in hot pursuit of the Frenchman he rode to intersect him. Would his brothers reach the Frenchman in time (one brother riding in from the side where he had been stationed as a look-out and Laird Hume a distance behind the Frenchman); will they get to him before he severs the young man's head?

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

He has the ability to relate to each character and create different character's voices! So much better than reading it myself.

If you could rename Captured by a Laird, what would you call it?

A Laird's Revenge!

Any additional comments?

I highly recommend "Captured by a Laird".

Fantastic!

I'm a big Margaret Mallory fan but I have to say Captured by a Laird is one of her very best. I was hooked from the very first chapter and could not put it down. Derek Perkins did a very good performance of this book and made it truly enjoyable.

It was a very nice book

I really enjoyed this story. I thought it was well performed though I would not have chosen a man to narrate this story. His female voices came across as whiny in places, but not so bad as to make me stop listening. The note from the author explaining how she writes fiction but drew greatly upon historical information was a nice bonus at the end that often does not make it into audio editions. Overall I am well pleased.

Insipid, Repetitive, Dull

I rarely chime in on reviews unless I have adored a romance or have had my sensibilities assaulted by awful writing. This is the latter. I accept, even welcome, the routines of romances. There is actually something comforting in the conventions of the romance genre, in being able to anticipate the inevitable happily ever after and enjoying the familiar journey to that point. But when a story relies on a backstory repeated so often that it's as if the writer doubted the reader's ability to recall the same repetitions of the previous chapter, when the dialogue is underdeveloped because the author relies on backstory, and worst of all, when the narrator sounds as if this is the very first time he has ever recorded this or any other book ... well, do not waste a credit. Insipid is the only word that comes to mind. I'll be returning this today.

Is everyone in a historical romance stupid?

There's nothing better than a good historical romance, but either I've gotten pickier or the plots have gotten more simple and predictable. And the characters all seem the same.

This book started out slow and I had to rewind 4 times to get the details that were droned out in the beginning. Not because it was complicated, but because it didn't hold my attention and I kept getting distracted. The story did have potential and I found myself enjoying it sporatically... And then time after time, something would happen, the plot would go sideways and I'd be screaming at my iPhone - OMG, how stupid is she!?

There were also similarities between what happens here and what happens in Outlander, which lost it some stars. This book is not up to that caliber, at all.

The heroine was humble and real for awhile and then would suddenly be giving the hero much "needed" lectures on modern morality (don't spank your kids). And of course she defied him, making her own decisions, which were stupid and resulted in her needing to be rescued. Yes, I rolled my eyes. But I will say, while the heroine seemed a little Mary Sue, she was not as extreme in the defiant, girl-power stupidity as others I've read. Characters would seem appropriately period for awhile and then would have lapses.

The hero, for the most part was good and likeable. My only gripe was the unmanly pity party he had when he jumped to conclusions, got his feelings hurt and pouted. Meh. Felt like the author was projecting feminine sensibilities onto the hero.

The narrator was fine, but sometimes I got distracted by the females sounding like drag queens. An older male reading the part of females... having angst, lusting... Sometimes that s just uncomfortable to listen to.

Its hard to know how to rate this... I'm not gushy and will only give five stars to an excellent book. I enjoyed parts of this story - enough to finish it - but it repeatedly went south and frustrated me. I've started deducting stars for every plot twist that comes from actions that no one in their right mind would make, and this book had more than one example. But the history wasn't bad... My overall experience was not a good one though and I'll probably return it. But if you're a silly girl in her 20s, who likes simple historical romances... You might like it just fine.

Fun

Have you listened to any of Derek Perkins’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I've not listened to this narrator before. it was sheer pleasure!!

Any additional comments?

This was just a big fun.

Great

Fast moving. Kept me interested till the end of the recording. Will buy more books by this Author.

Great story

I loved the story and all the twists. I will listen to more of these books. Had a bit of trouble with narrator at first but the more the story evolved the less it was.

Awesome

I loved the story and the Scottish accent it was spoken. Great pace. Can't wait to get my next book!

Absolutely brilliant

Loved every second of it. Scottish Historical Romances are my favourite, but I haven't listened to any for a while as I was listening to Regency Romances recently. Oh but how I missed them and this book was the best to get back into them again, I'm hooked again. This is my first book by Margaret Mallory and I will definitely be listening to the rest of the series and I hope there will be more of her books on audio after this series as I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
In my opinion the narrator makes or breaks the story and Derek Perkins definitely made the story as he is one of my favourite narrators, I love his voice.
Definitely worth a credit and will be listening to it a again.