Highlander Most Wanted

Montgomerys and Armstrongs, Book 2

By: Maya Banks

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's Summary

Genevieve McInnis is locked behind the fortified walls of McHugh Keep, captive of a cruel laird who takes great pleasure in ruining her for any other man. Yet when Bowen Montgomery storms the gates on a mission of clan warfare, Genevieve finds that her spirit is bent but not broken. Still, her path toward freedom remains uncertain. Unable to bear the shame of returning to a family that believes her dead or to abandon others at the keep to an imposing new laird, Genevieve opts for the peaceful life of an abbess. But Bowen's rugged sensuality stirs something deep inside her that longs to be awakened by his patient, gentle caress - something warm, wicked, and tempting.

Bowen seizes his enemy's keep, unprepared for the brooding and reclusive woman who captures his heart. He's enchanted by her fierce determination, her unusual beauty, and her quiet, unfailing strength. But wooing her will take more than a seasoned seducer's skill. For loving Genevieve, he discovers, means giving her back the freedom that was stolen from her - even if it means losing her forever.

©2013 Maya Banks (P)2013 Tantor

STEP BACK IN TIME & PREPARE TO BE CAPTURED BY THIS

Phew - well I've just finished this harrowing Highland tale that tells of the darkest of cruelty and torment but also tells of the joy of redemption along with salvation as the acts of tenderness and forgiveness eventually brings healing and the deepest of love.

Maya Banks never fails in her role as an author to deliver to her fans a book that captivates you from the first chapter until the last and within those chapters she packs them full with great characters and conjures a story that is tragic, heartwarming, tender and sooo romantic. They never fail to reach your heart and you just know that this will be one you could easily revisit and will never forget because, for a short while, you lived amongst these Highland characters and felt their anguish, anger, torment, pleasure and passion.

The narrator did a great job too in breathing life and emotion to each of the characters and the situations that they found themselves in.

Worth a credit? Well, as long as Maya keeps writing these wonderful books then I'll happily keep buying them and then long for the next.... so I guess that's a big fat YES.

Unconditional Love at its Best

This book is captivating and I couldn't put it down. It was just as good as the first book (Never Seduce a Scot). Genevieve went through so much hardship and Bowen loves her no matter what.....who doesnt like a book like that?

I really love how Maya Banks wrote this book. It almost seems like its a continuation of the first book. So many times when there is a trilogy the author doesnt include many of the characters from the first book....or if they do they are only in a few pages and vague. This book is mainly about Genevieve and Bowen but the people from the first book (Eveline, Graeme, and other family members) are also included beautifully within the story. I loved that!

Loved it! A+

Captivating story with superb narration...

Just like every other historical romance that Maya Banks writes, I loooved it! I really liked the heroine of this story. She was kidnapped, repeatedly raped, her faced marked and mistreated for a year. Her body was broken but not her spirit. She found a way to be rescued and she even ended up saving the hero's life. Something I really like about this series is that the heroines all have some disability or imperfection and the stories talk about true beauty and love. The story is intense, sad, interesting, sexy and has the perfect ending!

Narration: Kirsten Potter is one of my favorite narrators. She can set fire to your ears when she narrates a love scene. She did an amazing job on this story as always.

Oh boy, looks like I'm in the minority on this one

I like Ms. Banks Highlander books and her Kelly family stories, but this one..not so much.

The heroine is horribly mistreated and survives this treatment bravely. Undoubtedly there would be emotional scars and skewed perspective. The author does a good job creating a character who elicits the reader's sympathy. The following points, however, ruined what could have been a really good story.

Spoilers here: (not that you won't know where this is going by the 20 minute mark or so)_

1) Genevieve, as we find fairly early on, is an amazing archer, She takes out four men in a battle with her custom fitted bow. It leads one to ask why she didn't use a bow earlier in her plight.

2) Even though the people of Genevieve's captor's clan disdain and mistreat her, curiously they take orders from her when the Montgomery/Armstrong forces show up. Then return to stoning her a few days later...go figure.

3) Okay..this point is really why I'm posting a less than positive review. Its just a romance novel..escapism. And the point is missed if one picks too much. I get that. But the scenario presented is this: the heroine is held captive for a full year, raped by an undisclosed number of men over that time; but after only a brief period with the hero, she's pregnant. No discussion of this irony. Harkens to the "legitimate rape" theory we were treated to during the last Senatorial elections. Seemed irresponsible and poorly reasoned, even for this genre.

The hero is a sweety, of course. Kristen Potter's performance is outstanding as always. She has a great voice that never grates and her accents add to the experience.

Can't really recommend this one.

A strong, intelligent, courageous woman

Genevieve is a woman you will grow to love and admire. Bowen is just the man you’d want for your own. I love stories of a strong woman overcoming terrible hardships and a wonderful man who comes into her life. This is one and I enjoyed it. There’s so much more I want to say but then I’d be spoiling it.

Great job Maya on your second book of the Montgomery’s and Armstrong’s.I think if you enjoy highlander romance that you’ll like this one. A credit well spent.

Can't wait for book 3

Wow! Maya Banks is the queen of Highland Romance books. Even though it's not my favorite genre, I keep going back again and again to her books. I thought this second installment was even better then the first and I am anxiously waiting for book 3. (Brodie's story) If Ms. Banks keeps writing them I'll keep coming back for more.

Could not get into this one

What disappointed you about Highlander Most Wanted?

I have been a fan of Maya Banks' Highlander series, so this was an auto-buy. I've enjoyed all of her previous Highlander titles, especially Eveline's story in Never Seduce A Scot. But this one missed the mark entirely. There are so many things wrong with this book it's hard to know where to start!

Maya Banks spends a good deal of time inside her character's heads in all of her books, and you hear their thoughts and opinions. In this one, however, she went overboard. Thoughts on Genevieve's imprisonment and hopes/fears for the future from her perspective, Bowen's perspective, and during conversations were so tediously repetitive that I lost sympathy for her, just not wanting to hear it over and over and over. This was pretty much the entire book for about the first three hours of listening.

After all Genevieve had supposedly endured, she was still strong, physically and mentally healthy, no bruises/marks/fears/scars except the one on her face, so unrealistic. And yet while captive she apparently had free roam of the castle, and free access to a bow and arrows (with which she was an expert, of course) yet never used on her captor. Genevieve was singled out for abuse at the McHugh castle. This was never explained. And the demise of the villain was early in the tale and anti-climatic, in my opinion.

Her parents were represented as loving, caring, and protective, having given her a pleasant, safe childhood; yet they sent her away to wed someone, traveling with no one from her family in attendance, and an apparently small guard, who were all killed. You never hear who this mysterious betrothed man was, he was never apprised of the fact that she was alive, yet she had been on her way to marry him before the events of this book began.

Genevieve was not a healer, and yet it was she who stitched up the wounds of a man she had recently met, and nursed him, AND they let her stay with him, a relative stranger, alone with their injured clansman/brother. Do ya really think they'd be this trusting with a woman they hardly knew?? I'll stop here, you get the idea.

I just could not appreciate the main characters in this book or their decisions, and was so often annoyed by things that did not make sense. I love to read, to enter a different world for a while, but I couldn't stay in this one. Hopefully Maya Banks' next book in this series will be better.

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

I like her narration; she gives different voices to different characters, has a good Scottish brogue, engaging intonation, and has clear articulation. I enjoy hearing her Scottish accents as I listen.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

I liked visiting with characters from the first Montgomery & Armstrong book.

A Lot of Crying Going On

Don't look for any humorous banter. This is not exactly a "feel good" novel. The heroine has been kidnapped, raped and had her "extraordinarily beautiful face ruined by knife scar" all before the story starts. The people of the clan she was abducted into continue to tread her abominably even after the villain is killed off -- that happen in book #1 in the series.

Every time someone commits some new act of cruelty towards her, the heroine is brave and tries not to cry, but she often does. If she doesn't cry it is because she is in too much despair and too depressed to cry.

The hero forces the heroine's only friend in the clan to tell him bits and pieces of the heroine's story. She never wants to betray her friend's confidence, but eventually breaks down in tears and does so.

The author eventually does deliver the required HEA, but just before that happens the hero becomes so upset about how he and other people have treated the heroine that he breaks down and cries.

Have your tissues handy.

The Romance is only a part of it

This is a great story about the dependency of clansmen and women on their lairds and how pathatic it is that the women and children have to be exposed to e anger and or foolishness of men.

Past that it is a great story of a romance that could have no hope for coming into fruition, a story of a woman who has been unmercifully abused and permanently marked both physically and emotionally and a man who decides to love her despite everything.

Great story. Another winner from Maya Banks and Kirsten Potter.

A Melodramatic Tale

"Most Wanted" picks up where "Never Seduce..." leaves off. As other readers have already mentioned, this story is wrought with genuine emotional torment. This isn't the typical romance... this story delves into real personal pain. In the first edition, the reader is briefly introduced to the effects of the malevolent character of Ian McHugh. As the plot unfolds, we learn of Genevieve and all she endured during her year of captivity in the hands of the McHughs. Banks has a knack for truly disseminating personal bits of each character whilst unveiling the plot. Also characteristic of Banks, the reader is destined to take an emotional journey.

Kirsten Potter is an exceptional narrator... she wows the reader with her interpretation. Don't be surprised if Genevieve's experience makes you want to cry (especially near the end).