Madeline MacDonald has been victimized by her evil stepbrother since her parent's untimely death two years earlier. The brutalization is severe and her torture has escalated to the point where her devoted maid fears for Maddie's life. In addition to the torture, Maddie is betrothed to a cruel man, although the book does not make it clear why her brother has forced this betrothal.
Laird Alexander Grant receives a desperate message to rescue a lady in distress from a keep he has recently visited. The lady is none other than the blue-eyed, fair haired angel he only briefly glimpsed while at the castle. Sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves, Alex returns to the castle with his brother to rescue the beautiful woman from her brother's torturous grasp.
Maddie happens to be friends with Alex's younger sister, although the girls have not seen each other in quite some time. Having his sister to help her transition and heal from the abuse allows Maddie to settle in to her new arrangements staying with Alex's clan who will protect her. She is still very fearful of men and both her brother's and her betrothed abuse.
The story plot has some potential and while I really wanted to like it, it falls short in a few areas. The characters in this novel are either all good or all bad. And the good characters are impossibly good, while the bad characters are evil beyond words. The story is also fairly predictable and a lot of "convenient" things happen which promptly solve various problems that the characters face.
I listened to the audio version narrated by Antony Ferguson. Antony did a good job with this narration. While I usually really enjoy male narrators, much of the dialogue in this book is between female characters, so the choice of narrator seemed a little odd for this story. Overall, the story telling is clear and easy to listen to.
NARRATED BY: ANTONY FERGUSON
LENGTH: 8 HRS AND 16 MINS
RELEASE DATE: 10/30/2014
PUBLISHER: TANTOR AUDIO