MAIDEN OF INVERNESS
By Arnette Lamb
Pocket Books – March 1995
ISBN: 06718822201 - Ppaperback

Romance / Historical

Reviewed by: Erina Hsu, MyShelf.Com 
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Long ago in Scotland, the Maiden of Inverness was bound by destiny to place the kingship of the Highlands into the hands of her husband...Eight-year old Meridene Macgillivray is married in haste to thirteen-year old Revas Macduff, a lowly butcher's son. Moments after the wedding, Meridene is spirited away to an English abbey. Thirteen years later, Revas claims his bride, seeking to carry on tradition and rule the Highlands. However, lovely Meridene has grown up in fear of her Scottish roots and despises her birthright, her power-hungry father, and all things Scottish. Moreover, Meridene's father, the current king, will stop at nothing to retain his power, even if it means killing his own daughter.

While I generally don't read medievals very often as they tend to be darker reads than I usually enjoy, I found myself easily drawn into MAIDEN OF INVERNESS. The story was powerfully moving at times, and while this was not the best medieval I've read, it was enjoyable nonetheless. Revas is your basic lusty, alpha hero and Meridene is the standard breathtakingly-gorgeous, spitfire hellion. Their scenes together are by far the
most enjoyable in the book, as there is plenty of clever wordplay and good sexual tension.

My only qualm is that I found the ending rather lacking. Sure, we get the obligatory devotions of undying love from Revas and Meridene, but the issue of her father was pathetically handled.

I felt this particular part of the ending was rushed and unbelievable. It simply seemed as if the author was using Meridene's father merely to further conflict between Meridene and Revas, but when they finally said the magic words of love, Cutberth became obsolete. Unfortunately, so much of the book had been devoted to portraying Cutberth as a ruthless monster who would stop at nothing to see his daughter dead that when the confrontation between Meridene and Cutberth finally happened, it seemed weak and glossed over. Granted, this doesn't detract from the love story at all, and if you simply ignore that aspect of the book or are a person who isn't bothered by small details, the overall reading experience is a pleasurable one.

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