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Border Wedding

Amanda Scott
Grand Central Publishing (2008)
ISBN 9780446197984
Reviewed by LuAnn Morgan for Rebeccas Reads (3/08)

When Sir Walter (Wat) Scott’s cattle are stolen, he decides to get them back. He gathers his men and rides out to round them up, only to be ambushed by those who took them to begin with. They are held captive by Sir Iagan Murray, Baron of Elishaw, and sentenced to hang.  However, Murray’s wife finds Wat to be a possible husband for their eldest daughter, who is beyond the typical age of marriage.

Murray offers to spare Wat and his men if he will marry Margaret (Meg). At first, he refuses, until he realizes a young boy had followed them and will be the first to hang. He agrees and thus begins the story of what turns out to be a deep and satisfying love for Wat and Meg.

The year is 1388 and the setting is the borderlands between Scotland and England. The area is a zone controlled by factions who are mainly Scots, yet many have a bit of English blood in them.  As England attempts to overtake the lands, families must decide which side to support. It’s a time when men are in control and women are subservient, following orders from their husbands, brothers and fathers. Yet, Meg was raised to be headstrong and Wat finds himself often flabbergasted and enraged by her stubbornness.

Neither one of them has much experience dealing with the opposite sex. Meg knows she needs to do as she’s told, but her own personality keeps getting in the way. Wat soon begins to realize that here is a person he can actually talk intelligently with and she becomes the focus of his thoughts whenever they are apart. No matter how much she frustrates him, he still wants to please her and hates it when his anger gets the best of him.

The young couple finds themselves falling deeply in love with each other. Soon, there isn’t anything they won’t do to protect the other or to make the other happy.  It’s a wonderful story, full of adventure and history. Amanda Scott is obviously very well-versed on life in the 14th century of Europe and she brings her knowledge to the page.  She understands the language spoken, how people lived during that era and the tensions that ran rampant in a time of war and dividing factions.

I found this novel particularly intriguing due to the fact that my own ancestors came from this area of the world. I recognized some of the names mentioned as those my family dealt with in history. Scott has written an excellent story for both the romance reader and the history buff, bringing out the personalities of the characters to make it an enjoyable read.  “Border Wedding” is a part of a series by this author, with each book strong enough to stand on its own. I’m anxious to read others by Scott in the future.

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