The Highlander’s English Bride

Written by Vanessa Kelly

Narrated by Ruth Urquhart

Lady Sabrina Bell has never been so embarrassed in her life. Not only did her new suitor fail to appear for their morning rendezvous in Hyde Park, but a thief pushed her into the Serpentine. Being rescued by a burly Highlander just adds to her humiliation. Nor is he content with rescuing her just once. Even when Sabrina travels to Edinburgh as part of King George's entourage, Graeme Kendrick is there, interfering, exasperating, and so very tempting . . .



Once notorious for being the most unruly Kendrick brother, Graeme now runs dangerous missions for the King's spymaster. Yet nothing has prepared him for Sabrina. The only child of a wealthy earl, and the pampered goddaughter of the king himself, she is stubborn, impetuous, and far too good for him. He doesn’t deserve her, but he can protect her and then send her safely back home. But the bonny Sassenach has her own ideas—and a plan for seduction that no red-blooded Highlander could resist . . .



Contains mature themes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: May 26, 2020
• ISBN: 9781541435278

Vanessa Kelly

Vanessa Kelly is a bestselling author of historical mystery and historical romance. She has won multiple awards, including the prestigious Maggie Medallion for best historical romance. She is a USA Today, Barnes & Noble, BookScan, and Amazon bestseller several times over. To date, her books have been published in eleven languages. After receiving her MA in English literature from Rutgers University, Vanessa spent several in the Ph.D program at the University of Toronto, studying women authors of the 18th Century. She worked as a researcher for many years, and currently resides in Ottawa, Canada, with her husband. Visit her at VanessaKellyAuthor.com.

[eyes92c · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Those captivating Kendricks!

“Och, don’t fash yourself," those Kendrick lads and their lasses are back! This time it's twin Graeme who meets his match. Such a simple thing really. Singularly pursuing a band of organized robbers, Graeme is tracking down his mark along the banks of the Serpentine River, in the rain. Naturally! Sighting a lady in the early morning, seemingly waiting for someone, Graeme's further discomposed when his mark veers off and attempts to grab the lady's reticule. His mark's quarry is made of sterner stuff and fights back. Unfortunately during the melee she falls into the river. (Melee appears to be a key word for all that follows with this delightful, snippety female. She never goes quietly! Mmm! a match made in heaven?)
What's Graeme to do but leave off with the pursuit and rescue the tiresome female who's interfered with his plans.
Needless to say upon confronting Lady Sabrina Bell, Graeme is lost. Captive to a female who looks like a harmless kitten, but is as stubborn as he is with the claws to match.
The despicable Lord Cringlewood makes an appearance once again. This time Lady Sabrina is his quarry. She thinks she can handle him. I'm struck time and time again by Sabrina's belief in herself (a good thing) which sometimes hampers her ability to see the truth (a conundrum) and how she so often completely foils the best laid plans of mice and men (a problem). Cringlewood's disposed of once again but I'm sure he's evilly waiting in the wings to make a grand appearance in a future novel. Meantime Lady Sabrina unknowingly prevents the Crown's operative (i.e. Graeme) from carrying out his orders. Still her grand plans always seem to make things turn about, even if there's a few scares enroute. Methinks Graeme visibly ages before our eyes, or at least it sometimes seems like that.
There's so much more going on here including threats against the King, whiskey smuggling, absentee landowners, and forced enclosures.
Angus is once again his normal rapscallion self, who goes his own way and confounds everyone when more often than not he "comes home with the bacon."
I love Graeme's return to his Scots accent when disturbed. As one lady says, ..."that brogue. So delicious."
An amusing, witty Highlander novel that thoroughly engaged me.

A Kensington Books ARC via NetGalley

[scoutmomskf · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very good romance between two very independent and strong-willed characters. Graeme was well-known as a troublemaker when he was younger, but has tried to put his wayward past behind him. Now he works as an investigator for one of England's spymasters and has played a significant role in bringing several wrongdoers to justice. When this book opens, Graeme is working undercover to catch a gang of thieves preying on noble houses. The investigation hasn't gone well, but he finally has one in his sights as he pursues the thief through Hyde Park. But when the thief knocks a young woman into the water, Graeme gives up his pursuit to fish her out.

Lady Sabrina is the only child of her overprotective father. She rashly made plans to meet a gentleman in the park, but her plans were rudely interrupted when she was shoved into the water. Furious and embarrassed, she just wanted the Scotsman who rescued her to leave her alone.

I loved the first meeting between Graeme and Sabrina. He's angry about losing his quarry and not especially pleasant to Sabrina because of it. Sabrina is quite independent and would prefer to take care of her problem herself, but Graeme won't hear of it. Their clash creates some sparks, but Graeme has no time for distractions of the female variety. Unfortunately for him, Sabrina pops up again in the middle of another pursuit, this time finding herself in imminent danger. I felt bad for Graeme, who lost yet another chance to apprehend the thief because of her. His frustration was evident and vocal.

I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Sabrina and Graeme. From London to Edinburgh, Graeme seemingly can't turn around without stumbling over her. Sabrina is independent, stubborn, and impetuous, which gets her into some tight spots, and it seems that Graeme is always there to rescue her. Their clashes are intense, as Graeme is loud and blunt in his disapproval of her actions. Sabrina is just as candid about her intention to do things her way. And underneath the fiery words is a fire of a different sort, as the attraction between them grows. Sabrina quickly realizes that Graeme is the man she wants, and aided and abetted by his family, sets out to convince him. Graeme's feelings for Sabrina are just as strong, but he feels that the things he has done in the past make him unworthy of her. Sabrina has her work cut out for her, but she is determined to show him that they belong together. There are some interesting twists and turns to their journey, including a marriage proposal that had me laughing out loud.

Graeme's work creates quite a few exciting situations for the couple. I found it interesting that Graeme is supposed to be so good at what he does, but in this book, nothing seems to go right for him. Some of it he lays at Sabrina's door because she is in the wrong place at the wrong time, usually because she doesn't listen to him. There are other times that he ends up in trouble himself because he is distracted by thoughts of her. It was fun to see Sabrina turn the tables and rescue him now and then.

I liked seeing the changes that both Graeme and Sabrina underwent. Sabrina learns that she doesn't have to have all the answers or do everything herself. With the help of Graeme and his family, she learns that it is okay to ask for and accept help. I loved her determination to fix the problems at her father's Scottish property. Graeme has spent so long believing that he was the black sheep of his family that it took a concerted effort from Sabrina and his brothers to get him to let go of his guilt. Once he finally believed, the change in him was fantastic.

I enjoyed seeing more of the Kendrick family. The married brothers and their wives play significant parts in getting Graeme and Sabrina together. Their matchmaking efforts were obvious but effective. Their grandfather, Angus, is still outspoken, interfering, and incorrigible. There were some hilarious scenes with him during the king's visit to Edinburgh. Graeme's twin brother, Grant, made a few appearances, also. I got the feeling that something is going on with him, and hope that his story is up next.

[barbararogers-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Series: Clan Kendrick #3
Publication Date: 5/26/20
Number of Pages: 448

Oh! Graeme Kendrick, the brother who is always in or causing trouble, has grown up and makes the most marvelous hero. I loved him – and Sabrina Bell made the perfect heroine for him. She calmed the restless energy within him, steadied him, while he brought out her courage and spirit of adventure. Add in marvelous visits with most of the other members of the Kendrick clan and you have a wonderful, exciting, romantic adventure. It was particularly fun to see the heroine pursuing the hero – until he caught her. Remember Graeme’s affliction with breaking furniture – not on purpose – he’s just a big fellow? Well, there is a wonderful furniture breaking scene included – just to make you smile – and wonder.

We first met the Kendrick family in The Highlander's Princess Bride, Improper Princesses series #3. In that book, we met Nicholas Kendrick, Earl of Arnprior, and his six very unruly siblings – Logan, Royal, Graeme & Grant (twins), Braeden, and Kade plus their irascible grandfather Angus. We’ve already had Royal’s story (The Highlander Who Protected Me) and Logan’s story (The Highlander's Christmas Bride) and now we finally get to Graeme. I had wondered how the author was finally going to mature Graeme and make him into a believable and admirable hero – and now I know. She did it very well!

The Kendrick’s are a very close-knit family, but Graeme has somewhat separated himself from them for the last couple of years. He loves them, but he carries a lot of guilt and blames himself for a number of things that are not his fault – but his biggest secret is the one that makes him feel unworthy. Unworthy of their love or anyone else’s. When he rescues a beautiful young lady in Hyde Park – early one morning – he is immediately drawn to her. When she stands up to him and holds her own with him, he is even more drawn to her. Except he knows he doesn’t deserve her and walks away – all the way back to Scotland. He needs the distance and he has a mission to perform for the Crown.

Lady Sabrina Bell is a wealthy heiress and is totally accustomed to having men pursue her for her fortune. She’s quite sanguine about it and just marches along with her life – and she’s very happy that way. She does need to marry though and has met a newcomer to town who she thinks might be a candidate. Against all propriety, she even agrees to meet him very early in the morning – in Hyde Park. What an ordeal of a morning it turned out to be! It was raining, her assignation didn’t show up, she was wet, she was robbed and pushed into the Serpentine, and then she was rescued by a beast of a Highlander when she didn’t even need rescuing. He is certainly an intriguing man though.

As Graeme and Sabrina come into contact more and more often, both are thoroughly smitten. She freely admits it to herself – and he denies it totally. When he leaves London and heads to Scotland, she finds a way to get herself to Scotland. She’s a determined lass and has decided Graeme is the one for her. He doesn’t make it easy on her – and she almost gives up. He fights it with every fiber of his being, but poor Graeme just isn’t a match for Sabrina and his entire family. Then, add in kidnappings, smugglers, bootleggers, plots against the king and you have a rollercoaster ride of a story.

I hope you enjoy this story as much as I did – even though it does have some very modern situations and conversational styles. You’ll love both Graeme and Sabrina as well as visiting with most of his brothers and their wives.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[nelispelusa · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Have you ever read a story that it was too much? well that is what I found in this one. We had to much going on, we had thieves, murder, rape, kidnapping, children in danger and lets not forget the main characters seem to always find themselves in trouble too. Then we have Sabrina I am all for a tough woman but this was not realistic to the time, and yes I know I am reading fiction however you still have to think about the era it was captured in and Sabrina would not be that type of character. Graeme was also getting into things that then he would need help extracting himself from..I got tired, it was just a lot. .doesn't deserve a 2 but definately did not deserve more

rcvd an ARC at no cost to author..(netgalley) voluntarily reviewed with my own thoughts and opinions