His Destiny
By
Grade : C

Secret keeping between the hero and heroine is always a problem when it comes to romance. While characters can keep secrets and hide their identities through lies of omission, those are easily forgiven if the characters are engaging and likeable. However, if the deceit is not handled correctly, the result is a lack of trust and empathy for the characters. Unfortunately His Destiny, the fourth in the MacGruder series, steps over the line to deception.

The book opens with Cristina Moffat being attacked by English soldiers in the Highlands in the time of Edward II (think Braveheart). Patrik Cleary stumbles upon the scene and decides to rescue her from the English soldiers. Little does Patrik realize, Cristina is not an innocent Scottish lass but a trained English assassin who is under cover for the express purpose of getting close to him. Her real identity is Emma Astyn and her murky past makes her vulnerable to the honorable Patrik, despite her assignment to steal the message he carries to the rebel forces and, if necessary, kill him.

As Patrik and Emma escape across Scotland, the two begin to bond. In Patrik, Emma sees honor and courage as she has never seen in her life. As an orphan she was never shown love or caring and Patrik seems to lavish both of these on her right from the start. As the two take shelter with a Scottish family, Emma sees how a family can live together with love and courage as the binding. The family has suffered tragic losses, but they still see the joy and hope in everyday things. To Emma, the family and Patrik are beyond her experience and she struggles to understand their goodness.

Even though I had not read the first books in the series, I did not struggle to understand the back story. In the past Patrik had threatened his adopted brother’s wife and nearly killed her. When English soldiers attack the family that Patrik and Emma are staying with, his Macgruder brothers come to the rescue. The brothers believed that Patrik is dead. Seeing Patrik alive, finding out his secret identity, and finding him with Emma is a bit of a shock. This is not a happy family reunion, but Patrik’s brothers do take the injured Patrik home so that he can heal from the wounds he received in the battle against the English. Despite the fact that they are suspicious of Emma, they bring her along, too. Of course, it really makes you wonder how the brothers caught on to Emma so quickly, whereas Patrik, the trained spy, didn’t, but I guess that his love was what was blinding him.

Where this book fails for me is in the very beginning. There is a point when Patrik and Emma are first thrown together by the circumstances and Emma out and out lies to Patrik. I have read many books where the main characters keep their identities and their past from each other and I have seen it done masterfully with innuendo and lies of omission. But I have rarely read a book where the heroine actually out and out lies to the hero and tells him she is a grieving widow. In addition to that, she invents a story of her being there when her husband was murdered by English soldiers. Add to that a tale of her rape and pillaging at the hands of the English. This, of course, results in Patrik’s determination to keep her safe and protected. One could argue that it was necessary for her cover as a spy and an assassin. However, I think that, as a romance novel, it crosses the line between what a reader can forgive and what they cannot. Because of this, I never did feel any connection to Emma and it prevented me from enjoying the book more.

This may be the reason that I felt that Patrik fell in love with Emma without any real reason. As I was struggling to even like Emma, I didn’t see her do anything that would lead Patrik to love her. In essence, he fell in love with a person that didn’t exist. That was very hard for me to get over, even when the truth came out. I felt that there was too much trust that was broken very early on and Patrik’s forgiveness was forced.

Though Patrik is a very lovable character and the MacGruder brothers seemed to make a lovable family, the trust that was broken right from the start made this book a real struggle for me. Though I thought the writing was good and most of the characters were engaging and interesting, I couldn’t fully enjoy it. A fan of the series may look differently at the situation and be more accepting of the story line, but for me, this book lost me at the very beginning and never really brought me back into the fold.

Reviewed by Louise VanderVliet
Grade : C

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date : January 4, 2012

Publication Date: 2011/10

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Louise VanderVliet

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