The Wild Rose of Kilgannon is part two of a set of novels centered around the 1715 Jacobite uprising. It’s important to know that it is not just a sequel; it’s a continuation of the same story. So if you are interested in reading it, you absolutely must start with the first book for this one to make any sense. I did read Kilgannon about a month ago, and I liked a lot of things about it (my grade of the first book was a B-). Since the ending leaves you hanging as the hero rides off to join the rebellion, I was eager to read the next book. For the most part, it fits well with the first part of the story. But like Kilgannon, it’s slow moving, and the heroine’s behavior gets a little repetitive towards the end. Add that to a plot keeps the hero and heroine separated for virtually the entire book, and you have a book that is just slightly better than average.

The book picks up right where Kilgannon leaves off, in the fall of 1715. Hero Alex MacGannon has just left his wife Mary to join the Jacobite uprising. Mary understands his reasons for leaving, but believes his decision is a poor one. Still, she’s a dutiful wife, patiently waiting for her beloved husband and praying for his safety. When the rebellion fails and James Stuart flees to France, Alex doesn’t join him. Alex is then imprisoned, and Mary spends the rest of the book waiting for him to die, escape, or get released.

Like its predecessor, The Wild Rose of Kilgannon is told entirely from Mary’s point of view, in Mary’s voice. This works fairly well in the original story, but it causes some problems here, because until the end, nothing really happens to Mary. We hear about everything second and third hand through her eyes, which makes the action seem very remote. What the author should have done is told the story from Alex’s point of view, because he is where the action is. He is the one in battle. He is the one in prison and on trial. Everything happens to him.

The nature of the plot is such that Alex and Mary spend perhaps a week and a half in each other’s presence during the course of the book. Needless to say, if you are not big on hero/heroine separations this is not the book for you! There are, however, a plethora of tender good-bye scenes. Every time Mary and Alex see each other they are both aware that they may never see one another again, and they act accordingly. I didn’t mind these scenes so much, but I found Mary’s behavior somewhat tiresome in that she refused to understand Alex’s sense of honor and responsibility for his clansmen. Time and time again she would beg him to save his own skin by betraying his ideals or ignoring the needs of his kinsmen. Of course it made sense that she would want her husband to live, but the end her predictable behavior made her seem whiny and selfish.

On the plus side, the story is rich in historical detail, which is an appreciated feature. Many of the characters in the story are actual people, and Givens even briefly mentions William Maxwell’s escape from the Tower of London – an exciting and true story. Alex, Mary, and all the MacGannon clansmen are richly drawn, and after reading two books about them I felt as if I knew them well. There are some excellent scenes during Alex’s trial, and an exciting action sequence at the end.

Should you read it? Well, if you’ve already read the first installment, you’ll want to know how it turns out. In for a penny, in for a pound. If you’re debating whether to read the pair, you’ll have to decide whether you can appreciate a slowly developed, historically detailed story. You’ll have to weigh the comparative value of interesting characters and a romantic Scottish setting versus a long separation between the main characters. On the whole, I’m glad I read both books, but they are not for everyone.