The Highlander Who Protected Me (Clan Kendrick #1)

Royal Kendrick was wounded and left for dead at Waterloo. He not only struggles with the pain from his badly scarred leg but also from nightmares left from the bloody battle. He has no real interest in life until he meets Lady Ainsley Matthews, an heiress and incredible beauty. Sparks fly immediately between the two, but then Royal is told that she is betrothed. After a botched kidnapping and a refusal to Royal’s marriage proposal, Ainsley departs for Scotland to live with a reclusive aunt. Months later, Royal tracks her down and gets the shock of his life. And, so begins one of the best romances that I have ever read! Royal is the hero of my dreams. He is fierce toward his enemies, tender toward those he loves, and, oh boy, he wears a kilt! What more could a woman ask for? Although at first Ainsley seems to be a woman who has it all with her wealth, beauty, and social standing, she is actually a prisoner trying to escape a betrothal to an abusive man. By turns, I sympathized with her and also wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her. Both H/h are incredibly well done and the plot is excellent. The descriptions of Scotland make me even more determined to visit someday. All the secondary characters are also vividly portrayed and Royal’s grandfather, Angus, stole my heart. I highly recommend this book and suggest that, if you haven’t already, you read the ‘The Highlander’s Princess Bride’ which is the story of Royal’s older brother Nick and also introduces Royal and Ainsley.

Sexual situations may offend some readers.

I first want to say that Royal Kendrick is a fantastic hero! He is my new favorite Highlander in any book. Royal is gruff, loyal, intelligent, respectful of women, compassionate, great with babies, and patient with his lady. I also like that he is a veteran of the Battle of Waterloo. I absolutely love how he loves Ainsley. Ainsley brings chaos into Royal’s life. I like her, but she got on my nerves a little bit early on. However, she really grew as a person, actively trying to stop being snobbish and rude, so I liked her more and more as the book went on.

There is a lively bunch of lovable, funny minor characters. I especially appreciate Royals funny grandfather and Ainsleys quirky old aunt. It seems like this family has appeared in previous Vanessa Kelly books, but Im not sure. This is the first book by Vanessa Kelly that I have read, but it surely wont be the last. I was surprised and pleased by the unpredictable plot developments and timeline of this romance. FYI, it is told in third person perspective, not first person as the title would seem to indicate. This novel is a really high quality Regency/Scottish romance that I recommend to all historical romance fans, except for those who care about the trigger warning below.

Trigger warning: Ainsley previously was the victim of a sexual assault perpetrated by the villain, and she does describe the event with some level of detail.

I have loved all of the books that I read by this author. And, she did not seem to disappoint me in her latest installment. I enjoyed this book and seeing all the Kendrick Men again. Royal was one of my favorites and I am so happy that he got his own story. There are parts that will make you teary-eyed, swoon, laugh, and just all out fall in love with some of the characters!

Ainsley, shes in a bit of a predicament, she is pregnant and trying not to get found out in order stay away forced marriage. She has her own scars that she had gotten from her old fianc. And of course shes pregnant of all things!When Royal charges back in her life,He gives her so much hope and it was adorable watching these characters play out with one another. And how their flames still burned even though they left on bad terms before all of this happened.

Royal, A wounded soul he wonders if life is basically worth living anymore. He had Trumatic experiences in the war leaving him with a wounded leg and a broken soul. Ainsley brought some light to him and made him think that he could actually live again even though he would never be the same as he once was before the war. Oh my gosh, I love his character so much. How he was so loyal to both Ainsley and his family. Who wouldnt want a man like that?

***Slight spoilers I guess ***

This is the first book that I ever read with involving a baby. I never thought I would enjoy something like that but, I ended up loving this book so much. It was nice Royal took over as the father of the baby despite his broken heart. But, the little baby brought him and his family happiness. I also had to swoon at that.

As I said this is one of those second chance romances that you will absolutely root for the couple. Royal and Ainsley simply could not stop loving each other no matter how bad things got. They equal each other out perfectly, and their relationship basically brought a smile to my face.

One more thing, even the villain is terribly despicable. But I dont want to include any spoilers. You would just have to read the book yourself. If you are a lover of Scottish romances or historical romances in general I would highly recommend this book it is so well written the story is enthralling. I had a real good time with this one!I am desperately awaiting the next clan Kendrick book!

Compared with the other books of Vanessa Kelly this sounded like a joke. I would rate her other books a 4-5 stars and this one only 1-2 honestly.
I will give 3 stars because i will compare it to other romance authors , but I was expecting this story to be more entertaining given the characters strongheadedness, they had so much potential for a more intriguing story…
It was to much explaining i felt like an idiot reading it…
When i first started reading vanessa kelly i said to myself that her books are worth the price because of the way she is keeping you glued to the book you can’t put it down till you know all the story… but this one is worth more like a 99p book (it took me a week to finish it while i read another in 3-5 hours.)
Sorry for Royal he could have had his story told better.

This was one of the most beautifully written stories I have ever read. The characters and story completely came alive. I was so emotionally involved in this story. I ugly cried through at least half of the book…wow…and laughed through the rest. The story was engaging, devastatingly heartbreaking and hopelessly romantic all rolled together. Royal Kendrick and Ainsley were a perfect match, I couldnt get enough of them. Royal was literally the perfect hero. Painsley Ainsley was exactly that… A infuriating pain… but in a good way. I really enjoyed her character. The bickering between Ainsley and Royal and Angus was ridiculously hilarious. I just really loved this story so much and cannot begin to praise it enough. I have never wanted to reread a book so badly and I JUST finished it!!! Absolute page turner.

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