Reviews for Mistress of the Waters

The average rating for Mistress of the Waters based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-07-01 00:00:00 Suresh Duraisamy Is it a bad thing when you finish a book for the sole purpose of ranting? And the rating is more like a 1.5 Ok, the author finds ancient Ireland fascinating, so much that she apparently is clueless about the modern world. Our heroine grew up with a mansion and a yacht (no - don't think she was Elmer J. Fudd's daughter buuut). Father, through a series of bad business moves/investments and a lawsuit, lost it all, so now they live in a hovel. Well, hovel being relatively speaking since we aren't really treated to *any* info about her home other than it's "small". How small exactly though. No - bear with me; this is relevant. Our h's father is retired, mom doesn't work. Heroine is in college and apparently doesn't work either *and* is planning to move to Ireland, get a job teaching, etc. On what exactly!? They're supposed to be broke now. Yeah. Guess what one interprets all this to mean is they live in a hovel less than 50,000 square feet, and in the middle of Ohio. And on this note... So the h has become introverted and studious - (a nerd?) and... the mostest friendliest and nicest college kids in the world feel sorry for her because she has been reduced to using a plain ol' stainless steel spoon instead of the silver one she grew up using. Yeah. Because college students are so much more mature than high school students. So they invite her to do the Ren Faire thing and she immerses herself into research for Beltane. Eventually she goes back in time to escape the horror of being reduced to middle class American and meets... the "H" - and I *really* use that term loosely. Our H fancies himself a bard but doesn't want to go to bard school. He doesn't really want to do *anything*, to be honest, beyond sitting on the bank, snoozing and having the village floozies hang all over him. Oh, and because he's refused to do anything his father *or* the king has asked, has been ordered to marry a pregnant exchange woman (uh... she's a peace offering of sorts and she's pregnant with her deceased first husband's baby). So... our h appears, it's Beltane, and the "H" essentially handfasts to her - without telling her he's already married. Yeah; setup on this one makes you want to throw the book through a window or something. Heroine doesn't find out about permanent wife (love THAT term) until fall when they go back to the village. You see, Useless has been banished to herding cows for the summer. She then spends the winter with him (why, I dunno other than I guess she really didn't feel she had many options). Spring comes, and she finds out about floozies. Beltane comes, so she goes home, only he decides to come with her cuz he loves her. Riiight. The best part of the book I think was the snippets of conversation at the end - after they've come to the 20th century. At least he no longer has his overlong fingernails by that point. Euuuch.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-12-13 00:00:00 Ford Ruggieri This was really a 3.5 star read. Taming the Highland Bride is an easy, fast-paced story about mistrust and misunderstandings. This page turner was filled with obstacles that the main characters had to get past to find love. This was my first book by Lynsay Sands and I have to say that her writing style is very light and creates an easy flow. Alex is patient, sweet and loyal man and I liked that a lot. Even though he had misgivings about Merry from rumors that she was a shrew, from the beginning he was attracted to her. He wanted to make her happy to be his wife. My only problem with Alex is that he was not portrayed as a warrior. For the better part of the book, Merry ran the household and held the men together, while Alex was constantly in harm's way and banged up. Merry is a strong, independent and caring woman. After suffering through years of taking care of her drunken brothers and father, she is desperately seeking a new life. I honestly felt Merry's disappointment at her first encounter with her Alex, knowing she felt as though she left one horrible situation for another. As they both try to move forward from their awkward first encounter, they both have to learn to let go and find love. I enjoyed the way Alex worked to get Merry's guard down to prove that he was not like the men in her family. He took his time not to force her but rather show her that he was a man of honor. Sure enough, slowly as they are on an adventure to Scotland, Merry sees her husband for the man that he truly is and allows him to slowly enter her heart. While they are both discovering their newfound feelings towards one another, mystery and danger is lurking around every corner. I felt the mystery incorporated throughout the entire story was interesting and at the end I was a little surprised at the villain. I wanted them to dig around to find out who was behind the "mysterious" incidents but I was a little disappointed that they just happen to stumble across the truth. No one took real interest that they were in real danger except Merry. Overall, I would recommend Taming the Highland Bride to anyone who wants to enjoy a quick and enjoyable read. I look forward to reading further along in this series.