Some of them were tough going for a teenager, but the experience would prove an invaluable foundation for college. In high school, with the encouragement of my father (who I think was a little concerned about the steady diet of romances), I read over eighty of the Franklin Library’s One Hundred Greatest Books ever written-including Tolstoy, Confucius, Plato, and the entire works of Shakespeare. I quickly read through the inventory of the local library and was soon buying bags of romances at garage sales. After that rather brief conversation, she paid a little closer attention to what had disappeared off her book shelf, and steered me in the direction of Harlequin and Barbara Cartland romances. I can still remember the look of abject horror on my mom’s Catholic-girl-face when I asked her what a virgin was. Some, like Sidney Sheldon’s The Other Side of Midnight, probably weren’t the most appropriate choice for a pre-adolescent-although they were definitely illuminating. Once I cleared off my bookshelf, I started swiping books from my mom. I started with the usual fare: The Little House on the Prairie series, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, Watership Down, Nancy Drew, and everything by Judy Blume. Growing up in California there was always plenty to do outside, but all too often I could be found inside curled up with a book (or two or three). Like most writers, I’ve always loved to read. What do you get when you mix a legal career, a baseball career, motherhood, and a love of history with a voracious reader? In my case, a Historical Romance Author. As the battle for king and country sounds across the shores, will Ellie’s love be enough to finally tame the legend known as the Hawk? Still, he is a man driven by loyalty, and she is a woman with secrets that could jeopardize Bruce’s chance to reclaim his throne. Yet Erik will sweep away Ellie’s resistance with a desire that resonates deep within her heart. Her captor may look every inch a rugged warrior, but Ellie vows that it will take more than a wickedly suggestive caress to impress her.

Worse, this irresistible woman is determined to prove herself immune to Erik’s charms-a challenge he cannot resist. Ellie’s ordinary appearance belies the truth: She is in fact Lady Elyne de Burgh, the spirited daughter of the most powerful noble in Ireland. When Bruce is forced to flee, his bid for freedom rests on the shoulders of one extraordinary warrior.Įrik MacSorley is a brilliant seafarer who has never encountered a wind he could not harness or a woman he could not win-until he drags a wet, half-naked “nursemaid” out of the waters off the Irish coast.

Handpicked by Robert the Bruce to help him in his quest to free Scotland from English rule, the elite warriors of the Highland Guard face their darkest days.

The Hawk by Monica McCarty