Untamed by Elizabeth Lowell

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The June book for the Historical Hellions book club was Untamed by Elizabeth Lowell. This is the first of her Medieval trilogy (also known as Disputed Lands). Historical Hellions is hosted by Jess and Samantha and there was a live show on Sunday. It seems like a lot of people didn't quite like this as much as I did. I was able to apply this read to animal on cover prompt for the Romancing Summer Challenge and traditionally published prompt for Summer of Swoon.

We jump right in to Meg waiting for her arranged marriage, infamous knight Dominic Le Sabre to arrive. He's there to marry her, as decreed by the king, and once her father passes take over the estate. Meg is a little more on the independent side and also from the Glendruid bloodline. Think along the lines of druid or white witch kind of magic. She has an affinity for plants and animals and is also a healer. Dominic has been through a couple wars, including time spent as prisoner in the middle-east. He's able to stay calm during his skirmishes and is known for being a great tactician. 

I really enjoyed this book. If I were to be picky it'd be closer to a 4.5-star rating, but I rounded up for goodreads. First off, for being an early 90s historical romance and being medieval, there wasn't really anything problematic. I also really like the writing style. It was very easy to read and didn't have a lot of the long winded prose. I loved the slow-burn between them and the possessiveness Dominic felt towards Meg. There was a lot of parallel and metaphors throughout to training falcons and I really enjoyed it. While I know it bothered others that she was practically locked away for a bit, I didn't really mind it. Mostly because it really gave some nice (and weird) intimate moments between the two and you could really feel their connection grow and evolve. 

The only downside for me was how untrusting Dominic was. I think the misunderstanding of her feelings for her half-brother Duncan went a little too long and I wish she would've clarified earlier that she only loved him as a brother and wasn't in love with him. Others mentioned during the live that they felt it started slow, but I didn't feel that persay. The romance did take a little bit to get going, but the pacing felt okay to me so that we had time to really settle and understand what was going on.

This was my first Elizabeth Lowell and I definitely want to continue not only with this series, but her other historical series Only. It looks like she's mainly writhing thrillers and romantic suspense now. I definitely want to finish this trilogy at least. Plus I really want the gorgeous copies that have stepbacks. I'm excited to find another older historical romance to add to my collection and this was perfect to get me back into a historical mindset. I also have another historical author named Elizabeth to add to my list. Just in time for the Histrocial Romance Readathon that starts today!

Have you read Untamed?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Untamed, Elizabeth Lowell, 5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 416 pages, published in 1993