King's Acre by Christine Marion Fraser -- a Great Read!
Written: Oct 13 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: great storytelling, excellent likeable characters, wonderful plot
Cons: Scottish dialect in the dialogues could be kind of difficult for some
The Bottom Line: If you enjoy reading historical romances with a great storyline then I strongly recommend this book.
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| atamogaokashii's Full Review: Christine Marion Fraser - Kings Acre |
It’s 1914. World War I rages on in Europe. Life continues in the rural area of Scotland known as Rothiedrum, Aberdeenshire. This is the setting for this book, King’s Acre by Christine Marion Fraser. It is the second book in the series about the Grant family. Unfortunately I haven’t read the first book, but I plan to and all the other books in the series if I can find them. The author is Scottish so I’ve discovered that it’s hard to find the books in the States. I came across this book in the clearance bin at my local used bookstore, and I’m quite glad I did.
Evelyn Grant is trying to get over the death of her first love Johnny, who died in a drowning accident. Evelyn is a beautiful sixteen year old girl with gorgeous long red hair. She lives with her parents at King’s Croft, which I guess is a small farmstead that is rented from the lord (in this case Lord Evander Forbes and his wife Lady Marjorie) who owns the land in that area. One day while in the local village she comes across a handsome young soldier and has tea with him. They have an immediate connection. He gives her his ring to remember him by, but she doesn’t find out his name before he leaves for the war.
Evelyn has four older sisters. Nellie, Mary, Murn and Grace. Nellie, the eldest is unmarried and seems to have a great distrust for men, which only her and her father know the reason for. Mary is married to the local doctor Gregor McGregor who goes to the front to help care for the wounded. Murn is a schoolteacher and Grace is a nurse who works at a war hospital. This book is full of their trial and tribulations. For instance, Murn and Nellie are in love with the same man, which causes great conflict in the family.
One day Evelyn finally sees her young soldier again. She sees him in the village and they find out each other’s names. His name is David Alexander Grainger, and he’s from Glasgow. He was slightly wounded and was sent back to Scotland to recuperate before going back to war. Evelyn and David spend a glorious six weeks together before he goes to spend time with his parents and then go back to war. After that, Evelyn knows she’s in love with him and write him many letters. She discovers David is a selfish and very jealous man, but she loves him just the same.
Evelyn’s father is Jamie Grant. He was once a leader in the gypsy community and is still greatly respected by them. Her mother is Maggie Grant, who is the illegitimate child of Lady Marjorie’s uncle. No one in the family knows this fact and she plans to go to the grave with it.
This book was a very good read. I’m glad I found it. I got to know each member of the Grant family very well and they each had their own little story to tell in the book, though the book mainly focused on Evelyn. I learned some great Scottish dialect. There were many twists and turns and my attention was peaked the whole time. Overall, it was very well written. Besides just reading the other books in the King series, I am also interested in reading the other series Christine Marion Fraser has written known as the Rhanna series. That’s just how good of an author I think she is.
Recommended:
Yes
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atamogaokashii
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Location: Minneapolis, Land o'Lame
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