It certainly doesn’t hurt that Johanna is beautiful but he is worried that she is too weak, both in body and spirit, to weather the harsh Scottish climate as well as cope with the duties involved in managing his household and holding her own amongst his warriors, workers, and dependants. Even when Nicholas tells him that Johanna is barren, MacBain is unconcerned as he already has an heir – albeit an illegitimate one – and agrees to the marriage for the sake of the property it will bring him. In return, Gabriel will receive the Scottish lands held by her late husband lands, which had previously belonged to the MacBains. Having been unable to help Johanna during her unhappy marriage, he has asked his sometime friend, Gabriel, Laird MacBain to marry her instead.

The disposal of her hand is at the king’s pleasure, and, as we discover later, John has his own nefarious reasons for needing Johanna married off to Baron Williams, another of his most loyal courtiers.įortunately, her brother, Nicholas, has other plans. While Johanna is dismayed at the prospect, she does not – cannot –rail against her fate. An heiress who lives under King John’s rule at a time of great unrest and uncertainty, she has no control over her fate and is summarily informed that she is now to be married to one of her late husband’s cronies. Lady Johanna is a young English noblewoman who, at the beginning of the story, is only too relieved to discover that her older, abusive husband is dead. I admit that, yes, it did have rather an anachronistic feel to it and that both Lady Johanna and her Laird were a little too modern in their sensibilities, but I was so drawn into the story that it really didn’t bother me.

I thought Saving Grace was a truly delightful story and a thoroughly engaging character-driven romance.

Saving Grace by Julie Garwood