Tag: Historical Romance

Out of all the O’Malley saga books, this one, the fifth one, might be my favorite. It has the least amount of spice, but I find the story incredibly romantic. We are introduced to the eldest daughter of Skye’s youngest brother, Valentina. Unbeknownst to Valentina, her mother Aiden spent some time in the East as a slave and found herself pregnant shortly after being rescued. She had been with three men in a very short period of time, so she was never able to say for sure which one of them was Valentina’s father. Valentina discovers this decades old secret and claims that she must find out who her real father is, and that the only way to do so is to go to these foreign lands and question the friends and family of these men. 

While this adventure is exciting and mysterious, the romance I mentioned involves Valentina finding the love of her life. After her very short and loveless first marriage, she is determined to not marry again unless she is in love. On top of that, Valentina refuses to even consider a second husband until she has journeyed to the East to try to unravel the mystery of her birth. She has many admirers as a young widow before she even learns that the man who has raised her might not be her birth father, but the two most persistent suitors turn out to be her cousin Padraic, Skye’s youngest son, and a very good friend of his, Thomas Ashburne. 

I think I like this story so much because there is a message, it’s about seeing what is right in front of you, but in a new light, and you see this theme expressed in several different ways and between several different characters.

In the fourth book of the Skye O’Malley series we follow her youngest daughter, Velvet de Marisco. Being the only one of Skye’s children to spend the entirety of her childhood with their mother, and being fortunate enough to have her father in her life, Velvet is well loved and somewhat spoiled. She is also educated, intelligent, beautiful, and being her fathers only biological child, a wealthy heiress. Her enchanted life in the countryside comes to an end when the man she was betrothed to as a child informs her that he is coming from Scotland to celebrate their marriage a year early, due to the death of his father and brother which has left him the last living male in his family. Velvet is infuriated with both the tone of his letter and the way in which he demands that they marry immediately so that he can get an heir. Clever Velvet is able to escape her intended husband when she becomes a maid of honor for the English queen, a woman who becomes infuriated with any man who tries to take her ladies away from her. 

Fitting in with the trend of enemies to lovers that is so popular right now, you’ll enjoy reading about the fights that happen between Velvet and the Scottish earl which ultimately lead them to learning to love one another. There is a lot that happens in between, and I won’t say anything more. It involves an unfortunate case of miscommunication and misunderstanding and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who is interested in reading.

If you were intrigued with Skye O’Malley’s younger brother, Conn, in All The Sweet Tomorrows, you are going to love seeing much more of him in A Love For All Time, which chronicles how he was introduced and married to his wife, Aiden St. Michael. This book almost didn’t happen, as the author had already written This Heart Of Mine, which centers around Skye and Adam’s daughter, Velvet. But Small received so many fan letters stating that they wanted more of Conn that she decided she had to give it to them. Even though it wasn’t planned, this story fits in perfectly with the timeline, and I am a stickler for continuity. 

Aiden is a shy, cloistered English heiress who is sent to court after her fathers death in order to find a husband so that they might carry on her family name. Her few short months here are lonely, as she is an older unmarried woman in her time, she is intelligent, and she does not flaunt her wealth with fashionable clothing and fine jewels, all of which make her invisible to the mostly extroverted people residing there. By a stroke of luck, and a surprising bit of boldness, she is married to the most handsome man at Elizabeth Tudors court, and it is at this point in time that she finally begins to bloom. Conn and Aiden live in bliss and fall in love, but after only a few months of happiness together the two are separated when a couple of evil men come up with an evil plan which results in Aiden being kidnapped and sold into slavery. 

You do get a happy ending, but it is not without a great deal of turmoil in order for the lovers to get there. I like this one better than its predecessor because even though our leading lady finds herself a captive, her time in bondage is not as frustrating as it was on our last journey with Skye. This is a book I would pick up many, many more times.

The second book in the Skye O’Malley saga, this book again follows the life and adventures of the heroine. Out of all the books in the series, and the legacy books as well, this is the one I have read the least and am therefore the least familiar with. Having just finished it, I cannot recall why I have never tended to reach for this one. 

When we last left Skye in the first book, titled after the very woman, she was on her way home with her best friend, Adam, and her now fourth husband, Niall. Tragedy seems to follow Skye as this is how All The Sweet Tomorrows opens up, with Niall believed to be dead. After many months, which include a terribly mismatched political marriage, and a few liaisons with lovers, it is discovered that Niall actually survived the attempted murder. Skye then goes on a risky rescue mission in order to save him. A good chunk of the middle of this tale is why I don’t consider it a favorite of mine, which includes Skye’s failed fifth marriage and her adventures in the East, as it is just so incredibly frustrating to read about the things that happen to this woman. Her fifth husband is a cruel and unusual man with whom she tries to find some peace and common ground with, as she cannot see herself ever loving him. In the East she is forced to become a harem slave in order to save Niall and the things that happen to her are degrading and barbarous, you truly end up hating her vicious master, Kedar. 

The very beginning and the majority of the end of the book are why I decided that I do love it. You get to learn more about Skye’s extended family as she actually gets to interact with a lot of them for once rather than only seeing them briefly in between her many adventures. And we are also introduced to her youngest brother, Conn, who is one of the main characters in the third book, which I will be reading next week. So if you loved the first book, continue with the second, because you will want to make your way through the entire series. 

I have also included a picture in which I marked all the good spicy scenes, as this is a historical romance.

The O’Malley saga is what I consider to be Bertrice Small’s greatest collection of stories, and the first book in the series is titled after the incredible woman herself. We are taken on the amazing adventure that is Skye’s life beginning in Ireland in the mid 16th century where we are introduced to her and her large family headed by her pirating giant of a father. Described later on as a woman who is always in love, we see the tragedy of her experiencing love at first sight, that love being reciprocated, and her unfortunately being married to another man. A great deal of this first book narrates the ill-fated circumstances of Skye and Niall and how the very universe itself seems to be keeping them apart. When you aren’t despairing over the unfairness of these two being kept apart we sail with Skye as she takes over the family business after the unexpected death of her father. After a huge turn of events, we follow her to Algiers where she lives for many months, and eventually we make our way to England where she finds herself being welcomed into the elegant court of Queen Elizabeth the first. 

Even though I have read this book and the others that follow it many times, I knew I couldn’t have a book blog and not include these stories in it. I could read any one of the Skye O’Malley books in a few days, although I am certain they are meant to take much longer than that to read. If you love historical romance you cannot neglect to include these books in your collection. Add Skye O’Malley to your list, and pick up the sequel, All The Sweet Tomorrows, because I guarantee that once you finish reading the first book you are going to be dying to know more about this woman and people surrounding her. 

I am also going to add a picture here so you can see what you are getting yourself into. If you love the scenes that romance novels are famous for, you will be getting your money’s worth here. I marked down all of the scenes worthy of noting, I definitely did not mark all of the scenes, and it is a lot! I think out of all the books this one probably has the most scenes, so if you read and end up finding it excessive, I believe after the next book things slow down.