Taken By Storm

title: Taken By Storm
author: Donna Fletcher
genre: historical romance
published: 2006
pages: 374
source: personal copy
first line: Burke Longton grabbed hold of his chains and scrambled to his feet as soon a the motley crew of five stormed his prison cell.
rated: Historical fluffiness
2 1/2 out of 5


blurb:

Burke Longton has traveled to Scotland to find his brother, but instead finds himself in a dungeon, accused of a crime he did not commit. Before he can devise a plan to escape, a motley crew bursts into the cell, and he is rescued by a fiery hellion who is as beautiful as she is fierce . . .

They call her Storm—an avenging angel to the wrongly imprisoned, an outlaw wanted by the Scottish government. Everything and everyone she'd ever loved has been taken from her, and now she's determined to never let that happen again. She does not have time for tenderness or love . . . until she meets Burke. Rugged and courageous, his kisses promise nights of fevered passion, while his eyes challenge her to dream of a future together. Dare she let this man storm past her defenses and convince her to trust her heart again?

About:
I had completely forgotten that I had a copy of Taken By Storm sitting on my bookshelves. I purchased this one years ago after having read and enjoyed Return of the Rogue by this author.

For some reason I though that Storm was going to be the hero in this story. I was looking forward to reading about a Highlander with a Scottish burr. I was wrong, Storm is actually the heroine and she is the one who is Scottish. She's the leader of a group of men who rescue and bring justice to those in need. On one of her rescue missions, she frees Burke Longton. Burke is an American who has traveled to Scotland in search of his half brother, Cullen.

Burke asks for Storm for help in finding his brother. She reluctantly agrees to help him for a price. Storm likes to be in charge, she is the female leader of this group of rag tag men. Burke does not take orders from anyone and he is having a tough time taking them from Storm.
Storm has a past, her husband died and she feels guilty. Although she swore she'd never love again, she finds herself attracted to Burke and fights the attraction as best as she can. Burke however, wants to whisk Storm away and even possibly marry her, after he finds his brother of course.

My thoughts:
I wanted more from this fluffy historical romance. The sexual tension between Storm and Burke was there from the start. However, there's always a 'however' right? I felt like Storm, who was supposed to be so tough, gave into Burke too easily. If she was supposedly so hard core and a leader of this group of men, why would she allow this American to just step in and romance her? He was stealing kisses early on in the story and I felt a character supposedly as tough as she was would have smacked him for it.

Storm and her group have built homes inside and within a forest. It reminded me of Robin Hood. Her house is built up in a tree, a tree house technically. I'd have rather they all lived in a village, it would be more believable.

They were standing beneath her tree house and in an instant. Burke had her around the waist, the rope around his arm, and they were gliding up to the treetops.
p.108, Taken By Storm

I had a hard time believing that Storm was this rough and tough chick and I just wasn't buying it. She's described as being a tiny little thing, but meanwhile she's fighting these big burly Scots. There's a few fight scenes in the story, but they are all pretty vague. If you want to sell a tough fighting heroine, sell it well please, write some good fighting scenes where she kicks butt.

The back and forth conversations between Burke and Storm quickly became annoying. They constantly debate getting together, he wants her, but she resists. She doesn't want to fall in love, but he insists they belong together. Then when they do finally do 'it', then the issue becomes Storm not allowing herself to love him. Burke wants to whisk her off back to America with him.
Talking about them doing 'it', the sex scenes in this book were way too short and vague as well. In fluffy romance I always expect some good sex scenes and this book was lacking. I had to wait until page 254 for a sex scene and when it finally happened, the 'majestic bird' comparison made me giggle!

He nibbled at her bottom lip then down along her neck to settle on her hard nipple. Then he rose over her like a majestic bird about to take flight and entered her with a tenderness that startled her more than if he had plunged into her.
"We fit," he whispered in her ear before he settled into a steady rhythm that grew with each mounting thrust.
p.254, Taken By Storm

I was expecting a more vivid description as far as the Scottish setting was concerned, and I didn't get that at all. Absolutely nothing about the Scottish Highlands was described in this book. The couple does get their HEA, but the ending leaves Burke's brother's story open for a possible sequel.
Overall, I quickly read this book, I didn't want to give up on it but it disappointed me. If it were a bit more descriptive, I would have enjoyed it more.

One thing about the cover, if Burke was not wearing a friggin' cape, this cover would be cute. I like the colors on the cover.