On tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club - Ride with the Moonlight (Thunder on the Moor, Book 2) By Andrea Matthews #BookReview #HistoricalRomance #BlogTour @AMatthewsAuthor @maryanneyarde

I am so excited to share my review of Ride with the Moonlight (Thunder on the Moor, Book 2) by Andrea Matthews. Thank you to The Coffee Pot Book Club for your invite to take part in the tour. 

 

Ride with the Moonlight

(Thunder on the Moor, Book 2) 

By Andrea Matthews

After rescuing sixteenth-century Border reiver Will Foster from certain death at her family’s hands, time traveler Maggie Armstrong finally admits her love for the handsome Englishman, though she can’t rid herself of the sinking sus-picion that her Scottish kin are not about to let them live in peace. What she doesn’t expect is the danger that lurks on Will’s own side of the Border. When news of their plans to marry reaches the warden, he charges Will with March treason for trysting with a Scot. Will and Maggie attempt to escape by fleeing to the hills, but when Will is declared an outlaw and allowed to be killed on sight, they can no longer evade the authorities. Will is sentenced to hang, while Maggie is to be sent back to her family. Heartbroken, she has no choice but to return to Scotland, where her uncle continues to make plans for her to wed Ian Rutherford, the wicked Scotsman who she now realizes murdered her father in cold blood. With Will facing the gallows in England, and herself practically under house arrest in Scotland, she continues to resist her uncle’s plans, but her efforts are thwarted at every turn. Will’s family, however, is not about to stand by and watch their youngest lad executed simply because he’s lost his heart to a Scottish lass. A daring plan is set into motion, but will it be in time to save Will’s life and reunite the lovers? Or will Ian’s lies prompt Maggie’s family to ensure the bond between them is forever destroyed?

I read the first book in this series earlier this year, and even though I absolutely adored it, I had so many books on my to-read list, some of them with deadlines, that I did not have time to read book 2 sooner. FORTUNATELY, I was offered the chance to review book 2, and since I simply could not turn down the offer, I squeezed it onto my to-read list, and here we are!

This novel starts off where book one left off. Maggie betrayed her family to save the life of Will Foster, and ran away with him. Maggie’s uncle, Geordie, is angry at her actions and with Ian, the man Maggie was supposed to marry, hounding him, has no choice but to come up with a plan to get her back. But, if he was to lead another raid on the Fosters, and take her back by force, the Fosters would simply return the favour. This time, Geordie must come up with a way to get Maggie back, and keep her back for good.

When Will learns that he has been charged with March Treason, he knows that any trial, should he be granted one, would have the outcome decided before it even starts. He is destined to hang, and the law is the law – there is rarely a way around it when you have been unknowingly digging your own grave for the past few weeks. As the Fosters attempt to find a loophole, and to hide both Will and Maggie, the Armstrongs sit back, waiting for retribution. 

Oh, how I adore Will! The Armstrongs say that Will Foster has a charming tongue, and can make you believe his lies – I was indeed charmed! The lies, however, the Armstrongs are wrong on that count. The only person lying to them is Ian Rutherford, Maggie’s supposed betrothed. How I hated that vile man, desperate to get Maggie back, not because he loves her and is concerned for her wellbeing, but because he was promised something and did not get it. And the longer he has to wait, and the more he annoys Geordie, the more Maggie’s dowery seems to grow.

Will, and his family, take Maggie in as one of their own, and I absolutely loved meeting the Fosters. Graham Foster is nothing like Geordie Armstrong, for although they both are in charge of their own families, Graham takes the time to think about what is best for his family, and then works to make it happen. While there are some characters, like Will and Walt, who, as brothers, spend their time bickering as Walt continuously, and to no avail, attempts to keep Will out of trouble, there was one Foster in particular whom I greatly admired. You would think, with the amount of grown men surrounding her, that Bessie Foster would sink into the background, and yet, she does not let her husband, nor her sons, get away with anything. She is both the caring mother they all love, and the whirlwind they dare not cross. And Graham uses this to his advantage – ‘go and tell your mother what you have done’ is a punishment he seems to greatly enjoy using!

This book will certainly play with your emotions. With Will sentenced to hang, and people determined to return Maggie to her uncles, you will find yourself leaning forward as you read, and crossing your fingers. Things grow incredibly dramatic about halfway through this book, and my husband eventually gave up trying to get me to go to bed with all of his dramatic complaining of how tired he was and left me sitting on the sofa, frantically reading. He surfaced again at nearly one in the morning, to get a drink, and to drag me off the sofa and into bed. I must admit though, at that point, the tension had settled, just a little, and I was yawning almost constantly, so I didn’t put up much of a fight!

There will be a book three, as the back of this book states, but I could find no release date, no matter how hard I searched. All I know is that, at some point, I shall be able to return to the Border and join these characters once again. When that will be, I don’t know, but I will be greatly anticipating the day!

I received my copy from The Coffee Pot Book Club but you can grab your from Amazon. And get this, if you have #KindleUnlimited subscription you can read this novel for free, along with Book One!

Andrea Matthews

Andrea Matthews is the pseudonym for Inez Foster, a historian and librarian who loves to read and write and search around for her roots, genealogical speaking. She has a BA in History and an MLS in Library Science, and enjoys the research almost as much as she does writing the story. In fact, many of her ideas come to her while doing casual research or digging into her family histo-ry. She is the author of the Thunder on the Moor series set on the 16th century Anglo-Scottish Border, and the Cross of Ciaran series, where a fifteen hundred year old Celt finds himself in the twentieth century. Andrea is a member of the Romance Writers of America.

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