Neil’s Bride

This review is for the audiobook of Lyon’s Bride, by Cathy Maxwell. It is the first in a trilogy about a family cursed by a Scottish witch. The Chattan’s are cursed to die if they fall in love with their wives, so Neil Chattan, known as Lord Lyon (but I don’t know why, it doesn’t seem to have been what his father was known as, so i don’t know if it’s his title?) hires a matchmaker to find him a bride he could never love, as the thing he wants most in life is children of his own. Unknowingly, he’s hired an old friend, widowed after a poor choice in marriage. They rekindle the friendship and it leads to more, and they marry. After some time she becomes pregnant and Neil starts to feel ill. In an effort to save his live, Thea runs away, but of course it doesn’t work and he goes after her.

The secondary characters are almost more engaging than the main characters. The women Thea chooses for Neil to marry are all horrible in different ways, her friend is sly and caring, her sons wear their hearts on their sleeves, his sister is strong and willing to fight for her family. Thea starts out mad at Neil, then attracted but determined to find him a wife, then when he proposes turns him down and then later the same night changes her mind, which didn’t feel natural.

The book doesn’t end with the lifting of the curse. I assume that is so his brother and sister’s stories can be told.