Nora Roberts - The pride of Jared MacKade

The second book in the MacKade Brothers series, published April 26, 1996.
Genre: contemporary romance
Cover: oldfashioned



He was a man who stood for something, and never turned his back on a fight. So when Jared MacKade's work as an attorney brought him up against Savannah Morningstar, her rude behaviour and strong defenses weren't going to stop him.
Savannah was the type of woman who defeated odds brutally stacked against her. And once he got to know her, Jared was determined to be the man to stand beside her in the fight.


The four MacKade brothers: Rafe, Jared, Shane and Devin. Always looking for trouble (and often finding it), they grew up in Antietam, a village riddled with ghosts and stories of the Battle of Antietam. Jared is the second brother, and he became a lawyer. While doing a favor for a friend, he gets to meet Savannah Morningstar, a woman who wants nothing to do with him, or with the inheritance he tries to give to her. But Jared is intrigued by her, and by her young son, and since they are neighbours as he has moved back into the family home after his divorce, he just keeps visiting her.
Savannah has not had an easy life, and it is just becoming better since she has made a career for herself, decorating children's books. She has bought this home for herself and her son, the first one they ever had. Her father kicked her out when she was sixteen and pregnant, and she has been on the road ever since, surviving. She is a strong woman, and I can totally understand she is not interested in her father's money (little as it is) when he was not there for her when she needed him.

I do have to admit, I don't like Jared very much. He just barges into her life, and won't take no for an answer, and he is ashamed about her past, and eaten with jealousy at the thought that she was a stripper and perhaps more. He is an absolute ass and she should just have kicked him out for good. But well, she did toss his things in the mud in front of his brothers, and that was a great scene. But still, I don't like him all that much.

Her son Bryan is full of live, and strangely enough, has become close friends with shy Connor Dolin. They were fun to read about.

Again in this book, the ghosts of the Battle of Antietam, out in the forest this time. Jared is drawn to them, but so is Savannah, and it makes a connection between them.


I liked this story, but mainly for Savannah, who is unconventional and strong, and takes no crap from Jared at all. I guess you all know by now that I like strong heroines in my books, and not doormats. And Nora Roberts certainly knows how to write them.

8 stars.

© 2015 Reviews by Aurian