The Reiver

by Jackie Barbosa

Duncan Maxwell, laird of Lochmorton Castle, gets the shock of his life when he discovers the reiver captured in a raid on his lands is not a boy, but a young woman. Although she flatly refuses to tell him her name or how she came to be riding with a raiding party, Duncan cannot countenance imprisoning a woman in his dungeon but neither can he release her without compensation. Unable to ransom her back to her family, he treats her as an honored - though exceptionally well-supervised - guest. He takes to calling her Reva and determines to seduce the truth of her identity from her. There’s just one problem - the reiver may steal his heart before he can reveal her secrets.

This story was originally published in the Mammoth Book of Scottish Romance.

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Historical, Short Stories, Historical Fiction, Scotland, Fiction

37 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 17, 2011

Reviews

[Tabetha Waite · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute, short read about a family feud that I found enjoyable.

[Literary Ames · Rating 2 out of 5]

Length, laziness and/or problems meeting the deadline killed this short story, originally published as part of The Mammoth Books of Scottish Romance . Quite frankly, it's an embarrassment to the author as I suspect Ms. Barbosa is capable of producing something of much higher quality.

We witness little of the requisite growth of affection between the main characters nor enough endearments to seduce readers into believing in their burgeoning but ultimately contrived relationship. Time spent together on stage is short and therefore gives the impression that any and all relationship progress is insanely rushed.

Poor structure sees us meet the characters after Duncan catches Reva/Jamie during a raid on his homestead and both feel attraction at first sight. He holds her hostage hoping to loosen her tongue with kindness so she'll spill the names of the other raiders. Jump 6 weeks into the future, they have a one night stand with I Love Yous after which the heroine escapes captivity only to be reunited with Duncan two months later, rounded off with a happy ever after.

Strangely, Duncan didn't feel lied to, used and abandoned when Reva distracts him with sex to escape. Being a virgin apparently gave her a Get Out of Jail free card. Her excuse was her heritage. As a member of the family that slaughtered his kin and injuring himself in battle, Reva/Jamie believed he'd never accept her or stop hunting her fellow raiders and family members - his mortal enemies. Understandable.

Duncan claims he'll overcome his grudge for the love of his good woman. I would've loved to have been in his head when faced with those who'd killed his father and stolen his livestock. Swallowing those insults to his honour would be painfully challenging.

Described events between the two families are actually based on real Scottish history, if not these characters or their romance. Normally, this would garner my favour not only for the story but for the author as too many fail to do a little research for their books. It's a shame The Reiver was so underdeveloped as it had the potential to be something more.

[Lourdes · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am of the school of "if you don't have anything good to say, you don't say anything at all" but I have to make an exception with this one. I got this for free and couldn't even be happy about it.
It was ridiculously short and the gaps generated by the fast forwarding between one event and the next made it positively stupid. I have read much better short stories that are also precipitated into the desired conclusion without skipping the important parts.

[ᑭᑌᑎƳᗩ [Punya Reviews...] · Rating 3 out of 5]

My review contains spoilers and they're mostly my thoughts as I went with the book...

The Reiver was really short. I mean, only about 16 pages or so. I liked the story and all, but it was so short that I’m not sure what to comment on. JB is a new-to-me author and so, reading this was sort of a prelude to try her other books, which I’ve been meaning to read for sometimes now. I can honestly say that I’m not disappointed.

The story takes place in the Scottish borders of late 1500s. Duncan, the Laird of Lochmorton, comes to confront a reiver who was caught by his men. At first, he mixed up the scrawny thing as an adolescent boy, with his dirty garb and defiant behavior. But soon, the truth is out – holy crap, it’s a girl! Now, the only thing Duncan doesn’t know is how to make his prisoner speak something about herself. She doesn’t tell him anything about her name or clan etc. Duncan decides that he doesn’t wanna execute her because he’s suddenly interested in his little prisoner, so, he makes her his guest instead.

The Next is straight two months later, Reva (as Duncan calls her) has spent the time trying to hate Duncan and his people, but only ended up being charmed and accepted by them. It’s revealed soon that the clan Johnstone (Reva’s clan) and Maxwell have had their share of extreme enmity and Duncan’s father was killed in one of those fighting a few years earlier. Reva (we still don’t know her name) is scared that she’s falling in love with the Maxwell laird and she’s unsure of what to do about it because it’s obvious that this kind of feelings won’t stand a chance the way their clans are going.

It’s not really hard to fall in love with Duncan because I found him absolutely funny in some places. I don’t know if it was just me or something but some of his dialogues and actions made me laugh. It was also plain that he was a big, loveable cuddly bear. He’s the one who gives in first actually and never punishes Reva for something she did in the end.

Well, as I said, good little short story but things, of course, felt rushed overall. I also wish there were more on Reva’s family, who, it seemed, were very uncaring of her safety and all.

3.5 stars.

PS: Reva’s real name was Jamie (yes, shortened for James after one of her ancestors) but I absolutely refuse to call her that. Manly names for the heroines are a big NO in my book. Sounds just so... plain weird!

“The Reiver” can be downloaded from smashwords. This novella is also available in The Mammoth Book of Scottish Romance.

[KyBunnies · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was offered free in the Kindle Store. Please check the price before downloading. The review is my personal opinion and not a paid review. To form your own opinion please support the author and invest in your own copy.

There are two characters in this eBook, Duncan and Reva. Duncan is Lord of Lochmorton Castle. Reva is a reiver from across the border.

Duncan capture's Reva but she will not tell him her real name. So Duncan calls her Reva then we jump 2 months into the future. Reva is eating breakfast with Duncan every morning and they are each thinking they have feeling for the other.

Do these characters act on there feeling or let them go?

While the author stated on the Amazon page that this was a short story I just did not know how short. This book can easily be read in under 30 minutes. I enjoyed this book but I did not like how it just jumped into the future with out being able to see the start of the love bloom.

The bunnies and I give this book 3 Carrots.

[Beth Yarnall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the premise of this short story. If I had any complaints they would be that the sex wasn't hot enough for me & it was over way too soon. I liked the story so much I wished it was longer. As for the heat level, I was expecting it to be hotter since it was so short but the romance was well done and the 'what-what' was well timed and appropriate for the story. I'd read another Jackie Barbosa book... a longer one next time. ;-)

[Nicua · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately I don't have anything good to say about this book although I really tried to find something. Too short and lacks in everything a book should be. Just feel like the author had some free time and decided to write something without giving any real thought of characters or plot - disappointing and painfully predictable.

[Lin #Historical lover...❤️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

If I say too much my review will be longer than the book!

Thank GOD I got this book free on Amazon or I'd be so freaking pissed off right now!!!

Nice ideas... if developed this could be a good book. The author's writing style seems good... I'd read her again...

But This wasn't a book... It was an essay plan!!!!

[Sherri Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a sweet story, but extremly short. The romance, is pretty much glossed over and the book sticks to their meeting, what leads to their separation, and then their reunion. What was there, was good, but the story needed more for me.

[Laurie Garrison · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another freebie I could finish. The same old, same old problems, head-hopping and way too short to offer any character, romance, or story development. I would have rather payed and gotten a better developed book then wasted any time with this one.

[Denise · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring and predictable and too - ugh, I don't know. It just didn't feel like I was reading a book written by an adult. Like it was an assignment in school or something. Sorry. I'm looking for... more.

[BooksBooksandmoreBooks69 · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fun little free read.
Felt a little rushed in places. So for that it only gets a 2 and not 3 stars

[Ronnae Stately · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story tells of a laird who falls in love with someone he first thought of as a thief and a man. When his men capture her, at first, Jamie Johnstone, want tell her name at all and is so nicknamed Reva in reference to being caught riving. So Duncan Maxwell takes it upon himself to try to find out her identity and one day he comes upon her staring out a castle turret. He teases her about jumping and then kisses her in the process. He offers to take her riding as long as she promises not to escape. She does her promise, of course, and they go out riding where they both, after exercising the horses in a race, announce their love to each other. But Jamie thwarts his intentions by stealing his horses and returning to her family. But decides to bring him back his horse, after several months of being gone, and is caught red handed by Duncan. He forgives her and still professes his love her which she admits she loves him too.

[Lilybelle Lau · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming and romantic story!

This is a highland version of Romeo and Juliet. The lovers are from two families known for their grudges so there were lots of obstacles in their way. Well, you should read this story yourself and hope for a happy ending .

[Traci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jamie and a maxwell

Way too short, ok so this was just a novella, I would have liked it if it were a full story, in-depth storyline and character development. However, it was an enjoyable story to read

[J.C. Cauthon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book for free during a Kindle free book promotion. I could see its potential, but this was not meant to be a piece this short. The jumps in time made it extremely hard to believe the relationship between the two main characters, and since she was captured plundering on his land, I, as the reader, would expect a lot more time to pass before a plausible relationship budded between the two, and even more time before they jumped into bed together, but since the piece was so short, the relationship between them was just too much for me to find believable.

The other issue I had a hard time dealing with is that the main character and the reiver are from two rival groups, and they have a lot of bad blood between them, but for the main character and the reiver, it’s attraction at first sight, and although her family committed the worst sin against our male lead, he is able to completely and utterly forgive her for this because he loves her. I don’t want to leave spoilers in my review, but the forgiveness for her sin was just a bit too much for me to swallow.

I think that if Barbosa had taken more time with the piece and filled in the major time gaps with meaningful scenes between the two, I would be able to give this piece a much higher rating, but as it felt like it was thrown together as quickly as possible to meet a deadline with a limited word count, I can only give this piece two out of five stars.

[Demoness Tenebrae · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short, sweet tale set in the 1500's Scotland. It is based on real events, the feud between Maxwells and Johnstones. The main characters are a product of imagination.

The heroine, Jaime Johnstone is caught in stealing the cattle and mistaken for a boy brought to the Maxwell dungeon. When Duncan Maxwell discovers this mistake he is set on making her a hostage even though he doesn't know her identity. During her "imprisonment" they start to develop feelings for each other. Since the two families are enemies she is reluctant to tell him her name even after sharing his bed. Instead, she flees. Months later he catches her again but this time not in stealing rather in returning his prized horse. And he will never let go.

The problem in this tale is that it's trying to compress a large amount of information and feelings in a few pages which is impossible if you want to have an interesting short story. It should have shown us only one period of their infatuation rather than their whole history and a few months of seduction. And for an erotic novella, there is nothing erotic about it. When they decide to sleep together it is only described in three sentences. This should have been a full length novella. Then it would really do it justice.

[LuAnn]

Not for my LDS or student followers. I've been reading some free Kindle books just to get a feel of what is hitting the top 100. Some books are well-written, and some are not. What I've noticed on several of the books in the romance category is that the authors think that they can throw in a little sex (sometimes a lot of sex) and tell us that the two characters are going to work out all of their differences, so they can just stop the story at that point Unfortunately that isn't true. There still must be character development; there still must be a story arc. Using dialect as a sense of place and tossing in a few explicit scenes isn't enough to carry the story. Several of these authors show a lot of promise as storytellers, but it's obvious they don't care about their craft. They are just hoping for a quick buck. Even those who give their books away free for a week every quarter hope to get enough people interested that they will buy more books from this same author, believing the dream they can make $1 million dollars a year from writing. If only becoming an author were that easy.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

just started reading this and got it from kobobooks.com for cheap and its one of my current fave genres -- Hot highland men and seems to be a good book so far ..
THE premise of the story seems to be that the heroine was found supposedly with a bunch of ppl intent on raiding a rival clans castle / territory etc .. and was mistaken for a teenage boy toll the laird (the hero) sees her in the dungeon and realises she isnt a boy but a slender woman

he plans to feed clothe and accomadate her hoping that she will spill her secrets .. but months pass and he doesnt even know her real name as yet (she said you can call me the reiver)

i liked this book .. but if i had one thing that annoyed me its that it was too short .. maybe it was meant to be a short story but i dunno i like them longer and have more things goin on .. but was still a good read and the ending was good ..if only a lil predictable lol

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Reiver by Jackie Barbosa
A Scottish Border Romance
Duncan Maxwell, laird of Lochmorton Castle is surprised to find the lad they captured and threw into the dungeon is not a lad at all. He puts the lass up in a warm bed and plies her with good food in hopes of finding out who she wrote with as a reiver. It seems she would prefer the noose to betraying her loved ones.

Jamie Johstone finds the Maxwell's to be more kind that she grew up thinking. She tried to hold unto her hate for them but Duncan was kind to her and all his people thought highly of him as well. But no matter….she was an enemy and didn’t have the beauty and feminine wiles to persuade him different.

An enjoyable short story to read when you don’t feel like reading a long book. Loosely based on the history of two border families that were feuding. The romance is fictional.
**Sensual situations

[Chandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short "stories". One story and a sampling of other books.

A Reiver is a cattle thief Jamie gets captured by Duncan's men. He falls in love with her. She falls in love with him but still true to her family.

At 26% of the book, Duncan kisses her. At 37% She wants to die because she has fallen in love with him. At 40% Duncan makes love to her after advising that he intends to make her his wife. At 56% after she has escaped, made love to him, stolen his horse to return home and quietly returned his horse only to find him in the stable waiting for her, he declares he waited for weeks because he could not live without her. He calls an end to the feuding between his and her family.

THE END followed by samplings of other books.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Reiver is a Scottish name for a thief and was used historically for raids between clans. The laird in the clan came to his dungeon to question The Reiver his men had caught and found a girl instead of a young boy. He couldn't get her to talk but she was very thin, obviously hungry, so he tried to treat her with kindness to get her to talk. After a couple of months, she still didn't talk and he came to desire her and admire her determination to protect her family. She also developed feelings for him but you will just have read the short story to find out what happens next...

The story was developed with a look into the characters but was too short and could have continued to a more satisfying finish.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book for free, like everyone else, and because it was free I wasn't expecting much, truth be told...but I was shocked at the pace that everything went, I was surprised at the quickness of the story, and not pleasantly so. The story seemed to go well enough, a captive in a Scottish castle, but then it begins to just go in a very weird direction where the woman falls in love with her captor out of nothing in particular he did, then he lets her go...and then finds her again. The entire story was just a blink and then done, and not very well explained. It's a quick read, and an adequate way to pass a half hour, but for me the story was just too unbelievable.

[A.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super short free kindle book. A Scottish laird goes to interrogate a thief in his dungeon only to find that he is a she. And she won’t tell him her name so he can’t return her to her family or ransom her; executing her is off the list once he found out she’s female.
It was fine. Because it is so short there are a lot of time jumps, and telling not showing - if that makes sense. There just isn’t the space to show how they fell in love. And that was what I really wanted to see. I keep wavering between 2 and 3 stars - let's call it 2.5.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

This story had a lot of potential. The beginning was good, I was starting to feel engaged with the characters and then it was like the author got bored and forced an ending. I understand that this was just a novella, but I have read several novellas that did a much better job at development and giving an ending that leaves the reader satisfied that he/she has read a whole story, this was not one of them.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet and short historical romance. Just need a romance fix? This is the book. I must admit, I would have liked it to be a bit longer, it was 50 pages on my Nook. The characters were cute, the story line interesting, with a hint of teasing mystery. I would suggest this quick read to anyone who wants a taste of a historical romance but doesn't have the time for a full length novel with all its drama.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story that could have been much more. A young woman is captured for stealing but refuses to give her name so that her family will not be punished. However, she cannot be ransomed either. She starts out as a prisoner and then a "guest" of the Laird. This was an interesting short story but was well written enough that I thought the author could have given us much more.

[Caro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great short historical. Gotta love the Scottish. I liked the characters and how this was written. This is great for a historical pick-me-up. A quick enticing, fun and a little romantic read. I would read this again and enjoyed the quick wit and sweet ending. Perfect. (Kindle freebie) Enjoy!

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was what it was, a quick and dirty read (well not so dirty). Short stories are often difficult to get right, and this felt like a longer read edited down (poorly)... Nice story though... and the author writes well... enjoyed it, but I will be careful about picking quick reads again... The author needs to know how to do it well.

[Christiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Jackie Barbosa's writing style, but I wish her stories were twice as long, it would have been interesting to learn more about the 2 feuding families and more about Jamie, how she came to be a reiver and more about Maxwell other than how he had the hots for her. There's so much potential here for a riveting romance.