The Shield and the Thistle

The Grey Tower Chronicles

By: Jillian Bondarchuk

Narrated by: Thomas Bestwick, Marlena Nuernberger

A love beyond time. An adventure beyond imagination.

To soothe her broken heart, culinary artist Meggie Washington leaves Manhattan and journeys to the mist-shrouded lowlands of Scotland. All she wants to do is escape her past and give herself some time to heal, but during an afternoon hike on the nearby MacKinnon estate, she is swept up by supernatural forces she can’t explain and is thrust into the distant past.

Awakening in 1658 Scotland, Meggie struggles to survive in a time of savage violence and unbridled passion. And when she attracts the eye of Colin MacKinnon, brother to the region’s laird, she finds herself wondering if she really wants to return to her own time after all. A powerful warrior with a warm heart, Colin takes Meggie in his arms, and she feels a fire she’s never felt before. When a blood feud with a rival clan threatens both their lives, they must ask themselves what they are willing to sacrifice in the name of love.

They are two lost souls, entwined by magic and destiny. But if one should fall, can the other survive?

Warning: Possible triggers - implied sexual assault, human trafficking, violence, mental abuse, and torture. Suitable for listeners 17 and up.

©2021 Jillian Bondarchuk (P)2022 Jillian Bondarchuk

Easy romantic read

Overall enjoyed the story. Nothing stood out as remarkable but I wasn’t looking for anything too complex or heavy (there were some serious moments with violence & mention of SA). I wanted a love story I could get into and listen to in the background and this is worked. I do like the love story, and enjoyed numerous other characters. I struggled with the female narrators style at times, but did like that were was also a male narrator and them working together.

Outlander with a Surprise Ending

I love the Outlander book series and know the details of them quite well. This book seemed to have many details almost down to wording. It was a struggle for me to keep listening to the narrators and difficult to find the right speed. She speaks quickly and as somebody doing an American accent. And he speaks really laboriously slowly and as somebody trying to do a Scottish accent. Both accents were poor in my opinion, and difficult to listen to.

The story had differences & twists that were not a part of Outlander and as the title of my review says there is a surprise ending that i enjoyed as fantastical as it was, but that is kind of the whole idea of this book, is it not. The focus during parts of the book around human trafficking and creating awareness for that in an innate way in this story was surprising as well. It was overall a good book but disheartening how much it was like Oulander, as though the author read Outlander & was inspired to write though the same story. Predictable from that perspective, down to the castle cook greeting Colin and glancing the disheveled, oddly dressed woman brought back with the same wariness and wording.

Delightful romantic adventure story!

This book was a delight! The author writes a wonderful story of love, family, hurt, pain, evil, adventure, mystery, and best of all - time travel. The writing is descriptive yet not overly drawn out or boring. I found myself completely enthralled with the story line and the characters, especially as the plot thickens and the interactions between Colin and Maggie increase and their love for one another grows exponentially. The love story between Collen and Maggie is romantic and brought tears to my eyes. The development of other characters in the book, like Mrs. Cook, Malcolm, and Nan, have me anxiously awaiting the next book in the series to see what happens next. The narration of the book was perfectly performed and only enhanced the overall listening experience. The only area of slight disappointment was the limited time spent on describing the wedding between Colin and Maggie. Overall, this was an awesome book with an amazing story and lots of interesting characters. I highly recommend this book to anyone that is looking for a romantic adventure!

Loved the Story!

The narrative team performance was awesome and the story had just that, a great story that’s believable. The author writes a story of love, loss, a bit of wickedness, a bit of mystery and a lot of great characters— I’m already missing. I can’t wait for Colin’s brother’s story of love; I’m hoping that’s the next audiobook from Jillian’s series. Great job! Bravo! Loved the story! Encore!

Great Book!

Loved It! Each Character had it's own voices. Great captivating story. Can't wait for more!

Meh

The narration is so terrible that there were many times I wanted to stop listening. I’m not one to not finish a book so I continued. The story is well written, even if it is a bit predictable. It would have been so much better with better narrators.

A cookbook?

Even though there is a male and a female narrator, I am unable to give the narrators more than two stars. Scottish & Irish accents are very poor, and the girl (eyeroll)...might have been better if it were a woman.
As far as the story goes, it took hours before there actually was any story that kept me from nodding off because it's more of a cookbook...with agonizing detail devoted to food prep, even plating, which held no interest for me. The rest of the story: girl takes accidental trip to the past, falls for the first guy she sees, moans and groans about her rights, gets kidnapped by an unbalanced laird, rescued by her big, brawny, injurerd Highland hero who kills all but one of their persuers, and the cranky castle cook with a sad backstory is so predictable and has already been written by many authors. Oh, yes, let's not forget the witch in the woods. It does have a sweet ending, but, again, it's been seen before.
I regret skipping the audio sample before buying. I will not buy more from this author.
I do not recommend this book unless you're looking for recipes!