The MacGregor Brides

Now that Daniel MacGregor’s children have found their own partners and are happily married, he sets his sights on the grandchildren they’ve give him. First up are his adult granddaughters: Laura, Gwendolyn (Gwen) and Julia. Laura is an attorney working for her parents, Diana and Caine MacGregor, at their law firm. Gwen is a brilliant surgeon doing her residency at a Boston hospital with a close relationship to her parents, Serena and Justin Blade. Lastly, there’s Julia, the daughter of the former two-term president of the United States and a renowned artist, Alan and Shelby MacGregor. <br /><br />The stories for each are separate and distinct so it was like reading three novellas in one wonderful package. The cousins live together in a beautiful Boston brownstone and one by one, they unknowingly fall prey to their grandfather’s machinations. He actually did a great job as the men they eventually meet and marry are interesting in their own rights. Cameron Joyce is a security specialist who has a strong sense of self, very much needed to break through Laura’s resistance and stand up to her father. Branson Maguire is a successful writer of a detective series who was relentless in convincing an independent Gwen that there was room for a relationship alongside her career. Cameron Murdoch is a building contractor with a keen eye to the artistry of his craft that matches really well with Julia’s whose livelihood is in buying houses and redesigning them for later sale. They have to work together on what ends up being the one that she keeps for herself. <br /><br />I really enjoyed these stories and this book as they were nicely woven together and flowed well. Each romance was compelling and Daniel’s interference added some fun to all of them, especially when his meddling was discovered. I wasn’t sure if I’d be interested in this next generation of MacGregors and the answer is a resounding yes. This was a fun reading experience and I’m ready for the grandsons.<br /><br /><i>Posted on</i> <a href="https://wp.me/p49DcV-2om" rel="nofollow noopener">Blue Mood Café</a>

I liked the story about the three grand-daughters. If I had to rank them then Julia would be my least favourite.

A lovely anthological addition to the MacGregor series.<br />The book is about how Daniel, the 90 year old patriarch grandfather interferes in his granddaughters' lives to get them married. Contains stories of three couples.<br /><b> Laura and Royce </b><br />This was the insta love between the lawyer Laura and the security expert Royce. <br />Safe<br /><b> Gwen and Branson </b><br />Really sweet OTT love story between the doctor and the crime writer. The had the most crazy in love gestures.<br />Safe + v card<br /><b> Julia and Cullum </b><br />Most passionate of the three stories was this heavy lust between arch enemies and contractors, which then turns to love <br />Safe with exceptions <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="e41f7070-63aa-4727-b503-a348c79ebefa" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="e41f7070-63aa-4727-b503-a348c79ebefa"> they have known each other for two years and dated other people. When they get together, it's safe </label><br />Overall a really good book.<br />Safe as an average<br />4/5

Loved Daniel's plotting ... The Macgregor girls were better than the male cousins and I enjoyed all the stories ... but Julia was my favorite ...

Oh, Daniel, you old pirate... When will you learn? I can't decide whether to be angry for your meddlings, or delighted for bringing together such awesome couples. And your damn speeches about family speak straight to my heart!<br><br>The MacGregor Brides is a book with a very matching cover. A bow, like it's a special present to us readers, because, technically, that's what it is. Three stories in one book is more than I could ask for. Daniel MacGregor, the old meddling goat we all know and love, is out now to get his grandchildren. Never mind the fact his "poor wife", Anna, now has the grandchildren she supposedly craved for. Noooo, said grandchildren have grown up, and they must do their duty to the family, bring more heirs forth and give her great-grandchildren to dote on - and let's not forget that the spouses <b>must</b> come from a family with good blod and strong stock! OK, we all know this is actually THE MacGregor's wish, and not Anna's, but we still enjoy seeing his many and complicated schemes. At this point, the only one who wasn't played and made the choice on his own was Alan from the second generation!<br><br>Seeing as Daniel is over ninety years old, he's speeding things up, so, in less than two years, he has decided to see three of his granddaughters married and round with little MacGregors. And he'll get to it successfully, see if he doesn't.<br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1380410897ra/806315.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br><i>"You think this is a snap for me? I never planned on this. I never wanted this. Get that clear, Slim. I never wanted this. To not be able to go one lousy day without you inside my head. To start reaching for you at night when you're not even there. To need to hear your voice, just hear it. To be in love with you." - Royce Cameron</i><br><br>First up, is Caine's little girl. Laura MacGregor is the spitting image of her mother, Diana, and follows the same profession as her parents. Relaxed like her father, and hating to be directed like her mother, she has the strangest of meetings with Royce Cameron, when the latter stumbles upon her in her underwear. Royce is there to make sure "poor old" Mrs. MacGregor sleeps peacefully at night by installing a security system in the house Laura and her cousins share. Marriage didn't work out for him the first time around, and he considers Slim, the fun-loving lawyer with the body of an angel and the musical ear of a drunken cat in heat, a nice bonus to his work, one with no boundaries, and no commitment complications. How could either of them imagine Laura's granfather was behind all this?<br><br>Laura was fun to read about. Out of the three, she was the most "chillax" girl, and she certainly never considered the possibility she was being set up by the old man. Even while she's a real pro in her job like her mother - and her looks were the same, too - , it was actually like having to deal with a female Caine! The cheekiness, the whole "pranskster in the works" attitude, it spoke Caine MacGregor in volumes! Royce was brash and had the whole bad ass air around him, but I guess it was just something that stuck with him from his days at the force. It was funny to see him getting so worked up over how to propose to her, and making a list of the the reasons why she should acccept it, only for his plans to be thrown out of the window when she accepted just like that.<br><br>What really made me laugh in Laura's story was Ian and Caine, though. They were by no means subtle, and their overprotective act would have been frustrating if I wasn't laughing my ass off at their antics. And don't get me started on Caine still beeing mothered by his own wife. When will this man grow up, seriously?<br><br>Also, loved the MacGregor family Christmas! Damn, it was like my own family's, only there was a castle, and a lot more room to be crazy and happy about it!<br><br><i>"I didn't plan this, I didn't want this. It wasn't the deal. But I'm in love with you." - Laura MacGregor</i><br><br><i>"I'm out of my depth with you, Branson. I feel out of control. I don't know how to function that way, and I need to decide what that means for me. I need to decide what to do about the fact that I'm in love with you." - Gwendolyn Blade</i><br><br>Next up, Gwendolyn Blade, oh, sorry, <b>Doctor</b> Gwendolyn Blade. I'm gonna be straight about Serena's eldest daughter; I didn't like her. Not one bit. It was like having a second Anna MacGregor, and really, no matter how great a grandmother she is, the MacGregor great matriarch honestly pissed me off when I read her story with Daniel. <br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1380222758ra/474073.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>Gwen is a doctor, following in her grandma's footsteps - literally, you'll see later what I mean! - and, after Laura's falling in line with The MacGregor's wishes, she is absolutely determined to not get in the same position. So, when Branson Maguire, a mystery writer, tells her he was sent to her for help and research material by her grandfather, she's set on keeping her heart and brains intact. Branson, on his part, just thought Mr. MacGregor was only bragging for his granddaughter when he was listing off her assets. So why is it so hard for her to stay away, and him to let her go?<br><br>At first, I liked Gwen's attitude. The way she told Branson right from the moment she met him she wasn't interested, because he mentioned her grandpa, was commendable. Certainly, she was no fool at that moment. No, the stupidity came afterwards. Is it the damn doctor career that simply fries a MacGregor woman's brains and makes them real bitches, I wonder? You don't like him? Well, then, you freaking idiot, stop playing around with him when he has told you, plain and simple, he loves you! God, the nerve of some women!<br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1380410897ra/806316.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>Now Bran... Well, he wasn't my favorite of the three of The MacGregor's "chosen ones", but I simply <b>have</b> to give brownie points to the guy! I swear, if I was into romantic guys, he would be my "it". First off, the man is Irish - what's not to love in an Irish man?! Second, his professional rants. Oh, I loved those, he could go off in the snap of a finger, just like that! The way he called her by her full first name made it all the more romantic, and God help me was he talkative during the love making scenes - I seriously cannot consider a single one of the rated scenes in Gwen's story what we know as sex, way too sweet and romantic. Honestly, if there is one thing I'd like my man to to be during intercourse - apart from useful with his hands - is talkative. Puts the whole thing in an entirely different level. His comebacks when Gwen was being bitchy and snappy were adorable - the man sinply lived to act like her comic relief - , and it was funny as hell to see one man - even one! - be grateful for Daniel's meddling nature. And the gifts, oh, the gifts, there are not enough words to describe how awestruck I was at his gesture. All in all, Branson used the old tricks, only he did so in his own unique way, and he was so romantic and creative, it makes you wonder why he was the one chasing her, and not the other way around. The only fault I find in him, is his princely nature - tends to bore me after a while...<br><br><i>"I love you, Gwendolyn. However it came to be doesn't change the result. You're what I've waited for without ever knowing I was waiting." - Branson Maguire</i><br><br><i>"I love you, and I'm not staying here and being unhappy." - Julia MacGregor</i><br><br>Julia's story! My favorite of the three, I admit, and maybe it was because of my obsession with love-hate relationships...<br><br>Julia MacGregor is Alan's little girl, and, just like her mother, Shelby, she is not one to settle down because someone tells her to. I still don't really get what she does for a living, I admit, but, whatever it was, she has less than half a year to build her new house, and Michael Maguire is her key to that. Too bad the old man falls sick and Cullum, his son - who gets along with her as well as a cat does with a dog - , has to do the job instead. Or is it?<br><br>Julia and Cullum were my favorite couple of the three. Julia is just like The MacGregor himself, never liking it when someone disagrees with her, and still in need of an opposite opinion, even if she herself doesn't know it yet. Unlike Shelby and Alan, who are both good with debates and civilized arguments, Julia certainly enjoys being only in the right. Everyone around her is wrong, they just don't know it yet. An Alpha female to the core, it was only inevitable she and Cullum would butt heads - and ony natural for her grandpa to go through great lengths to ensure she <b>does</b> get caught in his matchmaking trap.<br><br>Cullum is my new favorite man from the series. While Grant was my man in the second generation, the third generation has to offer an equally grumpy, snappy and sacastic son of a bitch, and who am I to deny the goodies that come out of such mouths? Personally, me likey~<br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1380410897ra/806317.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>That first kiss they shared was the epitome of awesomeness - sorry Grant, I feel like I'm betraying you right now, but it's the damn truth! - and boy, were the sexual encounters hot! How the hell did they manage to make even the slow ones seem like sin covered with melted chocolate and wrapped with edible ribbons?! (don't even ask!)<br><br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1380410897ra/806318.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>The only thing that got me pissed off was the fact they acted like teenagers, trying to make the other say the three magic words first, which nearly drove them apart - thank God Cullum is one sexy piece of cave man ass! This isn't high school, people, suck it up and just say it! <br><br>One more thing; having Shelby act the way Alan should be when it came to his little girl was hilarious. Usually it's the father that overdoes it with the boyfriend's background. Alan was right, she sounded more like Daniel than Daniel himself. Well, we all knew that, anyway, otherwise no Campbell would take The MacGregor's first born as a husband, hahaha!<br><br><i>"I love you, and you're not going anywhere without me." - Cullum Murdoch</i><br><br>So now that I'm done with the first three, I think Daniel's in a roll, and the old man has his sights on Mac - boy, will that be interesting to read or what...

These stories were so adorable! I just LOVE the patriarch of the MacGregors, Daniel MacGregors. "Good blood. Strong Stock." He has been such a strong, devilish character from the very first book. He makes the entire series. ;)

This wasn't the best book, but it wasn't all that bad. I went into this book kind of expecting what I was getting (thanks to other readers' reviews) and so I wasn't disappointed when the 3 short stories all turned out extremely similarly. I was kind of annoyed that the realizations of the couples all occured at Christmastime, it was just to predicatble by the time I got to the third story (which, by the way, was my favorite of the three). Too bad real life isn't as easy as romance novels make them out to be. Boy meets girl, boy dates girl, boy and girl start doubting their feelings and motivations, boy and girl come to senses, and boy proposes to girl and they live happily ever after. Life would be so much more romantic if it happened like that! But I guess I have to find that retreat in a book! <br /><br />You'll enjoy this if you understand what you're getting into!

This may have been the first romance I read cover to cover. And I think it holds up pretty well, though Laura being past the bar at 24 did make me raise my eyebrows in a way that I don't think it did as a teenager. (It's possible! Not necessarily probable.) I think Julia's story is my favorite, but I don't think there's a particularly weak one in the bunch. I just wish they were longer!

2.5

These stories were too RUSHED individually. I would have preferred maybe that they all have taken place at the same time and intertwined with each other. Maybe starting and ending at different points in the book. NOT a favorite in this series.