• Charming the Shrew

  • The Legacy of MacLeod Series, Book 1
  • By: Laurin Wittig
  • Narrated by: Ralph Lister
  • Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (1,196 ratings)

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Charming the Shrew  By  cover art

Charming the Shrew

By: Laurin Wittig
Narrated by: Ralph Lister
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Publisher's summary

Returning to the Scottish Highlands after a fierce battle with the English, Tayg Munro receives a hero’s welcome - and an ultimatum. To take his place as heir to the chiefdom, he must choose a wife or have one chosen for him. Furious and stalling for time, the brooding warrior volunteers for a mission that takes him deep into the Highlands, with no hint of the fateful encounter that awaits him....

Catriona MacLeod is known as the Shrew of Assynt, thanks to her razor-sharp tongue and her unwillingness to yield to her five brothers. When she learns that her eldest brother has promised her hand in marriage to a loathsome man, she flees into the Scottish wilderness, determined to seek the king’s intervention. There she reluctantly joins forces with a handsome traveler, unable to anticipate the treacherous plot that will soon embroil them - or the passion that will ignite between them.

©2012 Laurin Wittig (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"In this exhilarating Highlands adventure Wittig knows how to merge passion, wild adventure, history, and danger into a perfect tale that takes your breath away and tugs at the heart." ( Romantic Times)

What listeners say about Charming the Shrew

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Holds interest

Romance is not the best description of this work. It is a good story in the typical Scots setting of clan conspiracy, and holds interest. If you are looking for hot sex, look elsewhere.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

good story,pity about the narrator

I love historical romances,especially set in Scottland. The story was good but was ruined by the narrator. He was not able to do any of the voices male or female. I also downloaded 'Daring the Highlander ' through which I will grit my teeth as I listen,
Please, please if there are any more books in this series get Davina Porter to narrate.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Surprising highland treat!!!

Laurie Wittig is a new author for me. I was pleasantly surprised by this great audiobook. A fantastic story, funny and charming characters and a very impressive narration by Ralph Lister.

Highly recommended!! :)

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Could have used another Narrator

The Story is written well but the Narrator leaves much to be desired when it comes to doing Scottish accents. He's very adept with the British reading. But this is a book about the Scotts and there is much that needs to be read with a Scottish accent and he failed terribly with them. Or maybe it's just me being used to Davina Potter doing a beautiful Scottish Accent.

Other than that it was a lovely read.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed this book more than I thought I would

I truly enjoyed this book even though I found the heroine exasperating at times. The book tried to depict her as a strong character and a hero who actually fell in love with her regardless of what the times demanded of an obedient woman and wife. She was never able to hold her tongue and was very opinionated and headstrong. I don’t mind opinionated and headstrong but when it is combined with thoughtfulness. I found her to be very spoiled and without much diplomacy in handling tough situations. The spoiled part of her personality is what allowed her to push every situation to the max without worries about consequences. She was then shocked when she discovered an unsuitable match was made for her and without her consent in order to remove her from her clan. She did not seem to address issues maturely and with thought which is what got her in trouble so frequently. She eventually shows flickers of maturity toward the end of the book though.

I found the hero to be self assured and confident and sweet. His character was very likable and as that of the heroine well developed. I was pleasantly surprised.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Romance in Scottland

This was a 4.95 special. It was a cute love story. It was a light, easy listen. Enjoyable.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

You can't judge a shrew by her brother

The female lead, Cat, has been tormented by her brothers all her life, to the point where she's had to develop a thick skin and sharp tongue to hold her own against the constant torture. Teague of Colrain (sp) is a highland warrior who is next in line to be the laird of his clan, and his mom is anxious to see him married. To avoid his mother's matchmaking, he decides to go on a little trip through the highlands disguised as a Bard, and perhaps seeking his own bride, as he does the kings business finding out who can be trusted to side with the king.

Cat and Teague happen upon each other under interesting circumstances.

Cat is running away from her families castle, determined to flee the man her hated brother has betrothed her to. She runs into the bard in the middle of a storm, who is also on the road, and for various reasons they end up traveling together, and falling in love.

The story was so charming that I forgot the annoying narration by Ralph Lister (who made Teage sound like he had a juicy lisp), and just went with the flow of the journey they were on. Don't let Lister put you off this listen, most of the time he sounds fine, and he doesn't over-do the female voices, as many male readers sometimes do.

All ends as it should. This was very sweet and satisfying listen.


This is my first Laurin Wittig, and I'm very impressed with her story telling abilities. It won't be my last!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

GREAT BANTER WITHIN THIS SCOTTISH ROMANCE!

I found this to be a light, but fun Scottish romp as the hero, Tayg Munro, and heroine, Catriona MacLeod become entangled with one another on an unexpected journey with different purposes to find the King of Scotland. As a future laird, Tayg temporarily takes on the role of a bard (not a very good one according to Cartoon), while Catriona is running away from her brother's grasp and a pending marriage to an unsuitable laird. This romance is not as steamy as I would have preferred, but it was fun, the banter hilarious (at times), and the reader is exposed to a budding romance between two very strong characters. Don't get me wrong when the two leads come together and finally give in to one another, it's hot and steamy, but this only happened one time. Otherwise, Catriona and Tayg shared a teasing and flirty kind of romance throughout their journey.

Catriona is known as the "Shrew of Assynt" and her sharp-tongue and short temper definitely warrants this term, but there are always reasons behind the shields people erect. I liked how Tayg was able to look beyond her defensiveness and understand the reasons. But, Tayg did something special for Catriona, he helped teach her new behaviors and reign in her temper. I liked how Catriona became aware of her jarring personality and found better strategies in dealing with people. The interaction between Catriona and Tayg was many times very funny. You could just picture Tayg rolling his eyes or really tripping out on Catriona's character. Females tended to worship him, not annoy, and verbally spar with him as Catriona did, especially at the onset. Even thought his was a decent read/listen, it definitely could have been much better. The action and adventure was great, but it needed more opportunities for the leads to enjoy the steam of their relationship.

The narrator, Ralph Lister, was good. He did a great job with the male voices and a decent job with the female voices. I bought this book on sale and it turned out to be a good experience for the price.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Shakespeare wrote it better

Any additional comments?

It was so unbelievably bad, I was left wishing I'd read the original. The point of retelling a well known story is to make it more interesting. This author failed. I found this version so boring, that I had force myself to finish the book. It was bad, a total waste of a credit.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

Fabulously written! Great story!! Funny and loving. Really enjoyed this book! Great highland romance! Suggested to historical romance lovers! Thanks!

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2 people found this helpful