Wednesday, August 24, 2011

MY FIERCE HIGHLANDER by Vonda Sinclair: Review

Blurb:

Gwyneth Carswell, an English lady banished by her father to the harsh Scottish Highlands, wants nothing more than to take her young son away from the violence of two fighting clans--her own distant kin, the MacIrwins, and their enemies, the MacGraths. She risks everything to rescue the fierce MacGrath warrior from the battlefield where he’s left for dead by her clan. She only knows she is inexplicably drawn to him and he wants peace as she does. When her clan learns of her betrayal, they seek vengeance. Dare she trust the enemy more than her own family?

Laird Alasdair MacGrath is driven to end two-hundred years of feuding with the MacIrwins. But by taking in and protecting Lady Gwyneth and her son, he provokes more attacks from his mortal enemy. As the danger and conflict surrounding them escalate, Alasdair and Gwyneth discover an explosive passion neither of them expected. With the arrival of a powerful man from her past, a horrible decision confronts her--give up her son or the man she loves.



My Review:


I love reading books that are set in Scotland or Ireland, so My Fierce Highlander by Vonda Sinclair immediately appealed to me, obviously because of its title! When an author takes the beautiful terrain of Scotland, adds a love story, and historical elements I’m happy. My Fierce Highlander started off a little slow for me, and for the first couple of chapters I struggled a little bit to get into the book. However, I liked her descriptions of the terrain of Scotland’s Highlands, and the characters were believable enough for me to become involved in their story, and once I was involved in the plot the book was hard to put down.

To me Gwyneth was definitely a more believable character to me than the main male character, Alasdair. She was a woman in the 1600’s who was sensual, but yet sought to hide the sensual side of herself, and felt guilty due to it, because it was not acceptable for her to express herself sexually. It’s changed quite a bit since then obviously, but as recently as 60 or so years ago it was still not really considered acceptable for woman. The only reason Alasdair is not as believable for me, is because he seems almost too perfect. His wife had died two years previously and he had yet to remarry or to even enjoy sex. Gwyneth helps to bring him “back to life” in a way. He is the Chieftain of his clan, and I guess I just found it a little unbelievable that he had not remarried in order to have heirs to follow him. In the 1600’s it seems like that was one of the main goals of men who were noble or wealthy, and it did not matter whether love came into the equation. Alasdair does gain the reader’s sympathy though, because he comes across as such a romantic hero, willing to risk his life for Gwyneth and her son. Gwyneth definitely comes across as the one with faults, and Alasdair occasionally comes across as clingy or needy when expressing his desire to wed Gwyneth. Overall I enjoyed reading the book, and it was a quick, fun read. I definitely recommend it to those that are fans of Historical Romance 
Novels, because I doubt you will be disappointed.

I feel good about giving this novel 4 out of 5 stars.


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