Review of Claiming the Highlander, an historical romance set in medieval Scotland by Kinley MacGregor
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Synopsis
Maggie masterminds a rebellion amongst the women in an attempt to bring a feud between two clans to an end (a la Lysistrata). Braden McAllister, shameless womaniser and brother of the Laird, arrives home after checking his southern lands and finds himself in the middle of a standoff between the women and the men.
Ever the peacemaker, Braden attempts to negotiate with Maggie before the men attack their women. Maggie decides she’s going to talk to the Laird of the other clan and try to get peace. Believing that this plan of hers will never work, Braden insists on accompanying Maggie along with his English older brother, Sin.
While they travel, Maggie struggles with the feelings she has had for Braden since childhood. Braden finds himself unexpectedly attracted to Maggie and is torn between this and his disinclination to hurt her.
Review
Overall, this was a good book. It was a light, quick read; very entertaining. The dialogue is humorous and flows naturally. The major characters are realistic and likeable, and the two main characters develop nicely. None of the scenes seemed overly drawn-out or skipped-over.
The opening scene shows Braden having fun with three women. This and other early scenes show him as shallow and intent purely on pleasure – just a pretty face. I really liked how Maggie could see that there is more to Braden. She sees how caring he is, his dreams, and how much deeper his personality is. While his brother, especially Sin, seem to see this too, none of the other women do; I think it might be one of the reasons that Braden had to fall in love with Maggie.
It was nice to see the glimpses of Braden and Maggie’s childhood friendship. This was revealed in several well-placed flashback scenes throughout the book. These scenes helped me to understand the two characters and, more importantly, their relationship to each other.
I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Sin. He obviously had a very bad start to life. These experiences have made him hard, distrustful, and full of hate. From what we see of him in this book, he has used this to become a rich and powerful man (which is good but I still felt sorry for him). Apparently there is a separate book about Sin; I would like to read it one day.
I didn’t like how easily the feud between the clans was resolved. The men of both clans had been at each others throats for years. Sure, making Robby MacDouglas realise how much he cared for his wife was a good plan, and ending the feud after Sin saved her life was plausible, but it just seemed too easy and over too quickly.
Conclusion
Have you read this Claiming the Highlander? What did you think? Do you agree with what I’ve said about it? Let me know in the comments.
