When Evelyn Godewin
departs from her native England, she’s looking for a new beginning. Yet fate
has other plans in store for her when she’s left stranded alone in an
unforgiving highland forest, hunted by wolves as winter sets in. Determined to
make the best of her surroundings, Evelyn seeks shelter in an abandoned cottage
in the woods. But when Conall MacKerrick, a highland chief, bursts into the
cottage and accuses her of trespassing, Evelyn tells him a lie she knows she
will regret one day. Much to her surprise, she finds herself falling in love
with the highlander…
Conall MacKerrick
believes his clan is cursed, and when he meets Evelyn he thinks he had found
the key to lifting that curse. He must marry her – or at the least, get her
with child. Seducing the striking beauty is the only way to save his people and
his pride. Even as he begins to trust that she will heal not only is people’s
troubles, but his own heart, he discovers the secret that could destroy their
newfound love…
The Highlander by Heather
Grothaus is a story about Eve running away from England where she made some
poor decisions and had to escape from them. For a first 50 page review, the
book sets up a premise that lures you in and makes you want to know what
happens next. In the beginning Eve travels to the Scottish Highlands where her
guide dies; she’s attacked by wolves, falls into a cottage, and survives. Then
Conall shows up. He accuses her of trespassing and lying and when he goes to
throw her out she lies to save her own skin. The middle of the story is about
them learning to live with each other, falling in love and dealing with
attitude problems. The end of the story is about the two coming face to face
with their lies.
The whole story more or less
revolves around a curse. Famine and
illness are my gifts to you, you MacKerrick beasts, who have ripped my very
heart from my bosom and fed it to the crows. So let those wings harbingers be
aught that fills your bellies and let it be only their song that fills your
ears until my return. For I will return. Only heartache and toil shall you reap
until a Buchannon bairn is born to rule the MacKerrick clan. And when you are
on bended knee, I will have my revenge (pp. 17-18). This curse was thought
to originate from the brother of one clan “betraying” his clan by falling in
love with the sister of the rival’s clan chief’s sister. In the end you learn
that the woman had had her child taken from her and her love killed.
Most of the book had only two human
characters involved, Eve and Conall. However some of the best movements of the
story happen with the non-human companions. Eve somehow adopts animals. She
ends up with Alinor the wolf, Bonnie the sheep, Whiskers the mouse, Sebastian
the crow, and Robert the rabbit. Alinor and Bonnie are the most entertaining
followed by Sebastian. Whiskers and Robert really don’t play a part in the
story other than just being there.
Since it is a romance novel I
should touch on the sex scenes. There is only two. The first one is a romantic
coupling where Eve loses her virginity. It’s not very erotic but it suffices.
The last one is also not very erotic. It’s after everything is back to being
happy. The author references that they had sex ‘seven times’. So in total they
had sex 8 times but we only get to read about two.
Overall the story is good, the
characters are good, and it’s a good novel to pass the time. However there
didn’t seem to be anything to make it stand out from the many romance novels
that are out there. It wasn’t until the epilogue that there was a reference of
other stories and possibly other books so I was glad that the book stood on its
own and didn’t rely on the other books for any information. I give the book 3
stars.
Publisher: Kensington Publisher Corp.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4201-0242-0
Cover Price: $5.99 US
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