Highland Warrior

My Rating: A+

My Review:

I honestly think that this book was just so much more than a romance. Everything that the characters experience you as the reader will experience as well. This book often had me horribly angry, frightened, amused and even more, on the brink of tears.

In the beginning the heroine is cute and charming and you love her, but as the hero points out more of her faults, you begin to see them as well and just before her big change, you almost become annoyed with her. But then everything in her life changes, and she becomes a different version of herself, someone you can relate with more.

The hero is a strong handsome (duh, it's a romance) very loyal man. You can understand the heroines issues with how he sees the world and show more why she wants him to change, but you can also see his point of view. A main component in this novel is the lines between right and wrong, and whether or not there is a grey area. This is deeply explored through their experiences and the reader can even find themselves wondering who they should side with.

And the sex scenes are hot too!!

All in all this is a wonderful book, Ms. McCarty's best yet! show less

I'm a Monica McCarty fan. In fact, her Highlander Unmasked was the FIRST romance novel I'd ever read, and it set me on a path to reading tons of other romance novels. Which is where my path crossed with this book.

Ah, if I were a less particular person, I would actually consider ripping this book apart. (I think I would have, just that I have an ebook. Deleting it wasn't violent enough ) This book is SO bad, it's not even funny. Have you ever read those books where you want to reach into the pages, pull the hair off both the hero/heroine, bang their heads together to make them see sense? Well, this one makes you want to cut their tongues off, too, so that they can never say another hateful thing. It won't impair their desire to spend show more every spare moment having sex, cos that's what they seem to do anyway.

HERO: Bossy. Arrogant. Not sexy, hon.

HEROINE: Spoilt brat. Whiny. Idiotic.

(I can't even be bothered typing their names. All you need to know is an XX-> XY, really bad match. )

Don't read this one, save yourself some valuable time that you could spend, I don't know, cleaning the toilet, maybe? show less

A fun quick read.

The background is based in fact but the characters are fiction. I found some of the dialog pulled me out of the story. I highly doubt that people in the 1600s were saying "Oh God." There was a lot of history in this, so don't read it to learn much about what was going on in Scotland at the time. This is a romance. Enemies to lovers. If you want some historical romance fluff, then you'll enjoy this one. The few sex scenes are pretty tame.

I fully intended to love this book. I had been wanting to read a "Highland hero" book, but without magic or vampires or time-travel, and the ultra-high ratings at GR and elsewhere convinced me to give this author a try.

I didn't hate the book; I hated the heroine. And I didn't much like the hero either. Both are stubborn, overly proud, and uncommunicative. I found myself skimming pages and pages of introspection, where each of them admits to themselves that they've done the wrong thing, but they take a damn long time to admit it to one another.

The plot was rather good, but the book could have been about 100 pages shorter with less of this interior monologue. Even the (very hot!) sex scenes were too long. (I can't believe I just said show more that.)

I think, however, that the problem is really my own: I prefer my historicals to be in the 18th or 19th centuries rather than in more primitive times. Scotland in 1608 is just too rough, violent, and riddled with hatred for me to enjoy. Regency London and the ton seems to be just my cup of tea. show less

I started reading this trilogy because I have read all of the books in Monica McCarty’s Highland Guard series so far and am addicted to them so I thought I would read some more of her books.
From reading Monica’s other books, I’ve learned that the Campbell’s are a big name in Scotland and probably got most of their lands and their power in the time of Robert Bruce. Because they fought alongside him, he gave them lands and power; a lot of the land he gave them were lands of other clans who chose the wrong side.

Scotland’s history is so confusing to me and I don’t know much about it except that it seems to have gone from English rule to Scottish rule back to English rule again but I’m not really sure about that. I know they show more had a lot of wars and that feuds between clans and land have been going on since before Robert the Bruce’s time.

This book was set at the beginning of the 1600’s, 300 years after Robert Bruce’s reign. It didn’t elaborate in the book but I looked it up. King James VI of Scotland had just made a decree to wipe all of clan MacGregor out of Scotland. The clan had done something to offend him so he made them outlaws. To not become an outlaw, the clan members had to change their surnames. The members who refused became outlaws and hunted by the law.

Jamie Campbell believes that Scotland needs law and order and it is his job to see that outlaws are brought to justice. His cousin, the Earl of Argyll (Lord Justice General), has put him in charge of finding Alisdair MacGregor, the outlaw chief of Clan MacGregor. He believes that Macgregor and his men may be hiding in the hills of the Lamont chief. To harbor a MacGregor is a crime punishable by death but if the MacGregor’s invoked the ancient sacred obligation of hospitality, the chief of Lamont is honor bound to give them shelter.

Under the ruse of seeking the hand of the Lamont Chief’s daughter in marriage, Jamie goes to the Lamont home where they just happen to be hosting the Highland archery games. Jaime doesn’t count on falling for the lass.

Caitrina Lamont is adored by her father and three brothers and has no intention of marrying anytime soon. She knows that is the reason her father is hosting the games and keeps parading all the eligible men who she calls peacocks in front of her. She is adept at getting rid of her male pursuers and can usually wrap anyone around her finger. Her maidservant, Mor, warns her that one day, she will find a man that won’t be so easily deterred or wrapped around her finger and that she will have to marry at some point but Caitrina is naïve and has a narrow view of life because she has always been sheltered and believes she can live with her father and brothers for many more years. She never wants to leave them.

The Lamonts and the Campbells have a longstanding hatred for each other but almost everyone hates and fears Jamie Campbell who is called the Enforcer or Argyll’s Henchman. He’s known for being ruthless and being unmovable when it comes to enforcing the law. Caitrina is attracted to him but refuses him because he is a Campbell. He leaves her but warns her that she is too sheltered and that one day, her eyes will have to open to what is going on around her.

That days comes for her when Jamie’s brother, an overly ambitious and cruel man, and his men come to arrest her father for suspicion of harboring the MacGregors. Caitrina’s life will never be the same. She believes Jamie is to blame because of her refusal to marry him and because of his warning.

At first, I didn’t like Caitrina because I thought she was spoiled and dumb because she didn’t get into the business of men and had no clue what was happening around her but then after tragedy hit, I admired Caitrina’s strength. She was so heartbroken and sad but she grew up and decided that she never wanted to live in a bubble again.

I enjoyed this book but not quite as much as I enjoyed the Highland Guard series; maybe because it was the first book of the series. I’m going to read the next book to see how it goes.

www.paranormalromanceslut.com show less

I am a fan of Monica McCarty's yummy highlanders and feisty heroines but Highland Warrior fell a little short of the mark for me. The hero and heroine in should have talked more and boinked less. What there was of the story was interesting. 2.5/5 rounded up to 3/5

Loved this story!!!!

The whole storyline is amazing. The heroine's plight is very unique. She has to endure more then one person could. That was the only pill too hard to swallow. The path her life took was not the result you could possibly have after her suffering. That was the hardest part to overcome in this story.

The plot and characters were very well laid out. A very good read. I can't wait to finish the other books in the trilogy.