Review: Sins of the Highlander by Connie Mason with Mia Marlowe

Sins of the Highlander
~Connie Mason with Mia Marlowe


Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages 
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca 
Publish Date: January 1, 2012 
ISBN-10: 1402261829 
ISBN-13: 978-1402261824

From Goodreads:
“Mad Rob” MacLaren thought stealing his enemy’s bride-to-be was the perfect revenge. But he never reckoned that this beautiful, innocent lass would waken the part of him he thought dead and buried with his wife. Against all reason, Rob longs to introduce the luscious Elspeth Stewart to the pleasures of the flesh, to make her his and only his forever. 


Even with her gift of the Sight, never had Elspeth Stewart imagined her wedding would be interrupted by a darkhaired stranger charging in on a black stallion, scooping her into his arms, and carrying her off across the wild Scottish highlands. With two clans against them burning for battle, they must find a way to join together–body, breath, and soul. Or both will be made to pay for the Sins of the Highlander.

Elspeth Stewart is getting married.  Her groom is the leader of a neighboring clan and her father has arranged the marriage to benefit both clans.  While they're standing at the altar, in rides "Mad Rob" MacLaren, stealing her from the altar and riding off with her!!!

MacLaren doesn't care about Elspeth, he's avenging his dead wife.   Elspeth's betrothed, Lachlan Drummond, is responsible for MacLauren's wife's tragic death.  His plan is to steal and keep her, thereby having some measure of revenge and embarassing Drummond in the process.  What he doesn't count on are the feelings he gets when he's around Elspeth, feelings he hasn't had since his wife died...

My thoughts:
I've been in the mood for Highlander Romances lately, and Sins of the Highlander was a captivating read.  (<-- no pun intended, lol)

I liked Elspeth - although she was an innocent maiden, she had a head on her shoulders and was a quick thinker.  She was constantly planning how to save herself or her loved ones in a manner that was well-thought out and reasonable, not full of fluff like some historical heroines.  Was she always right?  Well, no, but it's the planning, not the execution, that counts, right? Er...moving on...

MacLaren was not as swoon-worthy as I would have liked.  For one, he's supposed to be a clan leader, which I would think would require a keen eye for detail, yet he didn't notice Elspeth dropping her scraps of clothes for her father/fiance to find or notice a rope strung across the river to stop their voyage.  But, he did grow on me, and his inner turmoil regarding his feelings for Elspeth vs. his feelings for his deceased wife made me sympathetic towards their reaching an HEA.

I should also mention Sins of the Highlander contains some hot sexual tension and an interesting plot twist near the end that had me hurrying ahead to see how the book would end!


My Rating: 
Book provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.