Customer Reviews

Highland Barbarian

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The younger of the Murray twins, Sir Artan has been training and living in Glascreag for years. The laird Angus fears that he is dying and wishes to see his niece Cecily once more before his death, so he asks Artan to bring her to the highlands. Artan is disgusted by the prospect of entering the lowlands to retrieve the woman, but relents when Angus tells him of his grand plans. Since Angus has no children, the closest male heir is Malcolm, a spineless weasel, whom no one respects. So, he offers to make Artan his heir if he marries Cecily (Angus's nearest relative). Artan is stunned and cannot believe the opportunity given to him to have his own lands (as a second son this was unlikely), but he refuses to agree to the match until he sees the woman herself.

Artan travels to Kirkfalls, arrives during Cecily's wedding celebration (a week of festivities preceding the actual wedding)and demands that Cecily accompany him back to Glascreag to see her dying Uncle. His arrival is unexpected and unwelcome especially by Celcily's scheming relatives Sir Edmund and Lady Anabel, as well as her 'chinless' fiance Sir Fergus. Soon attempts are made on his life, which he easily rebuffs. Its apparent that they want him dead and not interfering with the wedding plans. Artan discovers that Cecily is not only a beautiful lass, but one with fire and spirit and once they kiss he decides that she is to be his mate. While he is attempting to woo Cecily, he overhears her relatives and fiance and discovers the true despicable reasons for the arrainged marriage and decides its to dangerous to allow Cecily to remain in the lowlands.

With no time to explain why they must leave, Artan uses Cecily's growing affection towards him to lure and kidnapp her. He tells her what he's overheard and she is furious and cannot decide whom to believe.

Meanwhile, Sir Fergus is in hot pursuit. He cannot allow his betrothed and her fortune to be lost.

Artan does his best to convince Cecily of the truth while trying to woo her and 'bind' her to him. Cecily must decide if she should believe all the lies (which Lady Anabel beat into her) and return to Kirkfalls and honor her betrothal or follow her heart and marry Artan (who still hasn't told her that he would benefit by becoming laird if they married) and go to Glascreag.

I really liked this book up until about 3/4 of the way through. The romance was good (some definite sexual tension here) and there was plenty of action. But then after the 'attack' ( the part where the villian is killed) the story line kind of diminishes and gets boring. I was surprised that the climax was not at the end. Howell has several possible villians in this book, but only took the opportunity to have one of them be involved in a confrontation. The others fate was just explained away in a couple of sentences. This left with the rest of the book focusing on Artan's and Cecily's relationship. While I'm all for romance (actually, the more the better!), this wasn't romantic at all. Cecily's actions change and this leaves everyone in Glascreag scratching their heads and getting more and more annoyed with her.

In a nutshell, it a good book and a must for those following the Highlander series, but not Howell's best. My favorite of hers is still Highland Warrior.

I also recommend in this genre:
Julie Garwood (The Bride, The Secret & *Ransom -one of my top ten)
Lynsay Sands (Bliss, The Key & Sweet Revenge)
Kinnley MacGregor (Master of Desire and *Born in Sin -one of my top ten)
Paula Quinn (Lord of Temptation, Lord of Desire and Lord of Seduction)

Angus MacReith is ailing and he needs an heir to take over as laird of Glascreag when he dies. Angus asks Sir Artan Murray to bring back his niece Cecily. Angus thinks Artan should marry Cecily and become laird one day. Artan is very skeptical about Angus' plans. Although the thought of being laird of the land he loves is more than tempting, Artan wants a marriage of love and passion, and Cecily is stranger to him.

Cecily Donaldson is about to marry Sir Fergus Ogilvey. Cecily loathes Fergus but her aunt Anabel and Uncle Edmund demand she marry him.

When Artan sees Cecily he is pleased by her looks and angered by the way she is treated. He also senses that her family and Fergus are up to no good. When Artan decides to take matters into his own hands, Cecily has to choose between the family who has raised her, and the man she is growing to love.

Highland Barbarian is a romantic and exciting story with fiendish villains and courageous heroes. Artan is brave, strong and handsome and Cecily is delightful; she's strong and yet vulnerable too. They are very well suited. Hannah Howell uses the Scots charming accents and the romantic setting of the highlands, along with a thrilling storyline and wonderful characters to create a lovely historical romance with Highland Barbarian.

Nannette
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Sir Artan Murray is persuaded to go south and find Cecily Donaldson, the niece of a dying friend and relative. She is about to be married to a Sir Fergus by relatives who want her fortune for themselves. Sir Artan discovers they plot against her, escapes their castle and takes Cecily back to the Highlands. Sir Fergus follows them, trying to get Cecily back. During the trip, Sir Artan and Cecily fall in love and are handfasted. Sir Fergus follows them and tries to get to Cecily. They reach the safety of Glascraeg and her uncle Angus, but Sir Fergus enlists a neighboring clan, to attack Glascraeg and get Cecily. Artan is badly injured and Cecily promises "to be a good obedient wife" if he gets to live. Artan recovers and instead of peace they get to sort out their feelings, promises, and ideas of marriage in order to have a future. Another great Hannah Howell book.

Hannah Howell has proven that there can never be enough Murrays in the Scottish Highlands. She is a master of the Highland Scottish Romance and delights fans once more with another set of twins in this first of a two part series about Murray cousins, brothers Sir Artan and Sir Lucas Murray. In this, Sir Artan's story we begin where we last ended in the Murray saga with Angus MacReith needing a strong highland laird as heir for Glascreag. He turns to one of the Murray twins he has fostered asking Artan to go and seek out his niece Cecily Donaldson whose mother married a lowlander and is living with her aunt and uncle who are now her guardians. Angus plans to have Artan marry Cecily and thus become the laird, but Artan is skeptical about marriage and even less enthusiastic about marriage to a lass sight unseen. He shows up at Dunburn with two lowlander guards in each arm as the celebration of Cecily's betrothal to Sir Fergus Ogilvey is being finalized. Like many of the Murrays Artan takes one look at the lovely Cecily with her fiery hair and temper and recognizes his mate. But at the same time he also recognizes that all is not right at this estate and soon overhears that Cecily's relatives had her family killed and is using her to make this advantageous marriage and then have her done away with as well. Artan seduces her away from Dunburn and then struggles with his feelings of not only desire and passion, but growing love, as well as guilt, as he then has to reveal the real reason why he is taking Cecily; that another marriage has been arranged for her. Artan begins wooing Cecily and on the run from Sir Fergus and her aunt and uncle, Artan and Cecily become handfasted. Only in the style of Hannah Howell can a sexy, passionate, fiery seduction on the run be so much fun. They eventually make it to Glascreag where Cecily finds out the truth and feels betrayed, not realizing that Artan truly desires her. Sir Fergus eventually comes up to the highlands and joins forces with one of the many highlanders, Laird MacIvor, that has been coveting Glascreag for years, which is the reason why Angus needs an heir like Sir Artan that is strong to defend Glascreag. In this battle Artan is wounded and captured by Sir Fergus, who also takes the opportunity to torture Artan a bit. The highlanders stick together as Laird MacIvor sides with Angus and Artan after seeing how evil Sir Fergus really is. MacIvor mortally wounds Sir Fergus, but not before Artan slips into a deep coma-like sleep to overcome his wounds. Cecily, like many of the Murrays, has healing talents, but even her talents seem hopeless. She prays that she will be a good and perfect wife if Artan awakes, and when he does, Artan begins to realize something is definitely not right as his lass with the temper and screaming passion in his bed has become subdued. Once again Artan finds himself wooing his Cecily and this historical romance has a "they lived happily ever after" ending with Cecily and Artan declaring their love and realizing they both fell in love from the moment they met. Highland Barbarian is another fun, sexy Scottish Historical Romance in a long line of highland romances that Hannah Howell fans never grow tired of reading and adding to their collections.

In 1480 Scotland dying Angus MacReith forces distant relative Artan Murray to agree to a death bed promise though the younger man does not believe the "three score" older male, who fostered him and his injured brother Lucas, is near death. He demands Artan go to the lowlands to fetch his niece Cecily Donaldson, heir to Glascreag, before he dies. Unable to say no to his mentor, Artan begins his journey, but cannot envision a female especially a lowlander as a chieftain in the Highlands. The rest of Angus' plan stinks as far as Artan is concerned; the old man wants him to marry this biddable female so he can be the laird.

However, when he arrives in the Lowlands, he finds Cecily about to marry the King's choice for her, Sir Fergus Ogilvy. Artan tells her that Sir Fergus has plans for his shrewish wife to be out of his way when he is the Laird of Glascreag; only she does not believe him until her fiancé abducts her. However, able to think on her feet, she informs her once future groom that she is handfasted to Artan, who takes her with him. Sir Fergus refuses to give up on his ambition, so he leads an attack on the couple, targeting his rival. As Cecily and Artan fall in love they debate the characteristics of a perfect wife to a laird until he is mortally wounded.

This is an exhilarating fifteenth century Scottish romance, which sub-genre fans expect no less from Hannah "Highlander" Howell. The latest tale contains three fully developed characters as the lead couple battles over the ideal perfect wife and against the deviously clever Sir Fergus. HIGHLAND BARBARIAN is another well written tale from a consistently good writer, who some consider the Queen of the Scottish historical romance.

Harriet Klausner

I am a huge fan of Ms. Howell's Murray series and couldn't wait to read HIGHLAND BARBARIAN. It didn't disappoint me in the least. I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure of Artan Murray and Cecily Donaldson. If you have enjoyed her previous books you'll want to pick this one up to.

I also recommend
REDEMPTION by Morgan Leshay
PLEASURING THE PRINCE by Patricia Grasso

If you've more than three of Hannah Howell's "Highland" series, you have read this book. It's decent enough, but the series on a whole is getting an extreme "paint-by-numbers" feel to it. The heroine and hero were her usual characters, her sex scenes had the same feel to them, and even her pacing was identical. Nothing new to the peril, nothing new at all.

I think even Howell is getting a bit bored with this type of book, because at times things are somewhat sloppily written. A few bits of dialogue are attributed to the wrong characters, and a few key bits of information are known without being told.

It's not a bad book, for all that. It just has no spark at all. If you haven't read any of Howell's Highland series before, go ahead and enjoy it. If you have, though, don't buy it - get it out of a library. It tells you nothing new except that the author needs to find a new venue for her stories.

Fans of Julie Garwood's Highland Historical Romance Books will love Hannah Howell's Highland Romance Series. Once started, its very hard to put down until finished. Great Book, Fantastic Author.

I was loking forward to Ms. Howell's latest novel and, like her other works, once I started reading I couldn't put it down. Thanks for another great read!

I enjoyed the saga of the Highlanders as they expand their experiences. The hero's and heroine's wit kept me laughing and I looked forward to their next battle of wits and words. I look forward to Hannah Howell's next book and hero & heroine.