Highland Blessings is the story of a highland warrior who kidnaps the daughter of his greatest enemy and clan chief to honor a promise he made to his dying father. Bryce MacPhearson, a highland warrior, kidnaps Akira MacKenzie on her wedding day to honor a promise he made to his dying father. While Akira s strength in the Lord becomes a witness to Bryce, she struggles to overcome her anger and resentment when he forces her to wed him, hoping to end a half-century-old feud between their clans. While Akira begins to forgive, and Bryce learns to trust, a series of murders leaves a trail of unanswered questions, confusion, and a legacy of hate that once again rises between their families. Clearly, a traitor is in their midst. Now the one man Akira loves no longer trusts her, and her own life is in danger. Can Bryce look beyond his pain and seek the truth? Will Akira discover the threat against her before it s too late? How will God turn a simple promise into bountiful Highland blessings?
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This romantic story is full of tender moments and the author adds suspense by examining an arranged marriage with an extremely rocky beginning. Readers will be totally hooked... This book deserves applause!" --Romantic Times Magazine
About the Author
Jennifer Hudson Taylor is an author who writes historical and contemporary Christian fiction set in the Carolinas and Europe. All of her novels include elements of faith, history, drama, suspense, and romance. Jennifer graduated from Elon University with a B.A. in Journalism. Her writing has been published in Guideposts, Heritage Quest Magazine, Everton s Genealogical Publishers, and The Military Trader. In 2007, two of her manuscripts placed in the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW) Genesis Contest. She resides with her husband and daughter in Kannapolis, NC.
Jennifer Hudson Taylor is an award winning author of historical Christian fiction and a speaker on topics of faith, writing and publishing. Her work has appeared in national publications, such as Guideposts, Heritage Quest Magazine, Romantic Times Book Reviews, and The Military Trader. She serves as the in-house Publicist and PR/Marketing Advisor of Hartline Literary Agency. Jennifer graduated from Elon University with a B.A. in Journalism. When she isn't writing, Jennifer enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, genealogy, and reading.
Her family history, and discovering more about her Scots-Irish, Welsh and English roots. Her Scottish surnames include Gregory, Galloway, and Fraser. Her husband's Scottish surnames include Henderson, Campbell, and Grant. Her Welsh surnames include: Morgan and Robbins.
She lives by these two verses: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4
When I first agreed to read Highland Blessings by Jennifer Hudson Taylor, I was a little apprehensive about the book because of the country setting and brogue issues. I am so glad I chose to read it! It was engaging the whole way through the book, and the whole storyline flowed naturally, particularly for the time era and country setting and clan rules, keeping me intrigued.
Akira had been jilted at the altar, kidnapped on her wedding day, and forced to wed another man from an opposing clan, one that had been feuding with her side of the family for a half-century.
Akira's character was humble and yet strong and steady when necessary, dealing with all the emotions of the circumstances. She relied on the Lord to help her through each situation, and there were many intense moments from beginning to end! Bryce's character was just as compelling, with his deep loyalty to promises he made and his tenderness amidst the tenacity and decisiveness needed for his clan position and enemy threats and murders.
Upon reading the book, I found some similar analogies of Akira to Esther and Joseph from the Old Testament, with testings and trials to bring out Akira and Bryce's characters. The storyline will impress you! Jennifer is one fine writer! I highly recommend her book!
This book was provided free by Mark Yeh at Abingdon Press for my honest, personal review. I consider it a privilege to recommend good novels for your reading delight.
My main problem with Highland Blessings is that is lacks depth. There is very little character development, certainly not enough to make the reader feel invested in the main characters until well into the novel. I was over halfway through the novel before enough was known about the characters for me to want to continue reading to find out what would happen in the end.
I felt as if I was reading a Reader's Digest version of the story with all the details stripped from what could have been a great novel. The story jumps from one event to another without explanation: explanation of either the situation, the characters' thoughts and feelings or why the story was jumping to the next event. For example (warning: slight spoiler): One of the main reasons that Akira trusted Bryce was because he did not force her to consummate their marriage, yet there is no discussion of when she finally decided to allow the consummation...they are kissing, they say they love each other,then at the end she is pregnant.
I also felt that the story was fairly predicable with a Romeo and Juliet storyline (without the death scene). The traitor in their midst was exactly who you were led to believe. So many hints are given, that there is no surprise when you find out who it is. There was no misdirection to make the reader think for a moment that it could have been anyone else. My only surprise was the lack of misdirection.
After making it two thirds of the way through the story, I finally was caught up enough in the story and characters to make me stay up late in order to finish the story. I just wish that there was more depth and detail in the storyline and characters; it so easily could have been a 4 or 5 star novel if a little more time would have been put into the development of the story. Jennifer Hudson Taylor has promise as an author, but needs to work on creating more depth to her characters and storyline.
Considering I got this as a free Kindle download, it was worth reading. If you are looking for substance in your reading, you may not want to purchase this novel...unless you are able to get a hold of a free copy.
The beautiful cover of this book opens to a great read I didn't want you to miss. Since this blog is called "She's Got Character" I had to talk about Highland Blessings,, as the heroine, Akira, is a feisty female character you'll love.
Here's my brief review of the book:
Highland Blessings is a surprisingly adept first novel from Jennifer Hudson Taylor. The book serves up a truly likeable heroine, a satisfying romance, and all with a lush backdrop of castles, clans, plaids and a Scottish brogue to boot. A good supporting cast brings depth to the story, and I can recommend this book for a good dose of blessings, indeed. I look forward to seeing more from this new author.
There were a couple of plot points I stumbled over a bit, but the good far outweighs the bad in this medieval Scottish tale. Click the title of this blog to learn more about the author, Jennifer Hudson Taylor, and congratulations to you, Jennifer, for a strong debut novel.
