Customer Reviews

Highland Bride (Zebra Historical Romance)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In this novel, the third and final installment in Hannah Howell's second Highland Series featuring those feisty Murray daughters, get to meet the daughter of Eric and Bethia Murray from HIGHLAND PROMISE.

At nearly twenty-one, Gillyanne Murray is considered past the marrying age. Despite travelling to the king's court a few times, she is yet to attract the eye of any man. And as much as she longs to feel the happiness and excitement that she sees in her married female cousins, she has resigned herself to the fact that men just simply find her unattractive, with her faintly mismatched eyes, short stature and lack of curves.

From the age of fifteen, Connor MacEnroy has been the laird of Deilcladach after the deaths of his parents caused by a longstanding feud with other clans. Having lost everything after that tragedy twelve years before, he has rebuilt Deilcladach, raised his siblings and managed the survival of his people. When he, and the two other neighboring lairds hear that an unmarried woman now owns Ald-dabhach, they seek the king's permission to fight for control over the keep.

And so when Gillyanne decides to visit Ald-dabhach, the small keep that a doting uncle has gifted her, little does she know that she would be fighting off three neighboring lairds who have gained the king's permission to marry her and control her keep. When she refuses their proposal, they then took turns attacking her keep, but although she manages to repel their individual attacks, Gilly knows that a combined one could result to bloodshed, therefore she has no other choice but to pick one from them. And based on her initial attraction to him, she chooses Connor.

And so the fun begins. I was laughing my head off and cheering Gilly the whole time she tried to repel their attacks. And after the marriage, I liked how she embarrassed Connor in front of his clan by telling everyone how he forced her to a quick marriage and how he had ineptly bedded her. Then, when Connor makes love to her properly, the way she becomes 'the bell for each meal' because of how loud she is that the whole of Deilcladach know that Connor and her would be coming down for dinner shortly after was so hilarious! You just have to read it.

Of course, their relationship isn't without bumps for after Gillyanne has finally tasted the passion that she had often seen bring sparkle to her cousins' eyes, she is dismayed that she feels it for a man who shared so little of himself. And the fact that despite her gift for sensing other people's feelings she is unable to read
Connor's causes her problems. She knows she needs to break through the wall that Connor has built around himself. Connor, on the other hand, tries hard to suppress his feelings for her for fear that his people would think less of him if he shows too much emotion.

HIGHLAND BRIDE is a fun and easy read. With such engaging characters and witty dialogues, it is guaranteed to keep you glued from start to finish. This is the best in the series.

This was the first of Hannah Howell's books that I have read and it hooked me from the start. It is not the typical 'cookie-cutter' historical romance that so many others tend to be. The characters in this one came alive and were so much more realistic while still fulfilling the need for romance and sizzle. After reading Highland Bride, I sought out Ms. Howell's other Highland novels and have not been disappointed yet. I can't wait for her next one to be published. Do not miss any of her Highland trilogies. I re-read Bride after finishing the first trilogy and it was even better. They are all amazing and since I am personally married to a real Scot, I am picky when it comes to my Scottish romances. Don't miss this Highland Bride or any of her others. Well worth your time.

I really enjoyed this fast paced highland romance. This is the story of a "plain" lady who is determined to not only keep her dower lands in tact without anyone being hurt but she is also determined to only marry for love.

Gilly is able to defeat the 3 knights who are on her doorstep to try and take her hostage to marry her, to get her lands as they boarder their own. It is a riot how she is able to repel all 3 of the armies.

I enjoyed the writers style of writing as well as the strong woman character who is going to make her marriage work in spite of everything that is happening.

I loved this book, it was funny,witty and wonderful The way she write's you almost feel you are there. I laughed so much i cried!
I recommend getting all her series of the highland's

This book was abslutely wonderful. The chemistry between Gilly and Connor was sizzling. Hannah Howell had me laughing and crying and cheering from the beginning. This book was hard to put down. I loved it. My first book from Howell, but, definitely not my last.

I know I'm in the minority here, but I wasn't all that wild about this book. I thought it had potential, but just never came together for me. I liked Connor and thought Howell did a good job with him. Maybe what I really don't like is that Gillyanne (and all Howell's heroines) was so tiny. That was stressed over and over--how tiny she was, almost childlike. I think that sort of subconsciously icked me out. Now, romance novel heroines don't have to be Amazons, but I don't like getting a mental picture of a 12 year old. I think that is what kept happening and prevented me from liking this book very much. Come on, next time, have your heroine be at least as big as a 15 year old!!

This is one of all time fav. books. I just love Gilly, she is so funny, smart, brave and cute. I love the way she out smarted those three Lairds and when she got mad at Conner for flirting with his leman and made him see that she would not put up with that, or how evein though she loved Connor she was't going to stay with a man who would not love her back. And Connor, though he is dark and brooding and Gilly had to convince him that it is ok for him to show that he loves her he wasn't the typical male highlander macho who thinks he knows everything.
After reading this book, I looked through other Hannah books and had to buy H. Knight just because I knw it would show gilly as a younger version of herself and ws not dissapointed.
I love how this book isn't filled with a lot of complications, there are a few atempts on Gillys life but nothing drastic, an uncle who is a trader, but instead of focusing so much on all that most of it was focused on Gilly's and Conners relationship.

This book had all the makings of being really good. I liked the storyline idea but there were several things that put me off. One was the dialogue. I understand it's supposed to be authentic but it distracted me from the story...."weel, haesna, didna, etc". I found myself stumbling over these words which distracted me. Two, as others have said that gave this book 3 stars, the heroine is repeatedly described as wee, tiny, no bigger than a child, flat chested, no curves. I have a hard time picturing an attractive "woman" when this stuff is drummed into your head over and over. Three, I don't feel the hero, Conner was developed enough. I didn't get the feeling that he was this big bad highlander that didn't want to express his feelings. I didn't feel strength emanating from his character. If you want to read about "strong" highland men, read Julie Garwood. Now those are some strong Highland Warriors. Four, the first love scene is only described after the fact and it was just not what I was expecting. The other love scenes were just okay...nothing too special. I was left feeling disatisfied after reading this book. I wanted to like it, but it just didn't do it for me.

This is by far my favorite book of the series so far, I have about two or three left to read, but to date this story out shined the rest. It didn't feel that way at first, it wasn't until I got to the end of the book that I could truly appreciate what I had read. What makes this story so remarkable is Gillyanne's cunning and adaptive nature. When she aquires the land between three fueding lords, she finds herself bombarded by the three men demanding she marry one of them. Being a woman with ideas and thoughts of her own regarding marriage, she turned them down and in doing so had to face their wrath. You will find yourself pleasantly amazed by the ways she manages to keep each suitor at bay without shedding any blood before finally giving up and choosing the best of the three. The rest I leave up to you to discover on your own, but I truly reccomend this addition to Hannah Howell's brilliant series. It was my favorite, and it could become yours.

Maybe it's because I had just finished reading some really well written Highland romances by Paula Quinn, but this story just didn't measure up to those I rank 4 or 5 stars. I found the story slow paced, the dialog often too protracted (how many times did we have to hear about the clan's past battle and loss? I got it, already!), and the characters behaved inconsistently. In some instances, the behavior seemed contrived. This isn't the only one in Hannah Howell's Highland series I thought disappointing.

I was really looking forward to reading Connor and Gilly's story, having been introduced to them in one of the other stories (Fiona's, I think). And, based on that introduction, I thought Connor would be an intelligent, mature laird. It was so disappointing to learn that wasn't the case. The story begins as Gilly is being forced to wed one of three lairds who are vying for her hand. While Connor starts out having some wisdom in dealing with the other two lairds, he then becomes an inconsiderate, insensitive and inarticulate oaf for most of the book (an inconsistency I didn't enjoy). His conversion to a sensitive, loving husband at the end of the story seemed abrupt to me. I get the whole strong-man-protecting-the-clan thing, but still... While Gilly (who, except for being flat chested with brownish red hair and green/blue eyes, is never described as pretty or plain so you are left wondering), started out as a strong, intelligent, fiercely independent woman, she then allows herself to be ordered about and dragged (literally) off to a priest for a quickie wedding. Then she endures (without complaint) a consummation of the marriage that was quick and cold and, frankly, was just shy of rape. She says little to Connor about the whole episode except to note later he "wasn't very good." I would have thought that given her character and temperament, she'd be screaming and resisting such an assault, a marriage ceremony notwithstanding. But no. The whole quickie wedding seemed contrived to me. She could have negotiated a courtship period or at least some conditions before having to choose one of the three lairds, and her terms could have included a decent wedding. That would have been more consistent with her character as Howell portrays her. I don't like it when the characters behave inconsistently. And there were other things that weren't believable. Why, for example, did it take her father two weeks to reach her when he immediately left to do so? That is not explained and made no sense even given travel in those days.

So, in summary, the inconsistencies in the characters and unanswered questions bothered me. Last but not least, as noted by other reviewers, the whole "wee lass" and "wee wife" description of Gilly on every page became nauseating. It made her sound like a child. How could she be so "wee" as compared to Connor's huge size and great height when (on page 309) while they are standing facing each other, she is able to kiss "the hollow at the base of his throat"? Assuming he is over 6 feet (which the descriptions suggest), was she standing on a chair not mentioned? Ick...I hate those kind of slips. After all the books Howell has written, you'd think she could do better with those kind of details. And give up the "wee lass" stuff--we're not all short!!

For a list of truly great Scottish historical/Highlander romances, see my list. I include only those I rank 4 and 5 stars (mostly 5 stars).