2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Hardly spellbinding, January 13, 2009
The heroine of this story, Zia, is the real focus of the book, although she's hardly under the Highlander's spell. The highlander in question, Artair Sinclare, we met in the previous book by this author. However in this story he seems to have somehow become emasculated and his only action appears to be to follow Zia around, making sure that she gets enough food and saying he'll protect her. His idea of protection is getting her to marry him; once she's a member of the powerful Sinclare family then the various people who are denouncing her as a witch will find they can't get anywhere with the accusations. The common theme in this sort of book, that of the hero having to come to a realisation that he is in love, is rather too hackneyed and feels too unrealistic to work well in this setting.
Zia is a rather stereotypical healer - entirely unselfconscious when healing, totally devoted to her patients, liable to do foolish and risky things in the name of healing. She also seems remarkably successful - there were no deaths of people she was treating during the course of the book which must be very unusual in that time. Perhaps more evidence that she really is a witch! The minor twist at the end with a secret that the Bishop holds wasn't particularly surprising although it did allow the story to be wrapped up well, but also didn't bode well for the Bishop's honesty and integrity in his clerical role.
With the rather unbelievable Zia, the nebulous Artair and a subplot about Artair's brother Ronan which wasn't resolved in this story, the book felt rather unremarkable. It is as if it's a transitional book between the author's stories of Cavan, the elder brother, and Ronan, the younger. Artair and Zia didn't really have anything special in the book that will help me to remember it in future. The setting in 16th century Scotland had rather more potential than was realised in the book and the fact that various characters regularly broke out into modern American English meant that this story is not one that piqued my attention or that will stay with me.
Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 2009
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Very poor historical romance., November 29, 2011
The main reason I read historical romances are for the history. This romance novel lacked any history at all. I expected to read a very good Highlander historical romance and I can't tell if I'm reading Highlander romance or The Crucible. I wish the story had more background. I didn't like the main character Zia, she doesn't sound very intelligent. She wants to put love above everything else, but it's not very practical as far as her situation is concerned. This book was very hard for me to read. I took me about 5 days when I usually can read a novel in about a day. Nothing about this book enticed me to want to finish it.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Highly Enjoyable!, June 18, 2009
The ongoing adventure of those wonderful Sinclair brothers, this book is about the life of Artair, who is by far my favorite. The first book of the series, "The Return of the Rogue", with the brother Cavan, was a highly enjoyable read as well.
What I liked about both books was the main characters were well written, the stories different and original, and the dialog believable. What more can you ask for!
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