The Highland Guard Book 1
The book starts with a a detailed forward, establishing backstory. It’s set in 1305, a time of glorious Scottish highlander heroes, fighting for their freedom from the tyrannical English, and Robert the Bruce wants to establish a fighting force unlike any seen before: think SAS or Navy SEALs.
Then, the first chapter opens with a quote from Shakespeare’s, Henry V. So, at the beginning of a story about heroic Scots resisting their vile English overlords, we have a very English playwright (who wrote three centuries after the book is set) and lines from one of the most famous English warrior kings who liked to conquer foreign lands.
Hmmm … I know it’s fiction but still, it set my teeth on edge and really made me concerned that I wouldn’t enjoy the book. There was foreboding disappointment before it even started.
The story is told through a lot of internal monologue and Tor Macleod and Christina Fraser, who wore forced to marry on The Bruce’s orders, are not together very much. He goes off for days to train this elite force, for the Bruce, then when he’s back the only time they spend together is in bed. They only share the occasional short conversation over a meal and Tor never stays to sleep with her.
Christina sums up her situation nicely:
“He was still essentially a stranger to her, and she was desperate to get to know him better. But no matter how hot the passion flared between them, when it was over he returned to his men in the Great Hall.”
When they are together, though, it is hot and steamy. Their physical connection is very strong and their passion in the bedroom is at odds with their relationship out of it. But that all just adds to the tension and keeps the reader turning the pages.
I made the mistake of reading a review before I started. In it, the reviewer complained about the childish notions and behaviour of Christina again and again. While she was a little naive in her romantic notions, I didn’t think she was that bad. She wasn’t sulking like a spoiled teenager who didn’t get her way, or anything like suggested. I felt Christina genuinely believed Tor did not care for her and she acted to try to make something of her life, rather than live in misery. Lord, he was so harsh even the most self assured would have curled into a ball in an attempt at defence.
Obviously, Tor comes to regret his actions and has to plead for forgiveness once he realises he was lashing out at Christina to protect his own feelings and fear of losing her.
I liked the plot, even if they were apart quite a bit while he did exciting and dangerous training, and she … cleaned house. It felt well researched, with lots of detail about real events of the time that were linked in seamlessly. I also liked the idea of the highland guard, the elite fighting force; a band of men that would engage in guerrilla tactics to drive out the English. It’s a very good set up for the series and the camaraderie that is developed in this book will no doubt carry through to the next.
I feel the author got the balance of romance and external plot just right. It made the character’s three dimensional and we could really follow their development and growth. My only niggling qualms were to do with the amount of inner monologue. It’s not my favourite method of story telling, but it was not so bad that I could not continue to read and enjoy the book.
Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Feels: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
