Reviews for To Conquer a Highlander

The average rating for To Conquer a Highlander based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-07-12 00:00:00 Charlo Galea This was a good Highlander book, but there were a few things that made it too hard for me to enjoy. Deep breath, Okay, I canNOT believe I'm about to say this, but I think there was too much sex. Seriously. I'm the friggin Highland Hussy, this book should have been perfect for me---hunky laird, lots of steamy sexy goodness---and yet... Let me explain. Shannon McBoyd is the daughter of the McBoyd laird. He's an arrogant, bloodthirsty and cruel man. He sent Shannon off to be married to his buddy, but the McLeren laird captures her and takes her as a prize since her father sneaked onto McLeren lands and slaughtered women and children while the laird was away. Stealing her, he realizes he admires her stubborn and tenacious personality and her courage. I liked her a lot at the beginning. I liked that she didn't give in to Torin right away. But then she became a self martyr with a bitch complex. She mentions several times that her father is cruel (she was beaten by him in the first chapter), and he would never in a billion years have treated a prisoner as well as Torin has her, and yet, she still has to fight him at every turn. Okay, so back to my too much sex issue, once they start having sex, it's super obvious Torin loves Shannon. Like he tells her he cares for her obvious. At one point, this was my favorite part of the book, it was their first time together, and it's soo sweet: "Did ye mean what ye said?...That ye are here because ye choose to be?...Did ye mean it, Shannon McBoyd?" She narrowed her eyes. "I did, but I'm rethinking the matter now that ye are throwing my last name at me." "Use mine." aww, I seriously loved that line. *le sigh* And from that point on Shannon ruins it. She pulls back from him. They have tons of wonderfully written steamy sex, and yet I wanted to say "Whoa whoa whoa, here, let's take a break and Shannon, you tell Torin why you won't wear his plaid even though you won't wear your father's colors either. And while we're at it, tell him why you don't want his child, to marry him, or to make a home in his super fantastic castle that you love so much." At first the misunderstanding didn't bug me-but it wore on to the point where Shannon was called to Holyrood Palace to deal with her father's traitorous behavior, and Mcleren's cousin Lundy McLeren(who claimed he should be laird) said several times that he was going to kill Shannon, and she was still too stubborn to appreciate that Torin's best friend and neighboring laird was trying to keep her alive. Then in front of the lieutenant Regent or whatever his title was, I liked her spunk again, but she blew it when Torin was "gifted" her by the Douglass, and yet still was all huffy that she was considered property. Guess what? YOU ARE PROPERTY. It was hang with your traitor of a father or go live happily ever after with the man you love! Is this supposed to be hard? You say "Thank you for not hanging me and letting the McLeren keep me since he stole me fair and square!!!!" Then she still tells Torin she won't marry him. I swear if it had been a paperback I'd have thrown it! They do of course get married, and Shannon didn't bother me the whole time, I just wish that once,just once,instead of having so much sex, they could have actually finished the conversations they would start. I think that it was a solid 4 star book for me until Shannon started telling Torin she wouldn't marry him, and she was being treated like a whore because he flew the gown with her virgin's blood out the window. In his mind they were already married and she still would tell him it made her feel like a whore. This is where I just wanted her to say why--Just tell him more than that. Everyone who had treated her like crap at the beginning had by this point liked her, and even they told her it was a symbol of respect their laird showed her. And everyone snarled at everyone. Shannon and Torin would be snarling in tenderness, in frustration, in anger, and in the middle of sex. I got annoyed with all the snarling. And,really, how do you snarl in joy? Okay, my rant is over. final verdict, I enjoyed the book, will definitely read more by Mary Wine, especially if it has the queen in it, because I loved getting her point of view and I'd love to see her much more. I also loved the side characters. I loved Torin but I didn't feel we got enough of him. I just got annoyed by Shannon's behaviour and by the sex over conversations. Oh, and I loved this quote too: "If the man never told her he loved her again, she would not question his feelings, because they were there in every glance he sent her way."

Review # 2 was written on 2010-02-18 00:00:00 Amanda Bean 3.5/5 I always enjoy Mary Wine's stories, and while that still holds true with To Conquer a Highlander, there was something different about this book in general. There wasn't much action, even though there were attacks on different clans, the kidnapping of a bride, more attacks and even executions… with the exception of the bride-napping, there were very few details given, not much excitement. Not that I want blood and gore, mind you, but the story seemed interesting but then again... not. I was left wondering what happened, and how the characters really felt about things. The first several chapters were very good. Lots of plot, interaction and excitement, but then after that, it felt like it moved rather slowly to me, in that we spent a lot of time inside Shannon's head, hearing her thoughts on subjects ranging from her father's poor judgment in attacking the McLerens, to the way women should be'but were not'treated as equals, as well as why she was'but wished she weren't'attracted to Laird Torin McLeren, the man who had "stolen" her while she was enroute to her future husband. There were so many times when I thought to myself that this scene or that would have been much more interesting had Shannon's thoughts been actual dialog, which they easily could have been what with all the people milling about. Now, that said, I enjoyed the glimpses into everyday life we always get in Mary Wine's historicals. She does her homework, that's for sure. The detail in which kitchens and bathing room workings and uses are described, the way foods are stored and prepared, are just some of the many things I love about her novels. This was done in such a way that it wasn't boring at all, even though it was part of the time we spent in Shannon's mind, as she set about her chores and compared the McLeren's Donan Tower to her own home which was not nearly as "modern." By about the second half of the book things picked up again, mostly because Torin and Shannon were spending more time together, so there was a lot of flirting and banter and, of course, hot sex. I wish I could have connected with Shannon and enjoyed her as a heroine, but I really didn't. She was very negative about everything, even while admitting that her life as a 'prisoner' was much better than it had been at home. She had some off sense of loyalty to her father and brothers who she didn't even like, and who didn't care for her, either. Now, I really liked Torin McLeren, but didn't love him. I felt like he deserved better than Shannon, and wished he would have tossed her on the moat or something equally as wet and embarrassing. The way he kept after her, his feelings growing deeper for her, made me wonder if he had self esteem issues and felt he couldn't do any better. If Shannon had shown any redeeming qualities at all, I'd have felt much different about Torin's attraction to her and that would have completely changed my entire perception of him. I did love that he was completely devoted to his clan, and that being a good Laird was very important to him. Connor Lindsey, another clan's Laird and good friend to Torin, seems like he's got lots of emotional wounds in need of healing. We know that he's made a marriage contract, but is having second thoughts now that he's heard rumors about his future bride's… indiscretions. We've learned enough about his past to know that he'll be a great, tortured soul and so I'll definitely be reading his story, the next book in the series, Highland Hellcat but I'm really hoping we see more conversations, more interactions and less internal dialog. I don't know why, but this little snippet stood out - Gerty, Shannon's maid is speaking to Shannon when discussing the bruise Shannon had received because she questioned her father's attack on the McLerens. "Ye be a right pretty enough lass. When yer nae wearing a mark from yer father's hand, that is." She clucked her tongue once again. "With a little prayer it might be healed by the time ye meet yer groom. Best to hope for that. No man wants a wife who needles her sire." My first thought was, a husband worth having would have kicked said sire's arse for laying a hand on a woman, any woman, especially his own - but such were the times, aye? Overall, this was an enjoyable read, and the things I found lacking about it I'm chalking up to the book suffering from a case of the FITSs - First in the Series syndrome.