Audiobook Review: My Fair Highlander by Mary Wine

My Fair Highlander 
by Mary Wine
Series:  English Tudor #2
Pub. Date:  Nov. 5, 2013
Publisher:  Audible Studios
Narrator:  Ray Chase
Length:  9hrs 16min
Format:  Audiobook
Source:  Kindle Unlimited
   

My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

Jemma Ramsden is a wild thing in a noblewoman’s body-so thinks Gordon Dwyre, Laird Barras, watching her galloping on horseback through her brother’s lands. Bold, headstrong, beautiful: the perfect bride for a lusty Scots warrior. He might be able to convince her, too, if she would hear his suit. But Barras doesn’t wait to be handed what he wants. When he’s forced to rescue her from English ruffians, he makes sure she stays safe-by locking her in his castle.

Jemma is hardly an eager captive. She has no horse and no freedom, and she is an Englishwoman in a hostile Scots keep: a stranger without work or friend. Barras seems determined to charm her-even tempt forbidden desires, a daring game that leaves Jemma desperate for more. But with passion, love, and a new life within her grasp, Jemma is in more danger than even she knows…

I got this book with the audible narration from Kindle Unlimited. I was skeptical about continuing this series in audio, as I did not care for the narrator when I listened to Improper Seduction. While I liked this book better than Improper Seduction, I still did not like the narrator. The performance here was a little better because he got to do a Scottish accent, however sometimes his Scottish slipped into Slavic or Russian, and all his female voices sound the same (like a bad high-pitched male imitation). I doubt I will continue the series in audio at this point, the voices in my head are better. ;)

This story continues with characters that we met in the first book, namely Gordon (Laird Barras) and Jemma (sister to Lord Ripon). We are still in the 16th Century at the end of Henry VIII's reign, though there was not much court intrigue in this book, so you only briefly hear about the king's declining health in the beginning.

Gordon is a big gruff Scot with lots of alpha male tendencies, and I absolutely loved him. He was charming, funny, and firm in all the right places. However, this is where I take issue with the title - My Fair Highlander - where's the highlander??? Gordon is a lowlander and Jemma is English. Something similar happened with Improper Seduction as well, the cover was misleading. This is aggravating when you are looking for one thing and end up with something else. At least this was a Scottish historical romance, whereas the first book was not.

As for Jemma, she was okay, but there was nothing really remarkable about her. I liked that she did not fight against Gordon as hard as Bridget did against Curan in Improper Seduction. There is not much focus on secondary characters in this book, though Gordon's former mistress made a good villain. There was a big plot twist toward the end that I did not see coming, which is always nice. This book was not quite as steamy as the first one, but you still got a good amount of descriptive smexytime. I recommend it to readers who like steamy historicals and gruff Scots.

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English Tudor Series

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