Bambi Unbridled: Review: Highlander Redeemed by Laurin Wittig

Friday, May 29, 2015

Review: Highlander Redeemed by Laurin Wittig

Highlander Redeemed
by Laurin Wittig
Series: Guardians of the Targe #3
Pub. Date: May 12, 2015
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Pages: 272
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley

My Rating:

Sultry Scale:

Scotia MacAlpin may be only eighteen years old, but she’s no stranger to trouble. Her latest incident—which resulted in a death and forced her clan into battle—has made her an outcast among her exiled people. Scotia is tired of being ignored and overshadowed by her sister, a gifted Guardian of the Targe, and she’s become hell-bent on destroying the army out to capture the ancient Highland relic for their English king.

Duncan of Dunlairig has looked out for Scotia since she started to walk. She was as restless and reckless then as she is now—only the stakes have become higher and more perilous. While the rest of Clan MacAlpin ostracizes her, Duncan secretly helps Scotia become the warrior she yearns to be. But the real test of her skills may come when he needs her help—and her long-forgotten heart—in this thrilling and romantic Guardians of the Targe tale.

I kept putting off the reading of this book because I hated Scotia in the first two books. She was willful, stubborn, self-centered, reckless - you name a bad characteristic for a female heroine and she was it. So because I have encountered quite a few annoying heroines lately, I was not looking forward to another one. So I am quite surprised that I ended up rating this book the highest of the series. (Part of the reason could be that I listened to the first two books in audio and I just did not care for the narrator.)

So this installment of the Targe series focuses on the youngest sister, Scotia MacAlpin, and Duncan of Dunlairig. In the previous books, Scotia was either trysting or getting into major trouble to the point of costing a clansmen his life. I can't say that she was improved any in this book - she still refuses to accept responsibility for her actions. All she can think about is vengeance and fighting the English. I did feel bad for Scotia sometimes when her own clan shunned her, but I can't say she didn't deserve it. Duncan has always had the patience of a saint when it came to Scotia, but he has finally had it with her. However Duncan soon finds himself assigned to follow Scotia everywhere to make sure she stays out of trouble. I love the way that Duncan decides to distract her, and their training sessions together were nicely detailed and well-written.

The plot really comes to a head in this book, so we have more supernatural activity, more strategy and more fighting. I enjoyed all the action and plotting, which helped take the focus off Scotia's spoiled behavior. This was a nice culmination of the series, and I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I had read all the books instead of going the audio route.