Review: First Time with a Highlander by Gwyn Cready

First Time with a Highlander
by Gwyn Cready
Series:  Sirens of the Scottish Borderlands #2
Pub. Date:  Oct. 6, 2015
Publisher:  Sourcebooks Casablanca
Pages:  384
Format:  eARC
Source:  NetGalley


My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

Second in a new Scottish time travel romance series perfect for readers of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander...

Serabeth’s no-good fiancé is dead, and she needs a husband fast, or she’ll be ruined. Her indignant and handsome captive will do just fine, if she can keep her mind focused on the business at hand...

Gerard is a love-'em-and-leave-'em ad exec who opens the door to a wild party in 21st century New York and wakes up in 18th century Edinburgh with a hangover and a beautiful, disinterested new “wife” who says he has “served his purpose.”

What the kilt? 

I really wanted to like this series.  The covers are beautiful and I love time travel romance.  Unfortunately I just could not connect with this story. I couldn't get interested in any of the characters, and I sometimtss felt like the dialogue jumped around and lost me.

Let's start with the hero,  Gerard Innes, who is an advertising exec in modern-day New York.  Gerard is also a manwhore with a fondness for whiskey. After drinking a 300 year old bottle of Kerr whiskey, Gerard is whisked (pun intended) from his bed (occupied by a drunk blonde) to land 300 years in the past in the bed of a fiery redhead named Serafina. Like Duncan from the first book, Gerard accepts that he time traveled with aplomb and little-to-know freaking out. For me, Gerard came across as a beta male, someone who would be classified as metro in modern times. That's just not my thing. Part of the appeal of highlander stories, for me anyway, are the manly men. With this concept of time travel, where the wimpy modern male is being sent back, just doesn't fuel my fantasy and imagination.

Moving on to our heroine, Serafina, the fiery redhaired lass. Serafina has been taken advantage of by her former betrothed who squandered all her inheritance and left her penniless. She approaches the witch Undine for a potion that will bring her a man to impersonate her ex, and steal a ship's cargo (which the fiancé purchased with Sera's money.) I didnt care for Serafina at all. Like Abby in the first book, she is the cause of yanking this man back in time, then she treats him poorly and acts like he is the inconvenience.  For that matter, I do not like any of the female characters... they come across as bitchy and inconsiderate and somewhat cold to me.

I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Unfortunately it came off as a little too scattered for me to really connect and enjoy.

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Sires of the Scottish Borderlands Series