3.5 stars

I’ve seen people rave about this book, and since I’ve never read this author before I figured this would be a good place to start.

For the most part, I enjoyed it. I’ve read hundreds of historical romances over the years, but never really got into the Highlander sub-genre the way some people are. I like the fact that this one doesn’t have dialogue written in some bastardized version of a Scots dialect. That can get really old, really quickly.

I liked the premise of the story and the focus on strong women and female friendships in this book.

I enjoyed the humor and the way the characters were able to see the inherent humor in their own practices. Is it historically realistic? Maybe not. But it was fun to see this turned on its head a bit.

I would say if you are sensitive to things like overbearing men and the idea of women ‘belonging’ to their husbands, there is some of that in here, but it feels like the author subverts the trope by having strong female characters who aren’t willing to just be ornamentation, existing only to do their husband’s bidding.

This only gets 3.5 stars from me because while I did enjoy it, there were relationships and characters that felt like they weren’t fully realized. Villainous characters felt one-dimensional and like they didn’t truly serve a purpose other than to prop up our protagonists. I also would’ve liked a little more exploration of Judith’s relationship with her family.

For a historical romance written in 1992, I do think it (mostly) holds up.