"Highland Hellcat"
by Mary Wine
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Release Date: Oct 5, 2010
Source: sent by publisher
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
My Review:
Brina Chattan has spent her whole life preparing to be a nun, while her two sisters would be wed to powerful members of neighboring clans. When her sister, Dierdre, has an affair before her marriage, her betrothed finds out. Connor, the Lindsey laird, doesn't want a disgraced bride, so he steals Brina while on her way to the abbey. Brina fights Connor every step of the way, but she can't deny her attraction to him. When they arrive at his home and she's spoiled by the luxuries she never would have had at the abbey, she starts to question the life that has always been set out for her.
I really liked Brina, she was so independent and struggled to accept Connor's help with anything because she'd never been given the luxury of having anyone to lean on before. Her whole life, she'd watched her sisters wear pretty dresses and have their hair fixed but she was never able to have those things. She was so strong because she never complained about her place in life. It was so interesting to see her eyes opened to how nice the little luxuries in life were. I also liked that Connor loved to give her those things she'd never had, making her life as comfortable as possible.
I loved how every time Brina thought she would irritate Connor by acting like a screaming "hellcat," that he actually liked it! It was really funny to me how it just made him chase after her more.
I was a little impatient at first because the hero and heroine didn't meet each other until 50 or so pages into the book. Once they met, there was a lot of focus on the romance though.
This one wasn't really my style of romance. I think my biggest hurdle to really enjoying this one was what I felt were unkind attitudes towards women. I'm not a stickler for historical accuracies when it comes to attitudes and values-I want girl power! There was foul language and a lot of the story revolved around Deirdre being a disgrace for not being a virgin bride, and then of course the stealing of Brina.
Main Characters: 3/5
Supporting Characters: 3/5
Setting: 3/5
Romance: 3/5
Uniqueness: 3/5
Cover: 4/5
Writing: 3/5
Bottom Line: Overall, this was a nice historical romance but I wanted more respect towards the women in the book.