Also in this series: Highland Promise, Highland Conquest , Highland Captive , Highland Thief
Series: The Sons of Gregor MacLeod #3
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca on August 7, 2018
Genres: Historical Romance, Scottish Highlands, Medieval Era
Pages: 380
Format: Paperback
Source: Self Purchased
ISBN: 1492654566
Laird Callum MacLean vowed to marry Maggie MacDonnell. But when his father's supposed suicide makes him Laird of a clan, he's too busy unmasking his father's killer to bring her into his dangerous new home.
Maggie's home isn't any safer, so she does what any resourceful Highland lass would do. She escapes―and finds herself toe-to-toe with Callum, who's determined to fulfill his promise. Maggie can't bring herself to trust him with her heart again. But with a traitor still at large, they must rely on each other in every way, or their clans―and their love―will be destroyed.
Highland Betrayal is book three in this stunning series by Alyson McLayne. I had such a fun time with this book, it’s not my favorite of the series so far, but it had some great qualities and it was the perfect escape from reality. I just adore my highland romances, and McLayne has added such flavor to this time era in historical romance. This does feature some unique aspects and we get some superb intrigue and suspense elements that we are coming to adore about this author.
In Highland Betrayal our main players are Laird Callum MacLean and Maggie MacDonnell. Callum and Maggie have been betrothed, an agreement set up between their families. But there has also been a great affection between Callum and Maggie. But then Callum’s father died and he suspected that it was murder and not suicide. And he didn’t want to risk Maggie when he hadn’t yet discovered the culprit behind everything. But in the process of doing so, he hurt Maggie and now Callum will need to prove of his sincerity to her.
Maggie is in danger, her brother lost his wife and child and is slowly killing himself with drink, her other brother is off fighting battles, and her evil cousin is planning on taking over the clan and wants to have her as his bride even if he has to force her and he is working again Callum and even though she doesn’t understand why she hasn’t heard from him in years, she still remembers the strong bond they once had. But while out running away and trying to survive on her own, Callum stumbles on Maggie fighting off a pack of wolves, hurt but still spitting fire at him. Callum and Maggie join forces, come to a reconciliation but their road isn’t easy and will take hard work and determination and trust…
I found Highland Betrayal to be a great addition to the series and I always get a kick out of these scoundrels that Gregor MacLeod raised and trained and seeing them together is always a hoot. I was very curious about Callum and Maggie’s relationship though. We also get hints for future books so I am super stoked. This story was a bit different from the others but quite thrilling at times too.
Now I wasn’t really a big fan of Maggie’s character…there were many fun qualities to her but I felt that she was a bit too strong for my tastes and too hard on Callum in some ways. She knew the type of man her cousin is, and even when she realizes that Callum tried to contact her but she didn’t receive them, I would think that would raise a red flag but it didn’t really do that for her. She was pretty high handed at times, I understand why. She has had to be strong and independent but I did feel that she could have been more understanding at times. I felt she was too willful and stubborn for her own good. She really does come on too strong that didn’t sit quite right with me at times. Callum is so patient with her though, and just accepts and loves her for who she is even when she drives him crazy at times. Now Callum….I adored him so much. I understand why he kept Maggie in the dark though. I do feel like he could have made a better effort to make sure everything was alright with Maggie but I do think that once he realizes what damage he does, he is full of regret and tries to make up for it.
The plot of the story was pretty steady and I liked seeing the way events unravel in this book and even though some factors didn’t quite make that much sense especially when his fathers murderer is revealed it felt a bit off for me and just certain factors didn’t quite make sense and I think there could have been more focus on certain relationships of the clan members so that the reader isn’t so confused. However, I really liked the mystery even if it was a bit predictable at times. I really enjoyed the commadarie between the men that we see here and I enjoyed the bantering and playful nature between these men that are like brothers.
The romance between Callum and Maggie is full of battles and boy these two could just break your heart and your will of patience. I really liked them together though, Callum appreciated Maggie and her talents and you just have to respect that. I had my issues with Maggie, but Callum never gives up on proving himself to her. I love how he treats her with respect and admiration and passion. And the sexy moments were sensual and adventurous but not too heavy either, the focus is the relationship and the intimacy as they get to know each other again.
Overall I found this book to be packed with adventure, mystery and thrills across the Highlands of Scotland!
0 Comments