Book Review-The Groom Wore Plaid by Gayle Callen

About The Book

Falling in love means tempting fate in this passionate new novel in USA Today bestselling author Gayle Callen’s Highland Weddings series.

Maggie McCallum’s dreams about her new fiancé aren’t the romantic sort. It’s not just that she was bartered to Owen Duff like a piece of property to end a clan feud. She’s also haunted by premonitions of his death on their upcoming wedding day. Yet the exasperating Highlander won’t let her call it off, even though his life and his clan are both in jeopardy.

Owen has wanted Maggie in his bed since he first glimpsed her years ago. If their union restores peace between their clans, so much the better. But while lusting after another chief’s sister had its risks, growing to trust Maggie is far more dangerous. Owen is falling deeply in love with the one woman he cannot hope to claim . . . and survive.

My Review

First Impressions

The Groom Wore Plaid is the second book in the “Highland Weddings” and I was intrigued to pick this author up as its been a long while since I have read this author but I have to say I ADORED this one so completely. It has been so long since I had read this author that I had forgotten how charming and delightful her writing is. There was such top notch banter between our main protagonists and it was just plain good fun to see them interact. We have some interesting tropes that come together in this one as well as a unique time era that we normally don’t see in recently published historical romance as this is mid 1700’s Scotland. I just loved the way that discussed Jacobite rebellion and the fight for Scotland’s independence from England.

Summary

Maggie and Owen were once friends when they were younger and there was a young love that was building between them, but Owen was engaged to marry, but when Maggie has a vision of his fiancee dying, he didn’t believe her and she ended up dead. Now its been more than a decade later, and to bring peace to their families and clan, they honor the agreement that was originally made between their families. Owen is determined to make this work, but when Maggie has a dream of Owen being mortally injured on their wedding day, she is determined to make sure that this doesn’t come true. But as Maggie and Owen’s wills clash, so does the love they feel for each other, but who will win in the end?

What I Loved

The Groom Wore Plaid was such a delightful story and I honestly had such love for this one. It was such a delight to read and I absolutely enjoyed every single moment of this one here. It was so enjoyable to read. And seeing the way that the author implemented the humor was such so much fun to read. There is something in the writing style of Gayle Callen that is just so endearing and addictive. From the first chapter, you are immediately swept up in the story and in the romance. The way that these two banter was so fun. Seeing the way that Owen and Maggie compete with each other was intriguing, you can see as the story builds, how much they are attracted to each other and how their feelings for each other are growing.

Gayle Callen really implemented some unique elements to the story line that added some edge to it. We do have a villain here, which might be predictable. I saw it coming a bit, but I don’t think its obvious so it might surprise you in the end. I did feel like the ending was a bit anticlimatic though. But I enjoyed seeing how the dream of Maggie get resolved in the end and the turnout of the ending really satisfied the story overall. There is some angst between the families and I felt like that was well played out. I do think fans of highlander romances, will become endeared to this one.

Overall View

I found The Groom Wore Plaid to be such a talented and tasteful romance that implements elements of danger, intrigue and passion well balanced all the way throughout and leaves the reader fully satisfied!

Title: The Groom Wore Plaid

Author: Gayle Callen

Genre: Historical Romance/Magical Realism

Format: eBook

Source: Library

Length: 384 Pages

Book Links

Amazon| Barnes and Noble| Kobo| Goodreads| LibraryThing| StoryGraph| Literal Club

Series Order

Highland Weddings

The Wrong Bride–Pub 2015 #1 in the Series

The Groom Wore Plaid—Pub 2016 #2 in the Series

Love with a Scottish Outlaw—Pub 2017 #3 in the Series

About The Author

USA Today Bestselling author Gayle Callen writes historical romances for Avon Books. Her twenty-second novel, The Wrong Bride, was published in November 2015.

Gayle’s novels have won the Holt Medallion, the Laurel Wreath Award, the Booksellers’ Best Award, and finaled in the National Readers Choice Awards. She was a nominee for RT Book Reviews Magazine’s Reviewers’ Choice Award. Her books have been translated into eleven different languages. She also writes the contemporary romances as Emma Cane.

Gayle resides in central New York with her husband. Now that her three children are grown, she has time to read, sing, and delve too deeply into historical research. A past President of the Central New York Romance Writers, she is also a member of Romance Writers of America and Novelists Inc.