To Conquer a Highlander

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Synopsis

When Torin McLeren's lands are attacked by Clan McBoyd, the fierce Highland laird knows he can't allow it to go unanswered, but he also knows he must be strategic. When he discovers that Laird McBoyd is sending his only daughter, Shannon, to the Earl of Atholl as a bride and that the two men are scheming to take over the throne following the murder of King James I, he decides to kidnap the young woman and take her captive. Once back at his keep, Torin insists that his people treat Shannon with respect even though she's from a rival clan. He also can't seem to stop thinking about her and eventually claims her as his own. But when Torin is called away to fight, a cousin who wants the lairdship for himself takes her to Edinburgh, hoping she'll be hanged as a traitor beside her father who is now imprisoned by those loyal to James's son.

There's no love lost between Shannon McBoyd and her father, who abuses her and treats her more like a servant than a daughter, and she believes he made a mistake in attacking the McLerens. However, she's heard of the fierceness of the Highlanders, so when Torin takes her captive, she fully expects to be used and abused by him, too. He surprises her, though, by treating her with kindness, which endears her to him. Shannon has long wondered what it might be like to be bedded by a man, so when Torin shows an interest in her, she embraces it wholeheartedly and finds tremendous pleasure in his arms. He also officially lays claim to her, but she fears that his people would never fully accept her as his lady. They soon have a much bigger problem, though, when her father is imprisoned and expected to hang as a traitor and she may be held responsible as well. It will be up to Torin to convince the man acting as the young King James II's proxy to allow her to live, but when he's tricked into going away to a battle while she's being spirited away to Edinburgh to face judgment, he may not make it in time to save her.

Review

To Conquer a Highlander is the first book in Mary Wine's Highlander series of Medieval Scottish romances. Following the murder of King James I, the Earl of Atholl, a traitor to the throne, rises up, trying to usurp power from James's young son, and he has the backing of some Scottish clans, including the McBoyds. In an effort to weaken those who support the reign of James II, our heroine's father, Laird McBoyd, attacks our hero, Torin McLeren's lands. Torin is honor bound to retaliate, but instead of a direct attack, he follows Shannon who is being sent as a bride for Atholl to solidify that alliance. In the dead of night, Torin attacks, taking Shannon captive and killing all but one man who was with her. Shannon expects to be abused, but is surprised to find that Torin is a reasonable and honorable man who treats her with respect, which is far more than she ever received from her father. From the moment they meet, she's physically attracted to him, and as he shows her kindness, that attraction only grows deeper. Shannon has always wondered what it would be like to lie with a man, but she'd always been kept strictly off limits to the men in her own clan. Now as May Day approaches, she considers going out with the other young women for the festivities, hoping that perhaps Torin will choose to bed her. It happens sooner than she expects and she finds the experience even more pleasurable than she'd imagined. Soon she's falling for her handsome captor and dreaming of a day that he might feel the same way. But with James II now crowned and Atholl having been branded a traitor along with all who supported him, she knows that her father will likely hang soon and the man who is acting as a proxy for James until he comes of age, may order her execution as well. It will be up to Torin to convince them otherwise, but when he's called away to battle and she's taken to Edinburgh, he may not be able to reach her in time.

Shannon's father has no kindness or respect for her, instead physically and emotionally abusing her and treating her like little more than a servant in her own home. When he attacks the McLerens, she believes he's made a grave error, but saying so only gets her struck in the face for her audacity to speak. However, seeing an opportunity to solidify his alliance with the Earl of Atholl, McBoyd sends Shannon as a bride for the man he hopes will become king. Along the way, they're attacked and Torin captures her as his prize, taking her back to his castle. Some of the McLerens view her as an enemy, but although she didn't expect it from him, Torin treats her well. As she bravely takes on whatever tasks are put before her to do, she begins to earn the respect of some of the people in the castle as well. Although her father strictly guarded her virginity, viewing it as the only thing about her that was valuable to him, Shannon sometimes overheard other women talking of being bedded and has wondered what it might be like. The more time she spends around Torin, the more he tempts her. Knowing that even if she were ever returned to her father's keep, he'd simply assume she'd been raped, she views it as an opportunity to satisfy her curiosity when Torin expresses an interest in her as well. Soon she discovers just how pleasurable the act can be, and although he begins to speak of marriage, she's simply enjoying being Torin's mistress, believing that nothing more can feasibly come from their relationship. In the back of her mind, she knows that her father will likely soon be executed for his role in the attempted coup and fears that she may be put to death alongside him.

Shannon is a real spitfire, who bravely stand up for herself. She has a backbone and isn't afraid of hard work when she's given tasks to complete around Torin's castle. On the downside, as someone who'd clearly been abused by her father, she showed no real ill effects from it. I felt like she could have been a good tortured heroine, but nothing like that ever materialized in her characterization. However, she's also very stubborn, which can sometime serve her well, such as when she courageously stands up to the king's proxy in the face of possible execution, but other times it became a tad annoying. Even though Torin clearly treats her far better than her father ever did, in the beginning, she still talks of returning to her father's lands as something she must do. As she grows closer to Torin, those protestations dissipate, but she still fights him on other things, including right up until the end, refusing to become his wife. I admit that her actions in that moment were rather selfless, with her thinking that he could better unify his clan by taking someone else as his bride who wasn't viewed by some as a traitor, but it still put a small damper on the connection between them to have her still pushing back that late in the story.

Torin grew up not expecting to become laird of his clan. The author explained why this was, but I think she left out a few pertinent details, because despite rereading the passage, I struggled to understand the exact reason. All I know is that part of it had something to do with his father rejecting the bride who was chosen for him and instead marrying for love. His parents are now gone, and no mention is made of any other close family members such as siblings, only a cousin who seems to think he has some claim to the lairdship and uses Torin's relationship with Shannon to try to elevate his own cause. In any case, having grown up with parents who loved each other very much, Torin is searching for that same kind of love with the woman he marries. Over the years, he's had some mistresses, but I like that he's a one-woman kind of guy who gives whatever woman he's with at the time his full attention. Unlike other Highland lairds, he has no interest in having multiple women at his beck and call or siring bastards like crazy. In fact, many think him sterile because he has no known illegitimate children. Torin is an honorable man who treats women with respect and shows Shannon that same kindness. He's sort of a mix of alpha and beta, having that Highlander arrogance, but still showing a softer side and not shying away from falling in love and expressing his emotions. I couldn't help feeling that Torin was somewhat underdeveloped, though, with what I've mentioned here pretty much being the full extent of his characterization. We get very few scenes from his POV and those that are present tend to be rather short, so the reader isn't really privy to much of what he's thinking throughout the story. Most of what we learn about him comes from Shannon's observations more like what you might see in a story written in first-person perspective. For as well as I got to know him, though, I did really like him.

Overall, I'd say that I liked To Conquer a Highlander, but I didn't love it the way I wanted to. It got off to a great start with some action as Torin's clan is attacked and he later retaliates by kidnapping Shannon. Once they're back at Donan Tower, though, things slowed considerably. The ending was also reasonably exciting with Shannon being taken to court without Torin's knowledge and a little suspense around the question of whether she'd be sentenced to die alongside her father. However, that middle section pretty much only consists of Shannon's lustful thoughts about Torin and eventually lots of steamy sex when he decides to claim her. This book isn't billed as an erotic romance, nor do I think that it qualifies in the traditional sense (there's nothing kinky or anything, just lots of steam), but the author does seem to focus an inordinate amount of page time on either sexual thoughts or actual sex. Unfortunately this was IMHO to the detriment of the storytelling. Now don't get me wrong, I love my romances steamy and I can also enjoy a good erotic romance, too, but when I go into reading a book with the expectation of a strong plot and get mostly sex, I simply have to call it out. There were missed opportunities aplenty to deepen both the plot and the characterizations. The story wasn't bad, but I just couldn't help feeling that it could have been a whole lot more. In fact, I struggled with how to rate it. Shannon's stubbornness aside, she and Torin were pretty good characters and I thought they were well-matched. They also share a couple of romantic interludes outside the bedroom that were nice and even though I thought there was a little too much sex, those scenes were pretty well written. Because of this, I toyed with giving the book a four-star rating, but in the end, given it's many weaknesses, I felt I had to downgrade it a little.

The next two books in the series are about Torin's friends, Cameron and Quinton. I'm not quite sure what to make of both men laying kisses on Shannon in front of Torin without permission from either one. I guess it was some kind of odd tradition maybe [shrug], although Cameron also kissed her much earlier in a somewhat predatory manner that kind of rubbed me the wrong way. He said it was just to test her reaction to make sure she was worthy of his friend, so I guess perhaps I can let it slide. However, in the moment I wasn't entirely sure if he was meant to be friend or foe, which was a little disconcerting, especially now knowing that he's the hero of the next book. I'm open to continuing the series at some point, but given that this book wasn't a huge winner for me and Cameron's is next, it's not going to be at the top of my list.

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Mary Wine