Finn’s review of Highland Rogue by Tess Mallory
Time Travel romance released by Berkley Sensation 6 May 08

Highland Rogue is about Maggie Graham and how she put her life aside to raise her twin sisters. She has dreamed of meeting a guy like Rob Roy MacGregor, Scottish rogue and outlaw, and becoming an archeologist. Maggie’s sisters and best friend buy her a ticket to Scotland so she can full fill her dream, and maybe meet the man of her dreams. So off she goes to Scotland to work on this “tourist” dig.  She is making the best out of it when she falls in the cairn and makes a discovery. Maggie discovers a triskele, or tri-spiral, that would put her on the map as a renowned archeologist, if the leader of the dig didn’t take all the glory.

One night Maggie can’t sleep so she slips back into the cairn and starts walking the design of the triskele all the while saying the words of an ancient message also found in the cairn. Maggie goes back in time to 1711 and meets Quinn MacIntyre. The man of her dreams and a piper too. He and his cousin are actually highway robbers who play the bagpipes once they have left their victims. What follows is a grand adventure of trying to rescue Quinn’s cousin from the evil duke.

The story was good. Mallory writes her characters well. Maggie has to come to grips with being in 18th century Scotland and help infiltrate the duke’s household. Her desire to get home is evident but so is her growing love of Quinn. Quinn has to realize that Maggie is from another time and will be going home after they rescue his cousin, but he loves her.

You get to have some good laughs with this time-travel novel and read a great love story.

Grade: B+

     Summary:

     On her dream vacation in the Scottish Highlands, aspiring archaeologist Maggie Graham discovers a tri-spiral carving in the floor of an ancient cairn, and unwittingly sets its dormant magic in motion. Sent tumbling back in time 300 years, Maggie uncovers the most amazing find of all—a Scottish hero straight out of her wildest fantasies. There are just two tiny problems with this grand adventure: She’s trapped in 18th-century Scotland, and the man she’s fallen for is an outlaw, a thief, and a daring Highland Rogue.

     Read an excerpt (super short and you have to scroll down to get to it).