Sandy M’s review of Master of the Highlands by Veronica Wolff
Paranormal Historical Romance published by Berkley 5 Feb 2008
As a time travel fan, I did like this book, but I’m also a little disappointed in it. Therefore, I’m unsure what grade to give it. Maybe those of you who have also read it will help me out.
What I like about the book is a number of things. I really like the writing. The author does a very good job of describing the characters and their surroundings, giving a feel of their emotions and their actions. I sometimes felt I was right in the middle of the Highlands. She doesn’t go overboard with historical facts and keeps the modern world well balanced with the old through the heroine.
I also enjoyed the characters themselves. Ewen is the typical clan chief everyone loves and respects and Lily is the lonely heroine looking for love but still wants to find a way home to her own time, even with a great looking man, hers for the taking, right in front of her. I enjoyed the addition of John, Ewen’s son, in the story and the development of their relationship once Ewen realizes he’s shortchanging both his son and himself by holding the boy at arm’s length. The slutty, power hungry Rowena is one of those villains you love to hate, along with Clan Cameron’s enemies, the MacKintoshes and the British redcoats.
The relationship between Ewen and Lily is nice, it grows along at a steady pace, each coming to their epiphanies about one another on their own and then letting their love flourish naturally. Even Lily’s winning young John over is a nice touch. I like the fact that Ewen isn’t taken in by Rowena, that he knows the better woman when he sees her, even before he realizes he loves her, and isn’t taken in by womanly wiles. I like the story in general, how Lily is transported back in time, the secret of Robert, and other little tidbits. The side story about Robert is interesting, and this is where my disappointment comes in.
So much more could have been done with that side story. Lily has the solution to that problem in her hands the whole time. Her grandmother sang a passed-down legend to Lily her whole life, so she knows the story she’s landed right smack dab in the middle of. But each time she thinks about the song and its relationship to her current situation, she either shrugs it off or ignores it. The heroine herself laments she should have used her information much sooner to help, but it’s much too late by the time she’s crying over the tragedy that ensues. Lily should have been able to change the outcome of her song. She knows exactly what’s going to happen and lets it happen anyway.
Even if she’d tried and the outcome is still the same, okay, fine. But her half-hearted attempt really irritates me. Heck, maybe poor Robert could have had his own book if Lily would have been a little more aware, which doesn’t make sense to have the heroine so slow-witted about the whole thing because she’s living her heritage, for heaven’s sake. If it weren’t for the romance found in the past, I would question why have Lily travel back in the first place?
Now my dilemma. I enjoyed more of the book than I was disapointed by it, but the disappointment is a big one in that the heroine isn’t more in tune to what’s going on. My indecision is which grade should I give the book?
Grade: B- or C+
Help me out – give me your grade and the why of it, please!
Read Gwen’s review here.
From the back cover:
SHE’S BACK IN TIME… Lily Hamlin has finally realized that her life isn’t as perfect as she once thought. Making a pilgrimage to Scotland, a land she’s only heard about in lullabies, Lily hopes that she can find her place again. But while exploring the Highlands, she discovers an overgrown maze and a strange stone map–and lands in the Lochaber of 1654…
…JUST IN TIME FOR HIM. Ewen, Chief of the Clan Cameron, is a busy man who must figure out how to save his people from the brutal redcoats and has time for little else. Having sired an heir, the widowed Ewen has no need-or room-for another romance. Then into his life drops a saucy lass with a peculiar accent, no regard for his title–and an arousing body. Drawn to each other despite their differences, they both realize that they don’t want her to go back to her own time. But with battles brewing between the Camerons, the redcoats, and a rival clan, staying is a gamble.
Read an excerpt.
