Sandy M’s review of Thirty Nights with a Highland Husband (Daughters of the Glen Book 1) by Melissa Mayhue
I love a good time travel story. Actually, I’ll read any I can get my hands on, but it’s always a joy to find a really good one. Melissa Mayhue’s Thirty Nights with a Highland Husband is one of those. Her book is full of fae and magic, honor and dignity, family, love, and, yes, time travel. It’s tender and light-hearted, but it takes romance very seriously. A book after my own heart.
After having been told by her fiance she needs to be more adventurous, all because she found him boinking his secretary on his office desk, Caitlyn now has the opportunity of a lifetime, as impossible as it may seem. Finally deciding the specter standing before her is the real deal… a real ancient Highland warrior — she accepts Connor MacKiernan’s offer of traveling back in time to 1272 to help him save his sister from the machinations of his uncle. Included in that help would be marrying the handsome Scotsman and, as far as Cate’s concerned, it looks like she’s going to be trading up in the husband department. It seems she does have at least one adventurous bone in her body after all.
With the help of his aunt’s powerful magic, Connor has put together a plan to thwart his uncle’s use of his sister Mairi for his own purposes, but that plan can only proceed if he is able to find a wife. Because of a vow he uttered in the heat of passion when he found his then fiance with another man, he must now find a wife outside the realm of Scotland. Hence his need for his aunt’s magic, and she has been quite successful. Locating Catilyn through a MacKiernan family heirloom, Connor is enchanted with the comely lass who has agreed to help him in his endeavor to sever ties with his king so he can marry and keep his sister under his protection.
Meeting Connor’s family has Cate having second thoughts about her agreement to help him. His uncle is the worst of the lot and Artair demands they follow the old custom of reading of the banns before their marriage can take place. That means, Caitlyn learns, she must stay in Connor’s time for thirty days for the completion of their plans. Promising her that all will go well, she gives in to his coercing and ultimately finds herself enjoying in such a different time and place. But Connor’s promise is suddenly moot when attempts on Cate’s life come out of the blue, and when he is unable to keep her from being injured, he realizes he has lost his heart to this visitor from another time.
Caitlyn is constantly irritated with Connor’s high-handed ways when it comes to women, but that isn’t enough to keep her from falling hard for him. As the time comes closer for all their planning to come to fruition, she realizes Connor is determined to stick to his word about keeping her safe and returning her to own time. The big dolt won’t look any farther than that, so Cate takes matters into her own hands. She’s not a 21st-century woman for nothing. Letting Connor believe she’s docilely gone home is his first lesson in dealing with the love of his life. When she returns to him with her kick-ass family is when he gets his second. I wonder how much he truly learns!
I had fun with this book. Although there are serious moments of life and death, love and betrayal, Mayhue gives Connor a great sense of humor and gives Caitlyn something to reach for in life and learns about all she can become when she truly does reach out. There are plenty of twists and turns to go along with the lightness of the book and the characters are indeed engaging, so I can’t imagine anyone not liking this book!
Grade: A
Read Gwen’s review of Book 2 in this series, Highland Guardian by Melissa Mayhue.
