Sandy M’s review of Warrior of the Highlands by Veronica Wolff
Historical Time Travel Romance published by Berkley 6 Jan 09
I’m usually a sucker for time travel romance. That’s why with her first book, Master of the Highlands, I wanted to read Veronica Wolff. Unfortunately, that book and her second, Sword of the Highlands, didn’t quite work for me. I usually give an author a second try after a stumbling start, but because she’s giving me time travel, I tried a third time for Ms. Wolff. I am so very glad I did.
Third time’s the charm, as they say. I liked everything about this book. The common denominator in this author’s books is she uses real historical characters to build her time travel stories around. That’s what didn’t work for me that well in her first two books for one reason or another. However, this time wrapping her story around Alasdair MacColla, a true but little known Scottish warrior and hero, she hit gold. His story, to me, was more conducive to the time travel and romance aspect of the genre.
Haley is a student of antiquities, has a loving Irish family, and is fascinated by history. Finding an old and unusual sword that she believes to belong to James Graham, thus casting doubt on historical facts about the man, she’s also found the theme for her dissertation. But the next thing she knows she’s thrown back in time to Scotland during the time of the MacColla, a man who historians have cited as one bloodthirsty Scot. But what she sees in getting to know the man, from rescuing his captive sister, even rescuing Haley herself several times, and the tender way he consistently treats her, she knows he’s been given a bad wrap through history.
A clansman through and through, MacColla is a warrior who takes care of his family any way he has to, including killing a Campbell or two. Capturing a strange woman who he believes to be a Campbell seems like a good idea at the moment, but the more he gets to know her, he realizes she can’t be a Campbell, nor a spy for them. Being so different from any woman he’s ever met, he slowly begins to care for her. Even after learning the truth of where she hails from doesn’t change a thing for him. Haley overlooks his repuation through the ages, he can do the same for her in the here and now.
These two characters fall in love just because of who they are. There’s no conflict to toss them, as well as their feelings, around, lobbing problems and issues back and forth until the reader is dizzy. Their feelings develop over the course of the book and it’s done so wonderfully well. They are literally perfect for each other, despite the centuries that exist between them. Haley is independent and strong-willed, knows how to think on her feet, which she definitely needs to do in seventeenth-century Scotland. MacColla learns there is more than hunting and killing a Campbell, even if they deserve it for the wrongs they have wrought on his family.
I really enjoyed the twist in the time travel element near the end of the book. I ended up misty eyed when Ms. Wolff got a little crafty with her HEA. I also liked the description of Scotland itself in this book. I felt like I was there, smelling the heather, breathing the clean air, walking through a castle, seeing the color of MacColla’s tartan.
I”m very glad I stuck with this author and tried one more book. Now I’m anticipating the next one, something I didn’t do with WofH.
Grade: A
Summary:
SHE HAS TO CHANGE THE PAST IN ORDER TO SAVE HIS FUTURE…
While doing research for her dissertation, graduate student Haley Fitzpatrick stumbles upon a strange artifact—which sends her back in time to old Scotland, directly into the path of the notorious Alasdair MacColla, a warrior known for his enormous physical presence and bloodthirsty reputation.
Assuming that this woman with the mysterious accent is an enemy spy, MacColla promptly kidnaps her. But Haley’s beauty and courage strike a chord in the Highlander, awakening a desire in him that he hadn’t known existed.
At first Haley’s frightened by her imposing captor. But she soon discovers that MacColla is much more than the brute that modern history describes, and decides she’s meant to be by his side. But unless she can find a way to change the past, the warrior she’s fallen for is destined to meet a tragic end…
Read an excerpt.
