Temptation in a Kilt

First thoughts... It felt nice to be in the Highlands of Scotland again.

Second thoughts... hmm.

Final thoughts... Some things need to be worked on but I definitely want to pick up the next book in the series.

Rosalia (mind you, I say this using my Spanish tongue, and I love it), has been mistreated all of her life by her mother who has abused her mentally, verbally, and physically. Her father just sits idly by and lets it happen. Not until Rosalia's mom wants to marry her off to a very nasty man for money, and gets the worst beating of her life for objecting, does she decide to run away. As she begins her journey she meets Ciaran MacGregor who decides he will help her get to her final destination. Not only does Rosalia find protection within the walls of Glenorchy but family, loyalty, love and a healthy kind of normalcy.

This was an easy read, a sweet romance and I found myself turning the pages at record speed trying to find out what happened next. Rosalia and Ciaran fell in love slowly and the courting seemed to be a long one. I liked all of the characters well enough and the world that was created within these pages. Like I said before, it made me long for the Highlands which I love so much!

Unfortunately, this wasn't a great read for me. What fell short with me was the feeling of familiarity and within that familiarity I found predictability.

IT MIGHT BE TOO SPOILERISH FOR YOU HERE. IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE ABOUT THESE THINGS STOP HERE!

You have the heroine who finds herself in trouble and the hero who believes he can save her and will protect her (ok, I can deal). You have a villain (usually an enemy clan (ok, fine)). You have a mistress out for blood now because she's been dumped. She's been exiled and surprise, surprise wants to get the hero killed. There was a kidnapping too. (NOOOO!)

END OF SPOILERS

I just felt it was all very predictable and I saw things coming pages before it happened.

I also had issues with how the accents/ Scottish way of speaking were written. It didn't roll off the tongue very easily even if it was in my head. I think that should be worked on a bit in the next book. It kept creating speed bumps in the flow of the read.

With all that said...On the flip side... What wasn't predictable was how the author wrote ONE character. Declan MacGregor. He is the youngest of the three MacGregor siblings and seems to be the most troubled and self-destructive. There is definitely more going on there but because this is not his book not too much is revealed. He was the only character that acted out of character constantly which was refreshing and always a nice surprise. Another unique aspect to this story is that you won't find the hero and heroine making love or even getting married. It worked and I liked it.

All in all, my feelings are invested in these characters and the open ended ending was done nicely. I'm not upset with the author for leaving things the way she did but on the contrary. It made me feel happy and I found comfort in waiting for the next installment to be released. I have faith in that the next read will be very unique because it will be about Declan. I have Positive Warm Happy feelings about this, people!

On to the next!

ARC was provided by Sourcebooks Casablanca via NetGalley.