Highland Heat

by Jennifer Haymore

• ISBN10: 1101965266
• ISBN13: 9781101965269
• Publish Date: 2015
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 244
• Language: English

Reviews

[Linda]

This review was originally posted on (un)Conventional Bookviews
Highland Heat had a fantastic balance of hot romance and heady mystery, and it kept me interested and flipping the pages fast!



Not everyone can pull of a historical romance heroine who actually helps out at the battleground of Waterloo, without swooning, and without really caring about propriety. Highland Heat featured such a heroine, and she was fascinating to say the least! Her name, Grace, does say it all as she showed both grace and strength as she dealt with wounded and dead soldiers. And when she discovered Duncan alive, it was all she could do to help him to his feet and to see a doctor. Of course, him being a Scottish sheep-farmer, and she a British noble didn't make their instant attraction go away... It rather intrigued them both that they got along so well, and it irritated Grace that the ton was such a snobbish lot as to not let her be with Duncan if she wanted to.

Because Duncan's superior officer has been chosen for a secret project, and includes Duncan in this, Grace and Duncan travel back to England together, and they spend quite a bit of time getting to know each other better. And their attraction just keeps growing - which makes it impossible for them to stop thinking of each other. Highland Heat also has a great mystery, where the Highland Knights are sent to Manchester to stop a possible revolt against the crown at all costs. And this is another place where Grace needs to be strong and fight with all her might.

Crossing boundaries and opening up communication across classes is something I find interesting in historical romances, and this was well done in Highland Heat. There was a lot of reflection both on the class differences and on the fact that women had very little say in their own lives in that period. Haymore managed to introduce these themes into the story with ease and it brought another layer to the characters and kept me enchanted from start to finish. Written in past tense, third person point of view, the story was evenly paced and and touched both my heart and my mind.



Lord, he was a handsome man. Thick and muscular, with a ruggedly masculine face and russet-brown hair. And those startling light blue-green eyes. He wasn't dark or brooding like her brother-in-law; he was quick to smile, and there was a sort of boyishness to him she found intensely appealing.

Was this how it was done? She knew a kiss consisted of one person's lips pressed against another. She'd seen a few kisses in her life. But this... this was... Oh, God.

[Amanda]

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There's nothing really wrong with Highland Heat, but there's nothing that truly stands out with it, either. And that's a good summation of how Highland Heat was for me. A solid three star read. I didn't hate it, but I did find myself putting it down to check my phone and do other things.

The biggest obstacle I had with Highland Heat is that although the characters weren't supposed to be together due to class differences, nothing really stopped them from being together. They seemed to talk about how they weren't supposed to be together more than they were ever really dragged apart. It reduced the tension of their "stolen" moments together.

I also wasn't convinced of Duncan's "reckoning" -- when he's finally convinced he and Grace should be together. Because Grace's sister and brother-in-law sitting him down and saying he should go for it is enough to convince him, even when breaking Grace's heart isn't? Don't buy it.

Duncan was part of a group working for the government to "put down" dissenters, but that only seemed to be relevant to a) keep Duncan and Grace apart for a bit and b) create drama at the end/climax and c) convince Grace's father that Grace and Duncan were supposed to be together. It was almost an after thought, and certainly didn't feel like it was a central part of the overall plot.

I also didn't like how, after Grace had been kidnapped, Duncan saved her just before her captor started raping her. It felt really icky, like it was a severe escalation that only served to show Grace's father how much Duncan really cared for Grace. I don't think it needed to escalate that far to prove the point; women don't have to be nearly raped for men to prove themselves.

That said, Highland Heat was still an likable read. Grace's sister and brother-in-law's romance may have actually been slightly more interesting than Grace and Duncan's insta-attraction, but I didn't dislike this book. Jury's still out on whether I'd read more from this series.