How to Train Your Highlander (Broadswords and Ballrooms, #3)

by Christy English

[EBookObsessed]

I am sorry that I didn’t start this series from the beginning. I loved Mary Elizabeth and the finale of this series would have been sweeter if I had been here from the beginning.

This book caught my attention in a recent Tantor newsletter and narrator Heather Wilds did a nice job bringing these characters to life. I loved the free-spirited Mary Elizabeth. She definitely is the highlight of the series. Although I only read this book in the series, I didn’t have a hard time keeping up, I just realized I missed a lot of the fun in the prior books. Highlander novels are not at the top of my list of favorites. I have enjoyed a few but this one will no doubt stand out.

In this series, Mary Elizabeth is the only girl in a house full of boys and runs wild in the highlands hunting and fishing and throwing knives with the rest of the boys. When Mary Elizabeth hits 16, her mother brings her indoors and tries to teach her how to be a lady. You have to think “Are you kidding me?” I don’t know if her mother was too busy with her own life or what would motivate her to ignore the fact that her daughter was running wild for 16 years and think she will want to put on a fancy gown and learn ballroom dancing. So, yeah, this is a great idea.

But she does and then she takes Mary Elizabeth to Edinburgh to meet men and when she doesn’t find any that interest her, her mother sends Mary Elizabeth and her two unmarried brothers to London to meet the ton and find a prospective husband for Mary Elizabeth, even though she doesn’t have anything nice to say about the English. Mary Elizabeth shocks the London lords and ladies with her antics in the first two books while her brothers find love, including pulling a Claymore on one lord while walking in the park. Everything was culminating to arriving at the home of the reclusive Duke of Northumberland before returning home to Scotland and that is where we start Book 3.

Mary Elizabeth’s plan is simply, avoid the Duke at all costs until the house party is over so she can return home and go back to hunting, fishing and throwing knives. The Duke is referred to as the “reclusive Duke” as if he was the topic of conversations in prior books. Since becoming Duke, Harry has preferred to remain on his property caring to his horses, his gardens and his scientific pursuits, but he agrees with his mother that at 30 he must pick a wife and start acting like a Duke. Harry is casually dressed with Mary Elizabeth and her brother arrive so Mary Elizabeth mistakes him for a stable hand, thus setting up the fact that Mary Elizabeth wants to hang around with Harry while she avoids a fat, bald man she thinks is the Duke. Eventually Harry decides to pretend to be a distant relation and instructs his mother and the household to go along with it so he can come in the house and have dinner with everyone.

Harry doesn’t do this for nefarious reasons, he likes that Mary Elizabeth is frank with him and he knows once he tells her he is a Duke, she would treat him differently or worse, pretend interest just to marry him. But in that, Harry has nothing to fear since Mary Elizabeth has no interest in getting married, and while they share a few kisses, she let’s him know she is not interested in getting married. She is going home after the party.

Her brother’s are not fooled and want to make sure Harry isn’t playing games with their virginal sister. They are mad at first when Harry declares he won’t offer for Mary Elizabeth but they are shocked when he states it is not because she is a highland lass but becomes she is a free-spirit the the duties of being a Duchess would change her. The brother agrees with Harry and allows them to continue their friendship as long as Harry keeps it in his pants.

Even after declaring why he wouldn’t marry Mary Elizabeth, his affection grows the more time they spend together and he realizes he doesn’t want any of the girls except Mary Elizabeth. So good intentions are tossed aside with a quick “we’ll figure something out” as far as Ducal duties and Harry sets out to woo and unwilling hellion who has captured his heart.

Mary Elizabeth is torn between her new feelings for Harry and her love of the Highlands. When her mother arrives she gives Mary Elizabeth an ultimatum, accept the Duke or return to London until she picks a husband. Well, Mary Elizabeth is not one for being forced to do anything so just as she might have given Harry the answer he was waiting for, she won’t allow her mother for force her hand. You would think at this point Harry would pop her mother in the mouth because he was so close to getting a yes out of Mary Elizabeth.

Two things would have made this whole story run smoother (1) if her mother confessed to her from the beginning that she wasn’t punishing Mary Elizabeth by sending her away from home, but that was afraid Mary Elizabeth would waste her youth and when she finally realized everyone else was married with babies and she was finally ready for a husband and a family, she would be too old (although she was only 18, really?); and (2) if Harry had simply told Mary Elizabeth that he would have no problem spending the summers in Scotland with her family instead of just musing on the subject in his head. Mary Elizabeth thought if she chose Harry, she would never get to visit home, so she had to decide which she loved more.

Overall, the story is simple, but very enjoyable. The characters were well-written. I really liked Mary Elizabeth’s spirit and I liked that a man who had little interest in people saw how special and unique Mary Elizabeth was and he wasn’t interested in changing her or just using her because he desired her.