Wicked Highland Ways by Mary Wine demonstrates the position of women at the time, but some of the language is way more modern.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

If you haven’t read all of the other books in this series, that’s ok. This will still make sense even if you don’t get the deeper nuances of some of the characters. In my opinion, this makes me enjoy the story more because even though it’s been a while since I read the last one, I didn't feel lost. I really liked the character development for Brenda and Bothan. They grew together as a couple well, and the political intrigues were well written and helped move the story along well. I will miss this series, but look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

I loved Bothan and Brenda's story!!

Bothan has been intrigued with Brenda since the day they met. When she is told to marry an evil Englishman by the king, he follows her to save her from her fate. In doing so, she is forced to marry him. This is exactly what Bothan wants, but Brenda never wanted to marry again. She doesn't want a man telling her what she can do. Can Bothan get Brenda to accept their marriage and the inevitable HEA?

I have been waiting for Bothan and Brenda's story since the last book in the series and Wine did not disappoint!! I loved the bantering between these two. Theses two very strong willed individuals butted heads at every turn, but you could see that they were perfect for one another! The chemistry between theses two practically leapt off the page!

This is the last book in the series, but I'm hoping there is a spin off series as there are a few secondary characters I would like to see get their HEA!

Wicked Highland Ways was a good historical romance novel. The beginning chapters were a little confusing and held many characters, politics and customs. After the main characters left England to head back to Scotland is when I started enjoying the story. The storyline was terrific with all types of twists and turns. The main characters are Brenda with her fiery spirit, and laird Bothun Gunn who captures, weds, and loves Brenda just the way she is. I enjoyed the story that these two undertake to finally find peace and love together.

Thank you Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This was a passionate, Highland romance with a fierce, broken heroine who refuses to give in to her desires for fear of being hurt again. The hero appreciates her stubborn spirit and sacrifices everything to win her. Sweet romance. Enjoyed it.

The beginning of the book got a little confusing. I felt that I needed a chart to keep track of who was who. Once they left England's courts that problem was done. That's when I started enjoying, Wicked Highland Way.

Brenda will never be deemed as chattle again. She does NOT want to be some man's property. She wants to stay tucked safely away in her cousin's holdings in Scotland. However, because of her dowry, the King of Scotland has other plans for her. A fellow laird, Bothun Gunn has sites on Brenda. From the day he saw her fiery spirit revealed, he has though of nothing since. But Brenda is soon kidnapped and taken into England to wed an English noble for the large amount of land left to her by her sire. Bothun is not going to have that. Against all odd and plans of monarchs this story follows Brenda and Bothun to find where in the world Brenda can be herself.

Mary Wine is one of the best historical romance writers out there. I don't remember how I stumbled across her books but I've read 17 to date. Her latest endeavor Wicked Highland Ways is another winner. I like the fact that the heroine. Brenda Grant was spirited and determine to chart her own course. Too many historical romances feature shrinking, innocent virgins. Bothan was well.....a hot alpha Scot what more can you ask for.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

I enjoyed this book but there were still a couple of things that irked me enough to not love it. I'm all for feisty Highland women defying social norms of the time. However, I got frustrated when Brenda kept to her line about not marrying Bothan even though it was clearly putting her in a worse position. I also got frustrated when Bothan kept saying alpha male dominant things even though Brenda would have much more agreeable with words of love.

All that said, I loved the way Bothan fell hard and fast and fought for Brenda until she could get out of her own way.

I greatly enjoyed the series and am sad to see it end (although I can see that there are no further characters with which to continue the series). I believe that the series came to an organic conclusion and am looking forward to seeing what the author will put forth next.

This book doesn’t begin particularly smoothly for a reader who hasn’t read the other books in this series—which is perfectly fine; not every romance series consists of complete standalones, but it’s good to know going in that the main characters are already well into their love story when the book starts.

There was probably a good deal more politics than I prefer—or rather, more than I prefer wrapped in at the beginning while characters are being introduced, and perhaps at the expense of some significant character establishment and development opportunities.

Bothan isn’t my favorite hero. He’s big and gruff, yes, but somewhat lacking a secret soft center, which is usually what makes the warrior type worth it for me. In that vein, he also is consistently off on modern ideas of consent—sure, historical accuracy, but I don’t think you can go wrong by adding in *more* explicit consent and *more* men taking no to mean no. Consent during the sex scenes (which, by the way, very hot) was slightly less of a problem than the fact that Bothan really just didn’t listen to Brenda ever under any circumstances.

I also dislike the use of a second, even more controlling character as a villain to make the hero’s faults seem great by comparison—especially if it suggests the heroine is a fool for not seeing how great he was sooner.

Brenda has a fierce personality, and her dialogue makes me like her a great deal, but she is given very little actual agency over the course of this book. I would have liked to see Brenda making more choices and truly affecting the plot.