Member Reviews

3.5 stars

I really enjoyed this good highlander romance. I especially loved Adam but both characters are likable! He is classic, quiet, but strong and very loyal. Eventhough lark and Adam kept secrets they still had faith in eachother and communicated through out all their problems. I was really sad the ending happened upruptly to a last action scene but I look forward to the next book.

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I have always loved stories involving the mystery and allure of the Highlands. Especially the Highlanders as honest and attractive men whose hands offer protection but also unprecedented passion.
This interesting story will take you on just such a journey where you will enjoy the interesting story and even more interesting characters....

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Adam Macquarie is the stuff that Highland dreams are made of, brawny, handsome, loyal, and considerate. He is also responsible for a ragtag clan mainly comprised of his four brothers. Although he is not the one who was to obtain a bride at the Beltane Festival, he is the one who ends wedded to Lark Montgomerie. Adam doesn't directly lie to Lark, but he also doesn't tell her the true shape of Wolf Island, their home. She is expecting people, cottages, homes for her sisters. Instead she will find a cursed, deserted village with few liveable huts and a witch living at one end of the island. Lark has secrets of her own. When she and Adam finally are honest with each other about their circumstances, they might finally be able to see a future together. However, there is always a nasty, dastardly villain ready to spoil everything. They don't come any worse than the pirate Jandeau. This was in my TBR pile for a while and I am very sorry that I waited so long. I loved it so much that I started to read the second in the series right away. Reading this book was quite the adventure. Plus, I got to visit with old friends from a previous series. The best of both reading worlds!

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I received a copy of this book to review from Netgalley.
I really enjoyed this book, it was a marriage of convenience trope yet it had the added interest of the curse on the family, giving an almost fairy tale aspect to the book. I think the final third wrapped up the story pretty quickly with an unsatisfactory ending. It would have been better if the ending was explored properly to a good conclusion. However, there was an interesting cast of characters and an engaging story which kept the reader turning the pages.

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Absolutely loved. I'm so sorry I'm so late on this review. Heather's world building was utterly phenomenal and I was completely engrossed.

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Wow I'm just stunned with how good this title was. I just had so much fun reading this title and getting to along for the ride with these amazing characters. I'm so excited to see what's next from this author.

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Cute little Highlander Romance novel. It had well written love scenes and the main characters had good chemistry. Not much to the story, but it's a great quickie Romance read. Perfect for the beach.

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This book was amazing! It had everything that I love in a romance book - emotion, suspense, villains, mystery, fighting and sweet love - oh! and strong Scottish men. I loved everything about this story. Well-written, wonderful characters and a HEA. Perfect!

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This one was really good. I’ve been reading a few historical romances lately and some have been good, but some have been just okay. This is not in the just okay category. Heather McCollum builds an amazing tale in this book and gives us everything we want in a historical–a viral man who knows he’s the man, a gentlemen, imagery to die for in it’s extravagance, authenticity to the era, a lady who doesn’t overpower the hero but works as his equal without emasculating him. We get all of that and so much more. How about brothers and sisters I’m sure we will get to meet them soon.

Lark and Adam find themselves in peculiar circumstances at a festival in the islands of Scotland. Lark is being forced to marry during the festival and Adam ends up ensnared in the throes of “love at first site.” He just doesn’t understand the why of wanting to beat back any man asking for her hand and how he really just wants to carry her off for his own. Of course he doesn’t admit that to his brother. His brother sees it in his stare and in his words though. There is just one small problem, Adam’s clan is cursed.

Cursed you say, this sounds like a Halloween story. It’s not that simple, there is a lot of discussion about if you believe in the curse then it exists but if you don’t, then it can’t hurt you…Tell the willow tree with the knife it; I’m sure it would love to hear, “if you don’t believe, your life force will come back.” Anyway, Adam gets lucky and has a bride before she learns of the curse, seeing as most women in the area will not marry any of the brothers for fear they will die just as the clan’s matriarch, their mother, did.

Lark, bless her soul, she really stepped in it this time. However, Adam is the gentleman we want to see and Lark is drawn to that. She also knows she must make a new life for herself regardless and this is the horse she tied herself to so she will persevere. Good thing she is practical because that is what it is going to take even after Love opens her heart. I like to think the women of that age would have been practical and thus we get authenticity in the story on both sides. She also realizes Adam is the Clan Chief and she must stand beside him but not overpower him or stand against him in public. This lets him keep his chin up even when he just wants to lock the two of them in the tower and ravish her, regardless of what his brothers advise.

As far as imaginary, she does an outstanding job of describing the surroundings even down to the pair of leather boots left in Adam’s Mom’s closet. And don’t mention the dress she wears in their tartan. It sounded beautiful. The castle, grounds, and handsome brothers were all there in grand fashion, right down to the awful smell she found when first arriving at the castle.

As you can see this ticks all my boxes. She doesn’t even short us on the HEA either. I won’t spoil the ending though so you’ll just have to pick it up for yourself to see how she does. We’d love to hear if you liked it as much as I did. I’m giving it a 4 of 5 on my scale. Please feel free to comment on the facebook page or here on the blog.

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The Highlander’s Unexpected Proposal is the first book in the new series The Brothers of Wolf Isle. It was a short book but full of danger, intrigue, and suspense. The storyline and characters were developed, and the book kept your attention. The characters were charming, and it was hard not to love the Macquarie men. Lark was spunky, sassy, and brave. She was able to hold her own with the family. Adam was honorable and hated to mislead Lark about their clan, but he had made promises to his dad to revive the clan. I enjoyed getting to know the Macquarie clan and look forward to the next book in the series.

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This one definitely hit the spot for me and I liked it a lot.
I’m partial to some Scottish historical romance and though this was a new author for me I clicked with this straight away.
The easy writing style drew me in investing me in the unfolding narrative and though this was not an overly complicated or angsty story it struck just the right balance for me.

The story is set in 1545 in highland Scotland, The decimated clan of Macquarie is trying to rebuild and repopulate there abandoned isle.
Under a curse, this century past all that is left of this once proud clan is Chief and oldest brother Adam and his five younger brothers and also a superstitious family friend Rabbie, What they need now are wives.

Enter Lark Montgomerie she is attending the Beltane festival with her family where her father has plans to marry her off as he wants her out of his house.
When Lark and Adam meet she sees In him her salvation and a chance to travel away from her past.
Thinking him the better option than her other two unwanted suitors Lark chooses him instead.

So this was a really great read it was very well written had enough intrigue and suspense to keep things interesting but not too much to turn me away.
I liked both Lark and Adam and also all the brothers.
I believe each sibling is going to get there own individual story and based on my experience with this I would definitely read them.

I liked the simplistic approach here how our newlyweds fell for each other gradually both learning trust and gaining their happiness gradually and together.

This had a bit of everything there were secrets some mystery, drama and also danger added to the mix.
This wasn’t majorly explicit but it certainly had enough sexy-times to satisfy me and the bond itself felt real and authentic and most importantly genuine.
I believed in there growing connection and eventual feelings and was rooting for them 110%.
I especially liked the fact that the sex here didn’t feel prosy or contrived, It’s a mega turn-off for me and one of my top pet-hates in historical fiction.

Overall this was a good one and I enjoyed myself a lot.
I would recommend this if your partial to Scottish historical romance like me and this is definitely one of the better ones around.
I voluntary reviewed a copy of A Highlander’s Unexpected Proposal.

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This was an unexpected joy. See what I did there? This started a bit slow but the secrets and twists had me turning pages and thoroughly enjoying Lark and Adam. I'm curious to see if Lark's sisters will come to the island

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I enjoyed this book. I had mixed feelings after reading some reviews but I am glad I read it. First off the storyline is great, filled with intrigue and mysteries all around. The author writes well and holds your attention. Love a feisty heroine that can well take care of herself.
Critiques: little to no character development, the ending wraps up very fast, the holding back of information is what drives much of the story and is a bit weak, Lark seems to get mad at anything and nothing and flies off, alot of back and forth as to if she was staying or going, did he want her or not. Story does jump without finishing scenes. The whole theme as to her being a bastard was carried on too far I feel, I know it was a big deal back in the day but this seemed to be an infatuation in this story.
There should be a mild trigger warning about molestation as the female lead was being sexually assaulted by her step-father as she later admits.
Overall, I do recommend this book for the story alone because it is a good love story. I will be checking out more from this author.
I was granted an advanced e-copy of this in exchange for a review.

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I thought the main characters were likeable and their story is believable. Their love story progresses slowly, even if the love scenes come before the feelings as usual. However I was surprised to have a heroine swearing a lot, and who seems quite at ease in the first love scene (even if she had drunk a little bit of whisky for courage, that doesn’t explain all).

What disturbed me more was the fact there are lots of unsaid between them. First Adam doesn’t explain to Lark during the travel days to go home that his island is cursed, letting her project herself in a future he knows is impossible. Then Lark hides her illegitimate birth even when she learns the curse talks about banning bastards of the island. As she’s afraid of the hero’s reaction, she puts off telling him the truth on herself even after having learned the curse’s exact words who exonerate her, even though he’s put trust at the center of their couple from the moment he recognized he hid his situation during the first days.

The story seems a bit all over the place, there are a lot of sub-plots between the curse, the attacks from another clan, the unknown captain whose men attacked them on the road, the strange noises on the island, the pirates, and if a lot of things are revealed in the end, the whole seems a bit scrappy for too long and I felt some points were skimmed through.

I also read several reviews talking about a strong similarity with the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and after reading the detail synopsis on Wikipedia I understand why. But as I didn’t know the movie beforehand that didn’t disturbed me.

All in all it’s a novel I didn’t enjoy as much as the other books I’ve read from this author, but I’ll be there for the sequel to get a better idea on the series.

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This is a voluntary review of an advanced copy.

What drama and intrigue as Lark and Adam just try to start a new marriage with lots of danger and mishap. Both Lark and Adam are withholding secrets/info and that leads to some disappointment and hurt.

It was hard to put the book down as I wanted to find out who the mysterious captain was and who was behind the problems on their island.

Such a touching moment when Adam has to decide if he would rather lead his clan which means leaving Lark or leaving his clan and keeping Lark.

Hope that we find out more about the other brothers and how their attempt to bring the island back to life is working!

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Book 1 of Heather McCollum's new series was fantastic.

A laird trying to defeat a "curse", provide for his people, and grow his clan so Adam finds himself needing a wife. Lark needed rescuing and seeking the aid of newly met Laird Macquarie seemed like her only option. Married and off to her new clan was exciting for Lark, she could not wait to get to know her people and help them prosper but the trip home was quiet and tense. Adam had not told his wife the truth about his clan and that it was really just him and his brothers (7 Brides for 7 brothers vibes). As Lark has to comes to terms with her anger at Adam she also learns more about him and finds herself quiet liking him. As Adam and Lark's relationship grows so do the weird occurrences on the idea.

Curses, highlanders, intrigue, and superstition all create a fantastic read!

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This book has a very interesting premise and start. However, the narration is too messy for my taste. The important scenes that should have been detailed (i.e. fight scenes) aren't that detailed and those that are not so important are extremely detailed. There's also poor to no character development at all and there's a lot of plot holes in the story. The ending is so abrupt and doesn't wrap up everything and basically just happened out of nowhere. I feel like the book should have been longer and should end with a more satisfying ending.

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Review featured at www.books-n-kisses.com

This is a new series from Heather McCollum. I love her Highlander novels so I was excited to begin a new series which I assume will be about the brothers.

In this one, Adam is desperate for a wife and since the Isle has no women any longer he leaves the Isle to find one. Lark is desperate to get away from her father who wants her out of his house so the situation seems perfect to marry the Chief and rule with him. But things are not what they seem.

I truly enjoy the way McCollum writes. I enjoy the romance, intimacy and humor that she puts into each novel. And this is no different. I really liked the brothers and can’t wait to read each of their stories.

Another great book by McCollum!

Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

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I always enjoy Ms McCollum books. This stories wasn't the exception. Both main characters are great. I am looking forward the next book in the series.

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Another win by Heather McCollum. I absolutely adore this series and The Highlander's Unexpected Proposal is no exception. The characters were crafted to perfection and i fell in love with them from the first. I love the plot and how it swept me away from the first page. I have read everything written by this wonderful author and I can't wait for her next novel. This book is definitely going on my list to recommend.

I received this book in exchange for my unbiased, honest opinion and review. My comments were in no way influenced by the author or publisher.

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