I’ll admit that I solely picked up In the Arms of the Highlander by Michele Sinclair based on the title and cover. I was in the mood for a highlander romance and didn’t look much further into the book. What I discovered was this was the ninth book in a series, and boy was it obvious I hadn’t read the previous books.

So, let’s start with the fact that this is part of a long-running series. The romance between Brodie and Shinae stands on its own. The two of them hadn’t crossed paths prior to this book. However, I found certain parts of the book really hard to follow as there were so many couples and kids mentioned… I couldn’t keep up. It really didn’t help that all the McTiernay brothers, which the series follows, have “C” names. About a third of the way through the book, I gave up trying to keep track of who was married to who and how they all fit into this large family.

The romance in the story was okay. Ms. Sinclair did a decent job throwing these two together in a compromising position, leading to a hasty marriage and allowing love to bloom. Yes, there was miscommunication and all those other little things that get in the way when you’re getting to know someone, but there was also a definite spark between the two. However, the romance got lost in everything else happening in the book.

One of the subplots is a spy for the English king having infiltrated the McTiernay clan in order to kill someone in the family. This plot was why Shinae is heading to Lochlen Castle, but it often got pushed to the side. It randomly was resolved toward the end of the book. It was wrapped up too nicely with no rhyme or reason. I could have used just a little more.

Despite having jumped into the series at book nine, I was immediately captured on page one with the vivid action scene involving Shinae, which was by far the highlight of the book, and couldn’t wait to see how the story would unfold. While I had moments of laughter and tears, I was underwhelmed by the book as a whole. The reunion of the McTiernay family dominated the book leaving the other plotlines in the dust and I was left wanting.

In the Arms of the Highlander wasn’t a bad book, and in fact, fans of the series will likely enjoy the McTiernay family reunion. But if you haven’t read the series, I wouldn’t recommend starting here. Start on the first book of the series instead to enjoy all the family dynamics I didn’t quite understand.

Shinae Mayboill, is an independent, strong, courageous woman who knows how to wield a wicked dagger/knife. She can defend herself if need be. Taught from a young age by her mother and father. She was a nun but left that due to the rules and not being allowed to help the townspeople. Now tasked to deliver a message of great importance to her sister and husband.

Among other fellow nun, Isilmë, that left the church tags along and they get caught in a rain storm, cold, wet and exhausted, the two are found by Brodie Dunstan and fellow warrior knight Dunlop McTiernays.

Brodie spent 8years helping train Lord Donovan's men thinking he would be the next in line for the Laird of the clan only to be sent back to the McTiernay clan. He is kind, brave, strong, and loyal.

When Shines and Brodie are found in a compromising situation they wed. Either could have backed out but Shines feels safe with Brodie and he is protective of her.

As the two navigate marriage and what they will do, each learns from the other. When unknown rules start to cause issues the two work through them to solve the problems and to prevent it from happening again. With danger lurking, misunderstanding, and a full house of brothers, wives, and children, calamity ensues.

So join us on this rousing romp they medieval Scotland and help solve a mystery or two, enjoy a wedding or two, and harvest celebrations. Will Shines surrender to Brodie or will Brodie surrender to Shinea?

Shinae Mayboil was living her life as a nun. As each abbey is burned by the English, she and her fellow nuns moved to other abbeys. This time Shinae has had enough. Giving the sisters more time to escape, Shinae uses her skill with knives to kill some of the soldiers. Cyric Shellden works for King Robert, and arrives at the abbey in time to aid Shinae. He gives her a message to deliver to her sister at Lochlen Castle. On her way to Lochlen Castle, the weather turns bad as she struggles on foot. She is saved by Brodie Dunstan. Caught in a compromising situation, they are quickly married at Lochlen Caste, but her sister hasn't arrived yet. Shinae's secret may overshadow her happiness with Brodie. Most of the book is about Shinae and Brodie finding their way through their marriage. The spy seems to be more of an afterthought to bind them to the clan.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

This was an entertaining, well-written book. It held my interest and I wanted to find out what would happen. I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others.

The McTiernay brothers will always be able to depend upon Brodie Dunstan’s loyalty, his sword, and his strength. Brodie Dunstan was an honoured McTiernay commander when he agreed to leave and help an allied clan. Eight years later, he’s back among the McTiernays at Lochlen Castle, yet despite the welcome, Brodie feels he’s still searching for his rightful place. The moment he rescues a storm-soaked young woman on the road to Lochlen, he wonders if he’s found it. From nun to killer to royal spy, Shinae Mayboill has had little choice in her life’s path so far. Now, caught in a compromising position with Brodie after her rescue, she’s ushered into a hasty marriage.
This is the ninth book in the series & whilst it could be read on its own previous characters do make appearances. I’m on the fence with this book as it promised so much in the beginning but then it fizzled out into too much description & too much time spent on previous characters. I felt Brodie & Shina were lost & because of that I felt there was little chemistry between them & the romance was lost. I think this is my least favourite in the series & hope future books are back on track
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

Shinae Mayboill is a nun turned spy. Her nunery is attacked by english soldiers and holding her own against them with her two blades when King's attaché comes in and helps finish the last one off. He sends her to her sister who is married to Conan McTiernay. He tells her that Conan's life is in danger. Brodie Dunstan is part of Conan's brother's soldiers he comes acrosse Shinae when she's passed out on Mctiernay land. he spends the night in a hut with her and by morning finds himself maried to Shinae.

Complementary copy of this book was proved by NetGalley for my honest review and opinion.
Michelle Sinclair does it again! Yes, Yes Yes! I love this series and I am so glad to see Brodie finally finds the love and closure he needs!

A great look into life in Scotland an the trials of the wives and their husbands trying to keep their lands from the English
A great look into how love and tenacity can achieve a great life in a Scottish castle, a glimpse on how life was and how all were happy with their lot
Life was hard but people were happy
A great look into how Scottish people lived and loved

In the Arms of a Highlander by Michele Sinclair is book 9 in The McTiernays Series. This is the story of Shinae Mayboill and Brodie Dunstan. Shinae was once a nun now she has been turned into a spy that can be a deadly one, never giving a choice in any of it. Shinae has been trying to survive. Brodie has always been helping and fighting his whole like but now he has returned to McTiernays at Lochlen Castle but he still feels he has found his place. Then he saves a women named Shinae who makes him feel needed and they are forced to marry due to their circumstance. But what will Brodie do when he learns the truth about Shinae past? Enjoyed their story.

I loved this book so much! There are eight books before this one, which I haven't read, and I was still able to enjoy this with feeling like I'm missing information. I could hardly put it down!

The prologue has lots of action. And after the marriage, it might feel like it slows down a little but there is still a lot of things going on at Lochlen Castle. The mystery of who wants to hurt her brother in law, and this couple going through some married to a stranger growing pains.

Shinae is a nun but after an attack on her abbey, she decides to renounce her vows, help those injured in the recent attacks and reunite with her younger sister. She travels with another ex-nun, who she feels is slowing her down. They are caught in a storm before reaching Lochlen Castle.

Brodie was a commander for the clan McTiernay before he left to help an allied clan. But now he's back and searching for his rightful place. While out taking a walk he's caught off guard by an incoming storm. As he seeks shelter he comes across a woman making her way to Lochlen.

The next morning, they are caught in a compromising position and they are rushed into marriage. Both know they could protest this but don't because each has a reason to go through with this marriage.

Thank you so much to the author, Avon/Harper Voyager and NetGalley for this ARC to review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

In The Arms Of A Highlander appealed to me on many levels. This is a charming love story of two lonely strangers who wed after knowing each other less than a day. There is also an exciting spy plot. This is a character-driven plot, the action is there, but the tremendous personalities of both primary and secondary characters are the true stars of the novel.

Both Brodie and Shinae are larger than life personalities. Brodie is a true warrior who is at loose ends. Shinae has a very colorful background, from nun to spy, yet she is looking for something more too. The couple marries almost immediately after they meet. I love how the entire story is the couple’s rocky, passionate journey learning to trust and love each other. Brodie and Shinae’s connection is instantaneous and fiery hot.

The plot is told uniquely. While the main character’s point of view is prominent, there are many secondary characters’ points of view. A lot is going on in the plot, and there were a lot of voices going around in my head; however, the writing style worked. Instead of the many viewpoints getting confusing, it gave the plot an epic scope. It was a very well-rounded, immersive plot. The pace was fast, and the dialogue flowed flawlessly from character to character.

I loved this couple’s chemistry. Beyond everything, this is a beautiful, engaging love story. There are many ups and downs, I enjoyed how the couple’s journey was rocky, yet their passion was fierce. They learn as they get to know one another that love can be at first sight yet still grow into something more profound.

In The Arms Of A Highlander is the ninth book in The McTiernays series. There are a lot of past characters in this novel, yet it never confused me. The story was always concise and clear. I have been in a book slump, and this book broke that monotony perfectly! This is a sweeping, largess plot full of sensuality and intrigue. I enjoyed every second of this fast-paced, passionate, exciting novel, and I didn’t want it to end! If you want sexy Scotsmen and strong women, this is the book for you!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book through Netgalley and the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Book: In the Arms of a Highlander
By Michele Sinclair
Series: Series: The McTiernays, Book
Release Date: January 25, 2022
Publisher: Kensington
Pages:352
Overall Rating: 3 stars
Blog Review: 3 Saltire Flags

This is not my favorite in just the description of the hero Brodie Dunstan who is forty-one and doesn’t seem like he’s accomplished much was a turn off. Now his friend who was in the secondary romance also didn’t do much for me either. Plus there was too much in this storyline I could not connect to the characters. This is very disappointing as I usually love this author and the McTiernays.

Maybe going outside the family steered the author in the wrong direction. As the English were coming to destroy all the abbey’s and the heroine, Shinae Mayboill who was a nun, spy and a killer was killing them all. I am not thrilled with the ex-nun storyline as there seems to be an over abundance of them lately.

There didn’t seem to enough real romance and the marriage happened too quickly. Especially for a lass who wanted nothing to do with a husband or marriage. It was just really slow after that and I was kind of lost. The author was throwing passion scenes in what seemed like at inappropriate times. So I am disappointed I didn’t enjoy this book as I loved the other eight books in this series.? I look forward to the next book in this series which I hope I enjoy more.


Disclaimer: I received a complimentary ARC copy from the publishers through netgalley. I voluntarily agreed to read, review and blog an advance copy of this book. All thoughts, ideas and opinions are my own.

I thought this was a little convoluted. There was McTierney's everywhere. Brodie saved her life, and she felt an extreme attraction to him. She found him so gentle, sweet, and kind. He thought she was gorgeous and so helpful. He married her, no questions asked. He didn't leave her side. This was hard a couple of times, He wanted to help her adjust to so many people. He even had the same problems.
He wanted her to get to know his friends. Dunlop was a friend and he fell in love with Isilme, the nun who accompanied her. She had spent her life being a good nun. Now she had a chance to spread her wings. She loved to sew, and she did a beautiful job. She was happy and when Dunlop started courting
her she went to the moon. To many McTierney's. There were a lot of brothers, and each brother had a wife and then figured in the children. That is a passel of people. Exciting things were going on around them all the time. I enjoyed it but wish they could explain more about the McTierney's. I got lost a time or two.

I received this Arc from Net Galley and voluntarily reviewed it,

I’ve waited a day since completing this book because it left me thoroughly confused about how I felt about it. I’m still confused. I think this story tried to be three or four books smushed into one. There were too many characters with too much going on – and well – it just seems disjointed to me. I thought I was going to get an exciting Highlander and his lass coming to find their HEA while investigating and saving the life of her sister’s husband. I envisioned exciting, tense, gripping battles and chases with lovely romantic interludes intertwined. What I got was a very exciting beginning that rapidly slowed down to a crawl. If you add all of the page time together, you’ll probably find that the characters from the previous books take up much more time than our current pair. Then, there were so many pages of descriptions of who was who that I began to get them all mixed up and I’ve read the previous books. All of that said, I actually liked Brodie and Shinae, and would have loved to have more of their story in detail rather than just glossed over quickly. I had liked Shinae’s sister in her book, but not this one. They hadn’t seen each other in five years and she made no effort to hurry to get to the castle to see Shinae – and when she did arrive, it was just “Hi, how are you?”.

The first page in the Prologue starts out so very exciting! If that had continued throughout the book, I would have given it 10-stars. The English are going from abbey to abbey in Scotland and burning them to the ground. When they arrive at the abbey where Shinae is a knife-carrying, dissatisfied nun, Shinae decides to do whatever she can to buy her fellow nuns the time they need to escape. She singlehandedly takes on and defeats five English warriors before escaping herself. Just as she is defeating the last of the warriors, a man appears in the doorway and she’s not sure she can take on another soldier. Luckily, he is there to help. When he learns she’s related by marriage to the McTiernays, he asks her to take on a mission for King Robert. Since that mission involves saving her sister’s husband, she doesn’t hesitate to accept.

Chapter One begins with Shinae and an uninvited companion, Isilme, having trekked (on foot) toward Lochlen Castle where ALL of the McTiernay’s will be gathering for celebrations. Though it is summer, the rain and wind are freezing them. They are almost to the castle when they just can’t trudge further. If they don’t find shelter, they’ll be dead from the chill by morning. Luckily for Shinae, she’s found and rescued and manages to ask her rescuer to look for her companion. So, Brodie rescues Shinae and his friend, Dunlop, went to rescue Isilme. Thus, our two romances are set up.

Then, all of the myriad legs of the story branch out and ultimately leave you scratching your head in confusion. Well, not totally, I could certainly follow it, but goodness I shouldn’t have had to work to do so. So much of it was totally superfluous and disjointed.

So, I liked Brodie and Shinae and their story. I liked Dunlop and Isilme and their story. The McTiernay’s portion of the mystery was okay, but – the entire solution was about 2 pages and the rest was chaff. Then, there was the Mahon thing – I guess it was there for a red herring, but it just added another layer of superfluous nonsense as far as I was concerned. IF we had broken this down into more than one book OR put more of the feature on the romances and much less on all of the McTiernay stuff, it would have been a much more enjoyable read. Yes, I understand this is part of the McTiernay series, but – they could have made cameo appearances and taken on a supporting role rather than the starring role.

I wouldn’t read this book a second time, but I am pleased to have met Brodie, Shinae, Dunlop, and Isilme. I loved that Brodie wasn’t a Laird and wasn’t becoming one. I liked that he was floundering with finding his place within the clan and I loved that Shinae was proud of him and supportive of him no matter what he chose to do. It was nice to see the ‘common’ folk get their HEA.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

GREAT STORYLINE!!!! In the Arms of a Highlander by Michele Sinclair is book 9 in The McTiernays series and though in a series this book can be read as a standalone. What I really liked about this book was the mystery behind it. Trying to figure out who was to be the murder was really exciting and yes I had guessed it wrong until the very end. The beginning was just totally action packed as well and I couldn’t put this book down. The romance between Brodie and Shinae just sizzled and I really enjoyed the love at first sight this book portrayed. The only thing I didn’t like was that I personally though there were too many love scenes… some people may like that so don’t go by my word alone. I must admit that after reading the first two I started skipping over those pages. All and All I found this book to be original, true to the era and just well written. This story has a nun that can take care of herself, a warrior that really doesn’t know what to do with himself, a lot of really strong women, a harvest festival and family gathering, a really great fight in the beginning, a secret mission that put them all in danger, a friend who constantly talks, a lot of couples fighting (that cracked me up), a stabbing, wanting to be Laird, a strong family, children getting into trouble, eavesdropping and love at first sight. There is so much more to this book and I am recommending you read it.

***This book was gifted to me and I am voluntarily reviewing.

This is a story of love at first sight, and although Brodie and Shinae don’t recognize it as love at first, they do know they have a connection. Even so, they must fight the preconceptions of an era where Shinae’s talents are unthinkable. Whether daughter and sister, nun, spy, or wife, Shinae must find her way to her happy future, while Brodie must overcome his overbearing tendencies to find his happiness with her. While I found the story to be good, it was also filled with so many sub-plots that it was a little confusing. I suggest reading the previous books that come before it so that you can keep up with everything going on.

Brodie Dunstan was an honored McTiernay commander when he agreed to leave and help an allied clan. Eight years later, he’s back among the McTiernays at Lochlen Castle, yet despite the welcome, Brodie feels he’s still searching for his rightful place. The moment he rescues a storm-soaked young woman on the road to Lochlen, he wonders if he’s found it...

This is book 9 of the series, but can be read as a stand alone - as I had not read any of the other books in the series and was able to get through this book having not done so. A nice read.

I loved the premise of this book and how it started. The assassin nun thing definitely hooked me immediately. However, it went downhill past the first chapter for me. It took me weeks to finish this one because of too many descriptions and info dumps all throughout. The romance took too long to start as well and with the addition of the long-winded passages and overwriting, I got bored real quick. That definitely tainted my enjoyment of this book and the amount of care I have for the characters, which diminishes significantly after every long-winded chapter.

I absolutely loved this book!
I loved strong witted female protagonists and this book had exactly that! Shinae was such a fun enjoyable character to read about!
And don't get me started on Brodie 🥵!!!!
Honestly, i can't tell you how much i enjoyed this book and i 100% recommend this book!!!!

Thank you Netgalley and Kensington Books for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have followed Michele Sinclair and the McTiernay's stories since they came out and was really excited to read this newest installment. We start with Shinae, a former knife throwing nun, whose abbey was attacked and burned. She is given the task of going to Colin McTiernay's fort and is to warn her sister and brother-in-law about someone who is trying to kill them. She is also tasked with finding the English spy. She almost dies on the way but is rescued by Brodie, a newly returned former Commander in the McTiernay's army. They're caught alone and forced to marry, not that they seem to care!

I enjoyed getting to see Shinae and Brodie figure their marriage out and how communication is key. They were both likeable well developed -characters. I also enjoyed getting to see some of the former characters. However, there is just way too much going on. There are too many people and honestly at some points I have no clue how we got from a to b. If I hadn't read the previous books I would have been so lost. It really detracted from the main storyline which was supposed to be Shinae and Brodie and the mysterious spy.

But overall I think those who have read and followed the series will enjoy getting to see their main commanders find their HEA.