My Fierce Highlander

A touching read

My Fierce Highlander by Vonda Sinclair is a touching read, filled with adventure and heart stopping romance. English Lady Gwyneth Carswell is banished from her home and position by her father to the harsh Scottish Highlands. Her one mistake in judgment led to her becoming pregnant in the year 1618. Married to a brutal highland man of her father's choosing, then widowed a short time later, Gwyneth will do anything to protect her beloved son Rory, not only from the shame of his illegitimacy, but physically also. She vows he will not learn the ways of war her clan and the bloodthirsty laird MacIrwin wish to teach him. Rather, she strengthens his mind through education, in hopes that he will one day be able to leave the battle bloodied highlands for a safe, peaceful position as a professor or some other nonviolent profession. Laird Alasdiar MacGrath leads a neighboring clan, yet unlike The MacIrwin, Alasdiar longs for peace between their clans. He strives to end two hundred years of funding by agreeing to come in person to MacIrwin land, a peace treaty safely tucked away in his clothing. But Donald MacIrwin laird is not an honorable man, and he ambushes Alasdiar and the men who traveled with him, rendering almost all dead. Gwyneth, a healer, stumbles across the battlefield, and is sickened by the senseless carnage. She discovers Alasdiar gravely wounded, and struggles to decide what she should do. She sees from his clothing that he is from an enemy clan, and suspects by the fine quality of his garments that he holds some high position within his clan, perhaps even the laird. She knows if she assists him she risks not only her life, but that of her son and the elderly healer she and Rory lived with. But something about the handsome enemy stirs her. As she does a hasty examination, she discovers the peace treaty he carried and she knows she cannot let this peace seeking man die. Adventure blasts off the first page, and keeps the reader hanging on and breathless clear through to the last page. Ms. Sinclair pens a Scottish Historical guaranteed to stay in the readers' heart and mind well after Gwyneth and Alasdiar's story comes to an end. I enjoyed the twist within this love story. Rather than Gwyneth wearing her heart on her sleeve pining away for Alasdiar's affection, it is Alasdiar who openly declares his love for her. This warrior has his heart broken time and time again as Gwyneth rejects his offer of marriage and protection because she is determined to take her son away from the highlands and its inherent violence. Regardless of the love she feels for Alasdiar, her first responsibility is to her son and his safety. She will scacerfice her own happiness, and that of Alasdiar's, to protect Rory. The love scenes in this story are few, and are sophisticated, penned for the mature reader. My Fierce Highlander is well written, with just the right amount of brogue to draw the reader into the Highlands, yet not enough to distract from the story itself. I was impressed with the detail's Ms. Sinclair threaded into this story, clothing, food, housing, attitude, and customs enriched Gwyneth and Alasdiar's journey and truly drew me into their world. I highly recommend My Fierce Highlander, and look forward to book two in this series, My Wild Highlander.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Highly Recommended!

Thoroughly enjoyed Vonda Sinclair's, Fierce Highlander, the adventure, intrigue, and romance, and look forward to the next book she has coming out!

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Wonderful Read!

I loved this book! It's atmospheric, intriguing, touching and passionate. A real page turner and a terrific debut for Ms. Sinclair. Gwyneth is compassionate and brave, trying to make a new life for her and her young son in a strange land. And Laird Alasdair is beyond sexy, trying to bring peace among the clans. I fell in love with him and was rooting for this couple all the way. If you want to feel like you've traveled back in time to the Scottish highlands, I highly recommend this book. I was drawn in from the very first page.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Amazing!!!

I absolutely loved this book. I am in love with Alsdair the hero. He is a perfect man in any century.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Everything I was looking for in a romance!

Gwyneth Carswell was banished to the Scottish Highlands six years ago after a scandal in England. Now living as a healer with her young son Rory she wishes for nothing more than a life of peace for him, yet with her cousin's clan the MacIrwins she knows that is an impossibility. Always at war with the MacGrath's, Gwyneth has stayed far from the skirmishes until she happens upon a fallen warrior of the neighboring enemy. Unable to turn away she hides him and nurses him back to health, risking her own life and that of her son's. When her cousin learns of her treachery though, Gwyneth must flee to the MacGrath's lands hoping that the fierce warrior she saved will protect them both.

Laird Alasdair MacGrath seeks only peace for the clan he is chieftain to, wishing to end a two-hundred year feud with the MacIrwins, he offers a peace treaty only to be ambushed and injured. Waking up to what must be a fairy, Alasdair recovers and untrusting with his surroundings returns home. But he can't get the blue-eyed beauty out of his head and when she shows up in his keep he offers her his home and his protection. Broken hearted from the loss of his wife several years ago Alasdair is not looking for love but he cannot fight the magnetic attraction her feels towards Gwyneth though it seems that she can! Determined to win her heart Alasdair fights the most important battle of his life, but when it comes down to him or her son how is Alasdair ever to win?

Vonda Sinclair captures the excitement and magic in romance with My Fierce Highlander! Her vivid story telling brought the Scottish Highlands to life with detail and accuracy. The language used was not complicated if you are unaccustomed to Scottish Romances, just enough of that sexy brogue and Gaelic to make you tingle.

Sinclair delivers a plot that is enticing and moved fluidly with captivating characters full of dimension that were brought to life on the pages. The romance was balanced nicely with action and suspense. I was caught breathless during the most romantic scenes ever, being drawn in by Alasdair and Gwyneth's sizzling chemistry and fiery passion. Then brought to desperation, my heart wrenching along with the characters, when Alasdair and Gwyneth reached their lowest; and my heart soared when they finally found their HEA. I was glued to this riveting story start to finish and did not want it to end.

The secondary characters of Gwyneth's son Rory (BTW, I just love that name), who was absolutely adorable and a key element to the novel, and Alasdair's brother Lachlan along with the rest of his clan were all interesting in their own right and the ending left a nice little set-up for the next book in the series about Lachlan called My Wild Highlander, which seriously intrigued me. I would recommend this book to all Scottish romance lovers or romance/historical romance readers in general. A fabulous debut from a new author I will def. be keeping my eye on!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A must read

I thought that this was a great love story. I cannot wait for the next book to come out. Lachlan is going to be fun to watch fall in love...

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great read - check it out!

Vonda Sinclair writes Scottish historical romance as if she lived it and loved it. She drew me into a world of kilts, castles, peat fires and brawny men with lovely brogues so easily, it made me wonder if there were otherworldly charms attached to this book. The romance between the determined heroine and fiercely appealing hero is both heart-warming and scorch-your-socks hot. If you enjoy Scottish historicals in any way, this one is worth the read.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Excellent!

Great read. Had a hard time putting it down!

Highly Recommended

Makes me want to live in the 16th century in scottland

Excellent book

Loved this story and I am getting ready to order the next book in this series!

I enjoyed it so much I'd read it again and again!!!

Review by Robin: WOW!!!! Vonda takes you on a trip to the Highlands of Scotland. Where we meet two wounded souls, one hurt in a physical battle and the other by mental and physical abuse. They find that they can heal each other, finding love and peace along the way.

My love for Highlanders came at an early age I think that maybe in an earlier life I lived there. I also think it may be my strong Irish ties. Whatever it is I fell in love instantly with Alasdair MacGrath wanting to be the one that finds him on the battlefield and heals his broken body. Fragile Lady Gwyneth Carswell, was used as a pawn by men, until she meets the devastatingly handsome MacGrath.

We find that Gwyneth is banished to the highlands for some reason by her father. Given to distant cousins she is forced into a loveless marriage. She finds herself caught up in the violence of two clans. One is her distant relatives; the other is that of the MacGraths. She is living with Mora, who has taught her the art of healing.

After a fierce battle she hears moaning. Investigating brings Alasdair into her life. She finds that all he wants is peace and that he just may be someone that she can trust. But trusting men comes hard for Gwyneth.

As, the story unfolds we find Mora (who has taught Gwyneth the ways of a healer) killed and Gwyneth and her young son Rory running for their lives and right into the hands or onto the land of the MacGraths. He offers them a safe haven.

As they get to know one another the feelings that were underlying come to the surface. But they have a rough road ahead.

Gwyneth not wanting to cause problems decides to sleep with the servants only to find that her life is in danger as she is stabbed the first night in the MacGrath castle. She is then moved to a better room and Alasdair offers her some of his late wife's clothing. She becomes in charge of the household.

Stolen kisses and a rather heated afternoon delight leaves you wanting more. More is exactly what you get. Gwyneth wants Alasdair but doesn't feel that what they have is real. It is just words of a man to get her to do as he wants.

The past comes back and takes them on a journey in search of her kidnapped son and brings them closer together but still at an arm's reach. Leaving you to wonder what was going to happen next for the lovers.

Over the course of time we find that Alasdair and Gwyneth find that they have more than just a physical relationship (which by the way tends to be rather hot!). Romance so heartwarming and classy, it leaves you wanting more.

From the Scottish burr, the highlands of Scotland, Ms. Sinclair pulls us in and leaves us wanting more. At times I could hear the distant sounds of bagpipes and see the heather dusting the fields of the highlands. I wasn't able to put this down and read it from start to finish. I look forward to the next book in the series, My Wild Highlander. I would highly recommend this book and would read it again.

An enjoyable read

Vonda Sinclair is a new to me author. I'm always leery of trying new authors out so I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this book. I can honestly say that I liked this book. I liked it enough that I already bought and read the second book in this series. :) The book did start off a bit slow for me and it took me awhile to get into it. The action does start to pick up and things went smoothly from there.

Alasdair is a fine hero. He protects Gwyneth at every turn either from her clansman or from his fellow clansman. He is instantly attracted to her for her strength but knows that she is a lady and fights his baser instinct. Once he realizes there is no hope of ever getting over her he sets about to thoroughly seduce her and seduce her he did. As for Gwyneth she a bit more complicated. She is torn between her growing feelings for Alasdair and her wish to find a better life for her son away from the Highlands. There were moments that I enjoyed Gwyneth's strength and than she had her moments of blind stupidity that just made me want to smack her at times. LOL!

As a couple these two fit together and the scenes where they interact is filled with major sexual chemistry. Their story moved at a believable pace and the dialogue kept me reading. I loved the secondary characters in this book. Lachlan, Alasdair's younger brother was such a flirt and a man whore. I couldn't help but love him. Rory, Gwyneth's son was an absolute cutie. Usually kids in books annoy me but I thought Rory's character was well written and added to the storyline. The bad guys were literally bad. Rory's real father, Southwick and the Laird MacIrwin provided the right villainous conflict to keep the story moving nicely.

Overall I enjoyed this book. I definitely would recommend it for lovers of Highlander stories.

Who doesn't love a Scottish Highlander?

[The author sent me a copy of this novel to review for my blog Historical Fiction Obsession.]

I love reading books that are set in Scotland or Ireland, so My Fierce Highlander by Vonda Sinclair immediately appealed to me, obviously because of its title! When an author takes the beautiful terrain of Scotland, adds a love story, and historical elements I'm happy. My Fierce Highlander started off a little slow for me, and for the first couple of chapters I struggled a little bit to get into the book. However, I liked her descriptions of the terrain of Scotland's Highlands, and the characters were believable enough for me to become involved in their story, and once I was involved in the plot the book was hard to put down.

To me Gwyneth was definitely a more believable character to me than the main male character, Alasdair. She was a woman in the 1600's who was sensual, but yet sought to hide the sensual side of herself, and felt guilty due to it, because it was not acceptable for her to express herself sexually. It's changed quite a bit since then obviously, but as recently as 60 or so years ago it was still not really considered acceptable for woman. The only reason Alasdair is not as believable for me, is because he seems almost too perfect. His wife had died two years previously and he had yet to remarry or to even enjoy sex. Gwyneth helps to bring him "back to life" in a way. He is the Chieftain of his clan, and I guess I just found it a little unbelievable that he had not remarried in order to have heirs to follow him. In the 1600's it seems like that was one of the main goals of men who were noble or wealthy, and it did not matter whether love came into the equation. Alasdair does gain the reader's sympathy though, because he comes across as such a romantic hero, willing to risk his life for Gwyneth and her son. Gwyneth definitely comes across as the one with faults, and Alasdair occasionally comes across as clingy or needy when expressing his desire to wed Gwyneth. Overall I enjoyed reading the book, and it was a quick, fun read. I definitely recommend it to those that are fans of Historical Romance
Novels, because I doubt you will be disappointed.

Highly Recommend!

Who doesn't love Highlanders? Hmm? Alasdair is a mighty highland warrior with a past heartache that rounds him out as perfect hero material. Gwyneth is a heroine who has been to hell and back and will do anything to protect her son and ensure his future.

I read this book in one sitting. The chemistry between Alasdair and Gwyneth is sizzling. Rory, the son, is so freaking adorable I wanted to hug him. The emotional conflict for Gwyneth was real and I felt horrible for her. And Alasdair's desperation to keep hold of Gwyneth broke my heart for him.

Ms Sinclair makes the Highlands of Scotland come to life through her writing. It's authentic and puts your right in the moment.

I highly recommend this book!

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