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A review by rjordan19
Highlander's Captive by Mariah Stone
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Overall: 3.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥
Humor: A bit
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine and also the side character Hamish
More character focused or plot focused? a mix? Maybe a bit more plot
How did the speed of the story feel? slow to medium
When mains are first on page together: Not too far in – the end of chapter 2 or about 11%
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, a few months later
Format: listened to the audiobook on audible
Should I read in order?
This is the first of Stone’s Called by a Highlander series.
Basic plot:
Amy falls through time and into a medieval castle in 1307 – what’s even worse is she is a MacDougall – Craig’s sworn enemy.
Give this a try if you want:
- Medieval (1307 I think?)
- Scotland setting
- time travel – highlander hero/contemporary heroine
- divorced heroine
- marriage of convenience – he gets an advantage in the war by marrying a MacDougall and she gets access to the whole castle instead of being a prisoner
- secret identity
- enemies to lovers-ish/rival families
- medium steam – 3 scenes
Ages:
- I don’t recall them being mentioned. If I had to guess, I’d think late 20s?
First line:
The fiery cross burned.
My thoughts:
I am so conflicted about this story!
On one hand, it had a lot I really enjoy in romance. I love the time travel aspect. I enjoyed the time period and the hero. I liked the heroine’s background and found it interesting that she did search and rescue due to her childhood.
But, I also found a lot of this story really slow. There were quite a few scenes of just castle life...peeling potatoes….having people not listening to you because you’re a MacDougall and I found it a bit frustrating. But what really got me was the ending. I didn’t love the ending and was a bit annoyed but especially with the hero.
I did think it was weird that they found this ‘enemy’ MacDougall and never went through her bag/stuff to explore it? Never played with the flashlight or anything she brought with her??
I also hated that when the heroine finally opened up to the hero about who she truly was he then pooed on her and said he could never trust her and she needed to leave. Um what?! She explained she was scared for her life, she came in the middle of a battle through time travel – I was disgusted with the hero at that point that he would punish her for trying to protect herself and her identity in that situation. I would have been so angry! And so she goes back in time and then just decides to come back again because she loves him and he’s like actually I love you too and they live happily ever after. I was so annoyed with that part. It just felt like too easy of a wrap up after all that turmoil they put themselves through.
I was also a bit confused how the heroine seemed to know how time travel worked – as in the passage of time. I guess she’s going off the Outlander version, but something that always kind of drives me nuts is when people go back and they assume the passage of time is exactly the same. This heroine was saying things like it’s been x amount of days/weeks so this will have happened and this happened back home and I’m just thinking how would you know that??? How would you know you couldn’t go right back to the time you left so it was like you were never gone? Sure it might work that way but I think some bit of wondering would have placated me instead of a solid presented idea of how time travel works just out of no where.
Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.
- hero’s sister is kidnapped, raped and abused
- death, murder, and war on page
- death of a grandparent (on page)
- alcoholism (of a parent)
- murder on page (throat slit)
- heroine was abused/neglected as a child and locked in a barn for 2 nights starving with no water
- parental death mentioned
Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:
Safe sex: No – they are married
Hows the consent? It’s good/implied
Chapter 9 – kiss
Chapter 18 – kiss
Chapter 22 – 🔥 kisses in the stable, oral for her, missionary
“Look at me, lass,” he said.
She opened her eyes and looked at him. His gaze was dark and burning in the semidarkness of the stables. His eyebrows were bunched together, his lips parted, a little swollen. There was so much heat, so much promise in his eyes, she clenched again.
“Ye’re mine,” he said. “And I’m yers.”
Chapter 27 – 🔥 kisses, very short start to a bj, her on top
“Look at me,” he said. “I want ye to look at me as ye find yer release.”
Because he’d be looking at her, too.
Chapter 33 - 🔥 oral for her, doggy
“Aye, my sweet lass,” he said. “Take it in. Ye’re so beautiful.”
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥
Humor: A bit
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine and also the side character Hamish
More character focused or plot focused? a mix? Maybe a bit more plot
How did the speed of the story feel? slow to medium
When mains are first on page together: Not too far in – the end of chapter 2 or about 11%
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, a few months later
Format: listened to the audiobook on audible
Should I read in order?
This is the first of Stone’s Called by a Highlander series.
Basic plot:
Amy falls through time and into a medieval castle in 1307 – what’s even worse is she is a MacDougall – Craig’s sworn enemy.
Give this a try if you want:
- Medieval (1307 I think?)
- Scotland setting
- time travel – highlander hero/contemporary heroine
- divorced heroine
- marriage of convenience – he gets an advantage in the war by marrying a MacDougall and she gets access to the whole castle instead of being a prisoner
- secret identity
- enemies to lovers-ish/rival families
- medium steam – 3 scenes
Ages:
- I don’t recall them being mentioned. If I had to guess, I’d think late 20s?
First line:
The fiery cross burned.
My thoughts:
I am so conflicted about this story!
On one hand, it had a lot I really enjoy in romance. I love the time travel aspect. I enjoyed the time period and the hero. I liked the heroine’s background and found it interesting that she did search and rescue due to her childhood.
But, I also found a lot of this story really slow. There were quite a few scenes of just castle life...peeling potatoes….having people not listening to you because you’re a MacDougall and I found it a bit frustrating. But what really got me was the ending. I didn’t love the ending and was a bit annoyed but especially with the hero.
I also hated that when the heroine finally opened up to the hero about who she truly was he then pooed on her and said he could never trust her and she needed to leave. Um what?! She explained she was scared for her life, she came in the middle of a battle through time travel – I was disgusted with the hero at that point that he would punish her for trying to protect herself and her identity in that situation. I would have been so angry! And so she goes back in time and then just decides to come back again because she loves him and he’s like actually I love you too and they live happily ever after. I was so annoyed with that part. It just felt like too easy of a wrap up after all that turmoil they put themselves through.
I was also a bit confused how the heroine seemed to know how time travel worked – as in the passage of time. I guess she’s going off the Outlander version, but something that always kind of drives me nuts is when people go back and they assume the passage of time is exactly the same. This heroine was saying things like it’s been x amount of days/weeks so this will have happened and this happened back home and I’m just thinking how would you know that??? How would you know you couldn’t go right back to the time you left so it was like you were never gone? Sure it might work that way but I think some bit of wondering would have placated me instead of a solid presented idea of how time travel works just out of no where.
Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.
- hero’s sister is kidnapped, raped and abused
- death, murder, and war on page
- death of a grandparent (on page)
- alcoholism (of a parent)
- murder on page (throat slit)
- heroine was abused/neglected as a child and locked in a barn for 2 nights starving with no water
- parental death mentioned
Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:
Safe sex:
Hows the consent?
Chapter 9 – kiss
Chapter 18 – kiss
Chapter 22 – 🔥 kisses in the stable, oral for her, missionary
“Look at me, lass,” he said.
She opened her eyes and looked at him. His gaze was dark and burning in the semidarkness of the stables. His eyebrows were bunched together, his lips parted, a little swollen. There was so much heat, so much promise in his eyes, she clenched again.
“Ye’re mine,” he said. “And I’m yers.”
Chapter 27 – 🔥 kisses, very short start to a bj, her on top
“Look at me,” he said. “I want ye to look at me as ye find yer release.”
Because he’d be looking at her, too.
Chapter 33 - 🔥 oral for her, doggy
“Aye, my sweet lass,” he said. “Take it in. Ye’re so beautiful.”