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A review by rjordan19
His Secret Highland Bride by Allison B. Hanson
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋 (the first scene was developed and emotional to me, but the rest fizzled)
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑 (one developed scene then the rest are very short/alluded to)
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥
Humor: A touch
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: almost immediately, about 1%
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, not too far in the future
Format: voluntarily read the e-book version through NetGalley
Should I read in order?
I think this is the first book of the Clan MacPherson series?
Basic plot:
Shane and Lindsey find solace in a friendship when they both should be worried about their upcoming arranged marriages
Give this a try if you want:
- 1695 Scotland setting
- secret identity (both mains!)
- Scottish mains
- prodigal hero returns
- widower hero
- celibate hero
- beloved pets – hero takes in a stray dog
- one horse
- arranged marriage elements
- lower steam – I count this as 1 full scene plus a variety of short, closed door and alluded to scenes
Ages:
- I didn’t see them mentioned
First line:
Breathing in the scents of blooming heather and sunshine, Shane MacPherson allowed the first moments of his return home to sink in.
My thoughts:
I am so sad I struggled with this novel! I read one prior by Hanson and enjoyed a lot about it.
Now, I know I don’t do the best with secret keeping that lasts most of the book so that might have been part of my problem here. But the other thing that threw me off was the last book I read by her was pretty steamy! And this novel did have open door scenes, but other than the first scene being really great, the rest were very short and not developed at all. So I was disappointed in that and it wasn’t what I was expecting for her.
I think I never grew to love Shane. I understand needing a break and having to deal with your grief, but the fact that he saw multiple times and examples of how badly his people needed him, how he knew his step-mother was so awful and was ruining the clan/town, and he still just hid out for weeks just bothered me. It made him less respectable to me because these people were his people, and they were suffering and he saw it and stayed in his own world for too long (to me).
I did enjoy Lindsey for the most part, but also got frustrated with her when I felt she was being hypocritical. She gets very upset with Shane for doing the same thing she did, and I just couldn’t sympathize.
I did love the slower pace and character focus of the book. I also loved that they were together, alone, for much of the book and all that close proximity in the cabin was really sweet.
I think those wanting a slower paced highlander romance with secret identity would enjoy this one!
Quotes/spoiler-y thoughts:Any mistakes/typos are my own
Breathing in the scents of blooming heather and sunshine, Shane MacPherson allowed the first moments of his return home to sink in.
“Go away, you rotten whoreson!” A woman’s shout rent the clean mountain air he’d been enjoying.
Not exactly the welcome he’d been expecting after being away for five years fighting in France.
Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.
- attempted sexual assault of heroine by 2 side character with weapons
- parental death
- death of a spouse (and grief over the loss)
- attempted sexual assault of heroine by her uncle resulting in a physical altercation
- scenes of danger, violence and death
- remembrances of death and war
Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:
Safe sex: No
Hows the consent? It’s good
34% - kiss
36% - kiss
38% - kisses, fingering for her, missionary
40% - mention of prior sex then a her on top scene but it’s short so I decided not to count
42% - bj but it’s only a few sentences for the act
47% - brief mention of sex
51% - kiss
52% - implied sex
57% - start of a sex scene
62% - a few sentences of sex
97% - a paragraph or so of sex
Readability: 📖📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋 (the first scene was developed and emotional to me, but the rest fizzled)
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑 (one developed scene then the rest are very short/alluded to)
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥
Humor: A touch
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? character
How did the speed of the story feel? medium
When mains are first on page together: almost immediately, about 1%
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes, not too far in the future
Format: voluntarily read the e-book version through NetGalley
Should I read in order?
I think this is the first book of the Clan MacPherson series?
Basic plot:
Shane and Lindsey find solace in a friendship when they both should be worried about their upcoming arranged marriages
Give this a try if you want:
- 1695 Scotland setting
- secret identity (both mains!)
- Scottish mains
- prodigal hero returns
- widower hero
- celibate hero
- beloved pets – hero takes in a stray dog
- one horse
- arranged marriage elements
- lower steam – I count this as 1 full scene plus a variety of short, closed door and alluded to scenes
Ages:
- I didn’t see them mentioned
First line:
Breathing in the scents of blooming heather and sunshine, Shane MacPherson allowed the first moments of his return home to sink in.
My thoughts:
I am so sad I struggled with this novel! I read one prior by Hanson and enjoyed a lot about it.
Now, I know I don’t do the best with secret keeping that lasts most of the book so that might have been part of my problem here. But the other thing that threw me off was the last book I read by her was pretty steamy! And this novel did have open door scenes, but other than the first scene being really great, the rest were very short and not developed at all. So I was disappointed in that and it wasn’t what I was expecting for her.
I think I never grew to love Shane. I understand needing a break and having to deal with your grief, but the fact that he saw multiple times and examples of how badly his people needed him, how he knew his step-mother was so awful and was ruining the clan/town, and he still just hid out for weeks just bothered me. It made him less respectable to me because these people were his people, and they were suffering and he saw it and stayed in his own world for too long (to me).
I did enjoy Lindsey for the most part, but also got frustrated with her when I felt she was being hypocritical. She gets very upset with Shane for doing the same thing she did, and I just couldn’t sympathize.
I did love the slower pace and character focus of the book. I also loved that they were together, alone, for much of the book and all that close proximity in the cabin was really sweet.
I think those wanting a slower paced highlander romance with secret identity would enjoy this one!
Quotes/spoiler-y thoughts:Any mistakes/typos are my own
Breathing in the scents of blooming heather and sunshine, Shane MacPherson allowed the first moments of his return home to sink in.
“Go away, you rotten whoreson!” A woman’s shout rent the clean mountain air he’d been enjoying.
Not exactly the welcome he’d been expecting after being away for five years fighting in France.
Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.
- attempted sexual assault of heroine by 2 side character with weapons
- parental death
- death of a spouse (and grief over the loss)
- attempted sexual assault of heroine by her uncle resulting in a physical altercation
- scenes of danger, violence and death
- remembrances of death and war
Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:
Safe sex:
Hows the consent?
34% - kiss
36% - kiss
38% - kisses, fingering for her, missionary
40% - mention of prior sex then a her on top scene but it’s short so I decided not to count
42% - bj but it’s only a few sentences for the act
47% - brief mention of sex
51% - kiss
52% - implied sex
57% - start of a sex scene
62% - a few sentences of sex
97% - a paragraph or so of sex