Enjoy For Free Captured By The Highlander (Highlander, #1) Composed By Julianne MacLean Available Through Multimedia Format
just could not stand Amelia, She was such a selfrighteous, selfabsorbed B with an Itch, Except, well she was completely and utterly ignorant of the world and everyone in it, All her opinions of the world was because her father told her so, She had no mind of her own and it made for a terrible heroine, I truly do not understand the appeal she held to Duncan,
Amelias stubborn faith in people was so misplaced, it went from possible virtue to downright stupidity, As a result I think I have my first TSTL character of the year, Amelia absolutely refused to lose her naivety and wisen up to the world around her, She also absolutely refused to consider anyone but herself, Everything had to be about her, not the man clearly grieving and hurting from losing someone he loved,
All that plus a ton of repetitions made this a not so great read, Every couple of page in the book seemed to recycle the same conversation,
I am, however, pretty glad the author did not write this book from Amelias POV, It would have been such a miserable lens to borrow, Third person close POV was just the distance I needed,
As to Duncan, any possible character build about his hatred and vengeance crap crumbled in such a silly way that it just made him seem dumb.
The contradictions in his character also did him a huge disservice,
Regardless, this was a fast read, very laid back, and good for passing time or good for when youre inbetween books, Rating:Stars
Captured by the Highlander is the first book in Julianne MacLeans Highlander series, This book would have easily been placed on my DIK list, The plot was intriguing, the story was wellpaced and MacLean creates a wonderful highland romance story that deviates from the usual highland romance formula, The hero, Duncan MacLean, has to be one of my favorites heroes in a long while, His character was fleshed out and realistic, The struggle he experienced between being a gentleman as his mother raised him to be or continue as The Butcher who fights for Scotland was compelling.
As for the heroine, I liked her in the beginning but by the end I thought she was very frustrating and naive for continuing to believe the innocence of her former fiancé.
I didnt like how she didnt try to understand Duncans struggle and his desire for revenge, The romance also seemed forced, Overall, the story was okay but passion was lacking in my opinion, The secondary character was very well set up for the sequel and Im really looking forward to Angus redemption story,
Echaba de menos a mis jailanders, Y me ha gustado mucho El Carnicero de las Highlands
I read Captured by the Highlander when it was a new release and had made some notes at the time, and marked it as astar read, but then never got around to writing the actual review, so Im doing that now.
No fault of the authors, but this wasnt the story I was expecting it to be because I had assumed it would be a continuation of Ms.
MacLeans The Rebel, but it didnt seem connected at all, That said, I definitely enjoyed this book while reading it, but now, months later, Im not able to put my finger on exactly why, Nothing stands out as compelling or memorable but still I do remember finding myself caught up in the tale and not wanting to put it down.
I enjoyed Duncan and his loyalty to his clan and his need to do the right thing, regardless of how much it cost him, Amelia, on the other hand, just didnt do it for me, She struck me as a idealistic, spoiled woman who never understood that freedom is not free, Those were the times brutal, barbaric, uncertain peace sometimes had to be bought with blood, In my opinion, her naivety bordered on stupidity and I just never really got past that,
Maybe one day Ill reread the story and write a more indepth review, but for now this will have to do,
I read bookbefore bookand though I preferred, book one was also pleasant to read, I do recommend!.Stars
Hotness
Every so often, . . well more often than not lately I get in a tired, grumpy mood and crave a certain type of romance, When I picked up Captured by the Highlander I needed a sexy, alpha highlander to pull me out of my funk, quite a mean feat, so I wasn't holding my breath.
But sigh . this book was everything I needed and more, I was ensnared from the very first chapter and didn't want to put it down, Even with a sick child and a major case of sleep deprivation I stayed up way past my bed time needing to read just one little bit more.
. then that little bit more turned into another little bit more, and another.
After being awoken to a frighteningly scary highlander standing over her, weapon in hand, Amelia is kidnapped and taken on a hellish ride away from the safety of her home.
Although she has been taken by the infamous 'Butcher of the Highlands' Amelia doesn't let it stop her from giving him a piece of her mind and the ensuing banter between them gave me a constant smile even in my bad mood and even a few chuckles.
"How long was I asleep"
"Over an hour," the Butcher replied,
"An hour Surely not, "
"Aye. You were moaning my name and saying, 'Oh, yes, Duncan, yes, yes, Again, again '"
There was never a dull moment and the love connection between them was heartfelt, emotional and dramatic, I LOVED IT!!
"I find it difficult to imagine you longing for anything," she said, "Don't you usually just take what you want"
He lifted his head, "Nay, lass. Otherwise, you'd be deflowered by now, and feeling very grateful for it, "
Duncan is so damn sexy, Perfectly proportioned, not only aesthetically but also in personality, He was the alpha, strong, determined type of hero that I swoon over, but he also had a heart and enough of a tortured past to make you want to cry from the need to hold him.
This is my first time trying a book by Julianne MacLean I loved the writing style, the storyline and the flow of Captured by the Highlander.
I started reading this early one morning and couldnt quit until I had I read it all, The surprises added to the story were marvelous and the action was tense at times, I was very impressed with the author and I will be reading more of her books in the near future,
I liked reading both the hero and heroine, Amelia is brave and Duncan is somewhat of a brute, but they find an attraction for each other that neither one can stop,
I also liked the other hot highlander men and cant wait to read their stories, I highly recommend this book,
This was the first novel I read by Julianne MacLean and, sadly, it will probably be my last, The first half of the story was engaging and I like the author's writing style, Unfortunately, the story unraveled around pagewith a stunning revelation about the hero that was too incredible to be believed, Thereafter, it was nothing but a slow and painful grind that was a struggle to finish,
CAUTION: SPOILERS Let me start by saying that right off the bat, I fell in love with Duncan, the Butcher of the Highlands.
Duncan is a hero and tireless warrior in the Scots' bid for freedom and an end to English tyranny, In short, Duncan is your typical Highland warrior, . . yum! Half way through the book, however, the story takes an abrupt turn when it's revealed that Duncan leads a double life as the Earl of Moncrieffe.
The problem is that Duncan's two natures are too incongruent to make his duality believable, On the one hand he's supposed to be this fiercesome Highland warrior i, e. , a man who's dedicated to the protection of his clan, who puts the clans needs before his own, and who values family, loyalty, and honor.
As the Earl of Moncrieffe, however, Duncan lives as a wealthy "gentleman" who many Scots believe to be a traitor that panders to the English for his own personal gain and to increase his landholdings.
To me, this dichotomy made Duncan more akin to a fraudulent con artist than Robin Hood, Ugh, so not heroic.
Another huge problem for me was Amelia, the naive and selfish heroine, Frankly, I found it hard to relate to her and harder to like her, Her constant demands to Duncan to lay down his weapons and eschew violence while in the midst of war, mind you were ridiculous, Her petty jealousy over Duncan's desire to obtain justice for the gang rape and murder of his fiancee who's Angus's sister was sophomoric and minimized the atrocities committed by Richard Bennett Amelia's fiancee.
Bennett was a rapist and murderer who unabashedly killed women and children, yet she found his actions more palatable than the rebels' desire to exact revenge and stop Bennett.
Amelia's continued defense of Bennett and repeated efforts to spare his life were disgusting, Further, Duncan's increasing willingness to appease Amelia's demands just grated on my last nerve, My respect for him plummeted as he slowly compromised his values, beliefs, and integrity in the name of love which was really just lust,
Lastly, I resented the author's break with Angus's character towards the end, Throughout the story, Angus is depicted as a steadfast warrior determined to exact revenge against Bennett on behalf of his sister, Despite being lifelong friends and brotherinarms, Angus is often at odds with Duncan as the story progresses because Duncan sides more and more with Amelia, eventually promising her to spare Bennett's life.
At the end of the story, we're supposed to believe that, in a fit of anger, Angus betrays Duncan and turns him in to the English.
I
mean, come on nothing could be more out of character for Angus, Truly, he would have slit his own throat before he gave ANYONE to the English, let alone Duncan who, by that time, had killed Bennett despite his promise to Amelia.
Depicting Angus as nothing more than a bloodthirsty savage hellbent on killing was a pathetic lastminute attempt to reconcile Amelia's lack of sympathy for Angus's plight to obtain justice for his sister and a sad cop out by the author.
This book started out really strong and I had such high hopes, But overall it was a very disappointing and frustrating read for me, Fans of Highlander romance novels are better off reading Monica McCarty, Maya Banks, or Margaret Mallory, I loved the actual writing but the heroine's attitude of "let's make peace not war" bothered me sometimes, Considering the time period, it was unrealistic to ask the hero to drop his weapons, Also, the way she berated him for wanting to kill the villain who was a rapist and murderer was absurd, And the fact that he actually listened to her, ugh, Her ideas were good, just didn't make sense considering the circumstances, I do want to read the other books in the series, Average highland romance. didn't care for the heroine, H was okstars Meh this one did not keep me on my highlander/historical romance happy cloud
I dont want to marry a warrior, I want to marry a gentleman,In that one line, the heroine completely lost me, Though, she somewhat redeems herself at the endthank goodness, her idealism and judgment led her to think and act naively amp it got on my damn nerves at times.
The hero, Duncan: I could not reconcile his sudden love of and need for acceptance from the heroine with his renowned warrior persona, yet his conflicts and backstory were believable and saved me from putting this book down because:
.
more than once, the dialogue didn't match the character or the time period,
. attempts at banter/taunting from the hero to heroine were seriously a miss,
. the feel of the highlandsthe speech, added color of secondary characters, and immersion of the heroine into Scottish culturewas something I thought was either missing or not incorporated effectively.
Just sayin'
All in all, it was an alright story that had some truly attractive elements which had potential, Because of this, I still rooted for this couple!
The next Captured by the Highlander's hero is a highlander who betrayed Duncan even though he was supposed to be a best friend.
I might want to see if Julianne Maclean will be able to redeemed him in my eyes:D
Thest novel from Julianne and I'm satisfied.
I think Eloisa James has recommended this book in her FB, I was surprised I can read it withinday, The story was wonderful and brilliant! Definitely a KEEPER, So, I had decided that since I had finished my book challenge, I was going to do a reread of a series that I have loved in the past.
I am so glad that I chose this one, and I have discovered that sometimes I need to go back to the basics in my romance reads.
This book has reminded me why I fell in love with the romance genre to begin with! Main reasonScottish Highlanders!!! Need I say more! LOL
I love everything about them! They are passionate, loyal, and fierce lovers! Hell, I need to go to Scotland.
Heh heh!
In Captured by the Highlander, we meet "The Butcher" who ends up finding his enemy's fiancé and decides to kidnap her and keep her until he can meet with his enemy and kill him.
He is using the heroine for bait, and this book follows them through many trials through the Scottish country side, What "The Butcher" didn't anticipate was developing feelings for this woman, After all, not only is she his enemy's betrothed, . . but she is also English, . .
If you are a reader like me, who has recently become frustrated with the books that I'm reading then I strongly suggest giving this series a go.
I love everything about it, and I am moving right into Book! This has reminded me of why I fell in love with historicals, If you are looking to give something new a try, then definitely give this a chance, Julianne MacLean is a brilliant author, her descriptive words create a scene that leaves you feeling as if you are sitting right there with your characters.
She is hands down, one of my top faves of writers in the historical romance genre!,