Wishing for A Highlander--a review

Today's book made me hungry.

Really hungry.

Perhaps I shouldn't say what it made me hungry for (my mom reads this blog from time to time!), but let's just say it wasn't for food...

Wishing for a Highlander by Jessi Gage is one of my favorite kinds of romance books. It has humor, a sassy heroine, a hot warrior type with self confidence issues, and fun plot twists that keep you engaged the whole time. We were also fortunate to have had her as a guest blogger at All Things Writing yesterday. Read her piece on What To Bring When You Travel Through Time.

 Here is the publisher's blurb:

While examining Andrew Carnegie’s lucky rosewood box, single-and-pregnant museum worker Melanie makes a tongue in cheek wish on the artifact--for a Highland warrior to help her forget about her cheating ex. Suddenly transported to the middle of a clan skirmish in sixteenth-century Scotland, she realizes she should have been a tad more specific.

 

Darcy, laird in waiting, should be the most eligible bachelor in Ackergill, but a cruel prank played on him in his teenage years has led him to believe he is too large under his kilt to ever join with a woman. He has committed himself to a life of bachelorhood, running his deceased father's windmills and keeping up the family manor house...alone.

 

Darcy's uncle, Laird Steafan welcomes the strangely dressed woman into his clan, immediately marrying her to Darcy in hopes of an heir. But when Steafan learns of her magic box and brands her a witch, Darcy must do what any good husband would--protect his wife, even if it means forsaking his clan.

 

WARNING: A pregnant museum worker, a sixteenth-century Scot, and a meddlesome wishing box.

 

 

Yep, it's time travel romance that reminded me of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. Melanie falls through a time portal due to her idle wish on a special box and ends up coming through the stone circles (think Stonehenge style) to old school Scotland.  Like Gabaldon's book, Melanie meets a Highlander warrior who sweeps her off her feet.

 

However, here's the big difference for me between the two tales: tongue in cheek humor and a heck of a lot less Scottish history lessons. While I love the Outlander, the history bogged it down for me to the point of where I never finished the series! That's not the case here. Wishing for a Highlander is a tight tale that has you rooting for Melanie and Darcy to get together.

 

I loved that Melanie was pregnant, and  I kept wondering how the author was going to make this romance thing work. After all, pregnancy isn't always the most romantic thing!  But she pulled it off by creating a hero who feels like an outcast and has sympathy for the strange woman from another time. While Darcy is a the macho type that must be present in  a romance, he comes off as a human being capable of changing his thought process.

 

Melanie is a well written, down to Earth character who makes you laugh with her quirkiness and wonder if she really wants to go home to her time. I thought the chemistry between her and Darcy was fun!

 

Of course, every romance like this has it's bad guys. Lord Stefan is definitely a guy with a few issues of his own. He has a thing about witches and the fact that Melanie speaks differently and has this odd box, has him immediately wanting to set up a campfire and start roasting our heroine. Again, I was surprised at how well developed his character turned out to be. Let's just say that he's not the traditional bad guy.

 

I enjoyed the character of Anya. She's the one who sort of keeps the revenge ball rolling as the story goes along since she has had a past with Darcy.

 

Okay, it's time for the sex talk. How does Wishing for a Highlander measure up? Hot, hot, hot! I will not be going into detail on the subject, but it's well written stuff that makes you want to go out and buy your man a kilt!

 

Great book!

 

Click on the link below to purchase your copy today.

 

WISHING FOR A HIGHLANDER AT AMAZON