Seduced by the Highlander [Mass Market Paperback]

This book was just really odd and felt that Julianne really had to push to tell the story - there was not an ease to this one unlike the previous ones.
There were too many subplots going on - between the Cousin and the grandmother - and the politic roadmap was difficult, etc.
Finding out that there were twins (figured that one out in the first 10 pages) and the seperation of the twins was so not original - read it before in many books. Wanted something original.
The hero had it out for the "bad" twin and then just forgave the "bad" twin on eveything that happened in the past.
Then at the end of the book the "bad" twin is suddenly a "good" twin and all is well. Sorry, but a bad apple does not just turn into a good apple - it is still sour.

Just disappointing.

Julianne MacLean's latest Scottish tale has its high and low moments. It has the requisite highlander who is bold and brash and an independent woman who falls for him. There is a paranormal element to the story and I believe that some of the secondary characters were in a previous novel.

Lachlan MacDonald is a cursed man. Firstly he lost his beloved wife and infant during childbirth when he was a very young man then ten years later, a vindictive woman places a curse upon the handsome rogue: if he lies with a woman she will surely become pregnant and die in child birth. For several years, Lachlan has remained celibate and has searched for the woman, Raonaid who placed the curse. He finds her at the Drumloch estate and almost ravishes her. He is angry and so lusty that he cannot stop from desiring the beautiful woman, even when she claims not to be Raonaid.

Heiress Catherine is caught unaware by Lachland's incredible wrath. She is a woman who has her own troubles. She suffers from amnesia. She was discovered by her grandmother in Italy after being away for five years. She has no recollection of her identity at all but feels something is not right at the estate.

Lachlan seems to hold the answers to her past and even though Catherine cannot comprehend what Lachland tells her of her past; she was venal, she accompanies Lachlan back to the Highlands hoping to jar her memory.

Almost from the first Lachlan is bemused by Catherine. He knows her for an amoral woman yet she seems so different. His attraction almost overwhelms him but he has given her his word he will not touch her on their journey and this proves to be a near impossible task.

The leads have a volatile relationship especially when they travel to the Scottish highlands. They are prickly and Catherine is almost judgmental and irrationally angry. Lachlan spends much time trying to decipher this new Raonaid, he is uncertain if she is telling the truth about amnesia or just manipulating him.

There are several characters in this story that play a part in the leads romance. The author gives some background too their past but it would probably be better to read the previous novel in this series. I was a bit lost at times with the older characters

This couple has more than just Catherine/Raonaid's memory loss to overcome, there are cold hearted relatives, curses and political Joacobite intrigue. This couple does not establish a strong connection until the middle of the story, up to then they are too distrustful with each other to form any kind of strong bond. The middle of this novel shifts the story and the two work as a team instead of against each other to discover Catherine's past. I am giving this novel 3.5 stars. While the story is intriguing I never really connected to the characters and their struggles until the middle of the novel.

In 1718 in the Scottish Highlands, Kinloch Castle's Laird of War Lachlan MacDonald awakens to find himself chained inside a burial cist. He persuaded his cousin Kinloch Castle Laird Angus to exile the volatile dangerous Raonaid the Hebrides Oracle from Kinloch one month ago. Both despise each other while she rages at him for taking away her beloved Angus. Angry she throws the bones of his past lovers on him as she curses him with the knowledge that any woman who he impregnates will die in childbirth. Once freed, he vowed to force her to lift the curse; if she refuses he may use the curse to kill Raonaid.

Three futile years later without a woman Lachlan catches up with Raonaid, but she insists she is the Drumloch heiress Lady Catherine Montgomery who suffers from amnesia and the dowager countess came for her in Italy claiming she is her grandmother. Skeptical, he assaults and threatens her but her cousin John Drumloch the earl rescues her. However, Catherine wonders whether this berserker Highlander might the one to help her regain what she most wants in life: her memories.

This twisting super Scottish paranormal romance is a great finish to Julianne MacLean's Highlander historical saga (see Captured by the Highlander and Claimed by the Highlander). The story line grips readers from the onset with a neat curse and the lead male's premise on how to avenge what the witch did to him. With a strong cast especially the lead pairing and a fabulous spin, sub-genre fans will appreciate the curse.

Harriet Klausner

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