Book Review: Ravished by a Highlander by Paula Quinn

Title: Ravished by a Highlander

Author: Paula Quinn

ISBN: 9780446552387

Series: Book 1 of the Children of the Mist Series

Genre: Historical Romance
Pages: 337

© May 2010, Forever Hachette Book Group

Available wherever books are sold

 

Rating: 4.5 stars

This novel is the first of a four part historical romance series involving the Clan MacGregor from Paula Quinn’s first series, LAIRD OF THE MIST. Ravished by a Highlander is a delightful story about a woman, Davina, who has been hidden her whole life, from a life she doesn’t know of, and a man, Robert MacGregor, next in line to become leader of the clan. From the very first page, the reader is taken straight into the life of Davina and the incident that happens in the beginning starts the story off fast-paced and has the reader flipping the pages to find out what happens to those involved. Davina is an incredible woman that has to face many obstacles in her path to love. Rob is a strong Scottish highlander who doesn’t believe that love has a place in his life.

The plot of this novel focuses on both characters, if you can imagine that. Davina and a troubling past that she doesn’t even fully grasp in the beginning. Rob, a Highlander that is destined to take the spot as clan leader in time and doesn’t even think of romance. Davina has to get away from her refuge and that’s when the group of highlanders come in and take her away. The travel is the time that they all get to know one another and the story slowly comes out from each of the two mains. This is where I don’t want to give too much away, but there is a mysteriously juicy secret that comes out in time that has the reader gasping and wondering if everything will turn out in the end.

The romance in this novel is very slow and building, but the tension is there and gives the reader a feeling of immense joy and victory when the couple realizes the love. Davina is loved by all she touches, she is just a beautiful person to be around, as everyone involved soon notices. Rob is not exactly loved by all, but most enjoy being around him. He is rough and a bit brutish, but his brothers know that he is a great man. Davina figures this out in time, even though she knows what he has done for her and this helps with her realization. The romance compliments the deep intense story and becomes a quick page turner and the reader will be devouring pages to find out how it all turns out.

The characters of this novel are definitely believable for the time period that the book takes place in, it is definitely obvious that the author did an immense amount of research to write this book and my compliments go to her, as all of the historical details were just another bright point in this novel. The characters that are mentioned the most are all intriguing in their own ways and the depth that Paula Quinn has been able to give each of them had me wanting to read the next book in the series immediately after finishing this book. Each character found their own special place in the book which made it that much more of a wonderful story. You also get peeks into the way the other characters live their lives and it helps the reader to understand how the books that contain these certain characters are going to go.

I would recommend this book to historical romance readers. Especially those that enjoy the deep enriching historical aspect of such books, those that enjoy highlander romances, and those that enjoy a very juicy plot in their romances. This novel was very well written and the story is very mysteriously intriguing. My only warning would be that if a reader is sensitive to love scenes, they might want to pick up something in the clean romance section instead, because the love scenes are steamy. There is a bit of violence also, throughout the book, so if a reader is squeamish, they might want to stay away from this novel.