The Angel and the Highlander by Donna Fletcher

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After DNFing Shanna, I need a good historical romance and a comfort read. I went back to one of my new favorite historical authors, Donna Fletcher. I decided to pick back up the Sinclare Brothers series. Book 3 is The Angel and the Highlander. I am so glad I picked this up, it was just what I needed. 

Book three focuses on the third brother Lachlan (I love that name). He's been tasked with going to a convent to pick up Alyce and return her to her father. A marriage has been arranged for her and after sending her away for being a "shrew" and headstrong, it's time for her to "do her duty." Now this is a little bit of a spoiler, but since it's in the blurb I'll go ahead and move forward anyway, but Alyce has taken on the name Terese. The nuns at the convent had gotten sick and left Alyce and four other women that were picked up/rescued alone. To escape her father, the girls decide to bury Sister Terese as Alyce and she takes on her name.

Alyce was very headstrong and independent (similar to Zia in book 2), but the way she fought against perceptively losing her freedom to Lachlan was done so much better. I didn't find Alyce frustrating at all. I really enjoyed that there were times when she'd chastise herself for fighting against her feelings and not just giving in to Lachlan, but she also didn't want to lose herself. I also loved the discussion on how she became that way because her father encouraged her leadership and independent thinking, but when it came time for her to "settle down" it wasn't quite what a lot of warriors were looking for in a wife. Even though there was contention between them, I loved that to others he would say that she should've been born a boy because she'd be a better laird than him. I just wish he would've said it to her and showed he cared more instead of railing against each other.

Lachlan is the charming brother and I really enjoyed that Alyce kept him on his toes. She found herself constantly falling for his charms, but she still didn't let him see it too much or would restrain herself. It was also fun to see them so drawn to each other, but with Alyce still pretending to be Sister Terese Lachlan had to really step back. He kept having dreams of burning in hell for thinking lewd thoughts about a nun. Once it came out that the girls weren't nuns though, romances starting popping up everywhere. I loved that we got several side romances as well and seeing these different highland warriors and even a mercenary fall for these independent strong women was so much fun.

I also liked that even though Alyce was upset with Lachlan for forcing marriage upon her and was very sharp-tongued with him, she still was there and they would still have moments of lightness and love between them. I also loved that they talked and were very communicative. It took a little longer than I expected for Lachlan to really understand why she was upset with how the marriage went down and make amends. Even though that was a big point of contention between them, he still made sure to let her know constantly that he loved her and it was born out of love not a need to control her. He was also very supportive for the most part and I loved all the moments that Alyce not only put Lachlan in his place, but Cavan and Astair as well. 

Surprisingly my first instinct was to rate this 4-stars upon finishing, but as I though about it I couldn't really find anything that would drop it down. I don't know why I fought myself giving it 5-stars since I'm not usually as strict with my ratings as others, but it is most definitely a 5-star read. Just a lower 5-star to differentiate between this and the first book (which is my favorite of the series so far). I immediately jumped into the fourth and final book in the series and can't wait to finally finish a Donna Fletcher series. I really enjoy her writing the unique and lovely romances she writes. She is most definitely one of my top historical romance writers. Well, actually, romance writers period. Full stop!

Have you read The Angel and the Highlander?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Angel and the Highlander, Donna Fletcher, 5-stars, eBook, 0 days, 384 pages, published in 2009