In Bed with a Highlander by Maya Banks

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Taking a break from my Kate Daniels binge, I needed to sneak in the October Rake Appreciation Society book. However, I ended up putting it down and going back to Kate Daniels before finishing it. If you are new to the book club, it's hosted by Crystal and Jen. This month the book chosen was In Bed with a Highlander by Maya Banks. The live was last Thursday and you can watch it here! This is the first book in her McCabe Trilogy. I have all of Maya Banks highlander books in paperback (the plaid backgrounds are so pretty) and am so happy to finally pick one up! I was also able to use this for the prompt set in a place I want to visit (Scotland!) for Fall in Love. 

Mairin is the illegitimate daughter of the previous king. Since she is the only living progeny, she has a large dowry and her son is the heir to special land in Scotland. She's been hiding out in an abbey until she can find the right husband. She ends up getting kidnapped by Laird Cameron, an abusive and horrible person. She ends up escaping with the young boy Crispen. He's the son of Laird McCabe. Ewan takes in Mairin and they quickly decide to get married.

Okay, I'm really torn on this book. It took about 150 pages for me to really get into the story. I really had a hard time with Mairin. Now, in a lot of romances people have issues with heroines when they're TSTL, or too stupid to live. Mairin gave me that vibe a little bit. She's injured and bleeding everywhere, but completely surprised that she's been injured. I get when it first happened being in shock and not realizing you were injured, but she passes out from blood loss. Ewan asks her where it hurts and she nonchalantly decides her side hurts a little. After seeing her getting beaten and survive through her injuries, there were times that her character felt so whiplashy.

I like Ewan. I know that others had a hard time with him, but he's pretty similar to a lot of other highland laird heroes I've read. Yes he yelled at her, but she was also super naïve and made some weird choices. Like I said before, I had way more issues with her than Ewan. She almost reminded me a little of Zia from Under the Highlander's Spell by Donna Fletcher. While they aren't the same character, I had similar frustrations. I just felt like Ewan did all the bending and she didn't really compromise as much as he did. I don't know, I just didn't connect with her. What grabbed my attention was more the plot of the story and not necessarily the romance between them. If I were to be more strict on my rating, this would be a 3.5-star, but I'll keep it rounded up to 4.

I will definitely be picking up more of Maya Banks's works. I know that Never Seduce a Scot is super popular with booktubers and bookstagrammers I follow and really need to pick it up. It's the first in her Montgomerys and Armstrongs series. The 3rd book in that series hasn't been released yet and seems to have been delayed a couple times. Not only did she switch publishers, but there was a lot of personal life issues that led to her not writing for a bit. I know that the plan is still to release it in the next couple years, but we'll see. I certainly can't wait to get to the rest of her highlander books! I also might look at picking up one of her romantic suspense series when I'm in the mood for that subgenre. I certainly enjoy her writing style and can't wait to read more!

Have you read In Bed with a Highlander?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: In Bed with a Highlander, Maya Banks, 4-stars, 5 days, paperback, 351 pages, published in 2011