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The February book chosen by patreon members for the exclusive Smart Women Read Romance review was The Beast of Clan Kincaid. This is the first book in Lily Blackwood's Highland Warrior series. This was actually the book I recommended and I was happy it won. This was a rare book that didn't count for any of my readathons or reading challenges.
After Niall "The Beast" returns to his father's castle after the murder of most of his clan, he's looking for revenge. Niall has been working as a mercenary and has finagled the chance to be the new merc for hire for the Laird of MacClaren. When he arrives, he is immediately drawn to Elspeth, the laird's eldest daughter. When Elspeth is required to start seriously choosing a husband, she fights against her desire for Niall.
The best way to explain my rating for this book would be that it feels like a debut. There were some intriguing parts and some interesting plot points, but overall it just didn't all culminate together. I did like the overall chemistry between Niall and Elspeth, but there were some odd choices made. The best way for me to describe it is that I wanted Elspeth (and her father) to just pick a lane. She kept bouncing back and forth and it happened just a few times too many. There were also some classic twists and tropes used and it just felt like too much.
I really enjoyed the overall plot though and the idea that it felt a little different than the usual highlander tropes while still fitting the genre. I don't know why, but it kept surprising me and showing a glimmer of uniqueness, but then something too stereotypical would happen. I feel like I could point more things out that bothered me, but despite all of those I did enjoy the book overall.
I'm certainly intrigued to read the other two books in the series about Niall's brothers. I'm a little sad to see that it seems these three books are all that Lily wrote. I was looking at her twitter and she didn't post anything from 2018 until 2021, and since she came back has just mainly retweeted some other author's posts. I hope she does plan to write more eventually because I'm intrigued and would love to see how her writing evolves. Juliette did mention that she was reading the next book during the live show and was enjoying more than this one so far. I'll definitely be adding the rest of this series to my highlander spinner wheel!
Have you read The Beast of Clan Kincaid?
Bookishly Yours,
Stasi🍎
STATISTICS: The Beast of Clan Kincaid, Lily Blackwood, 4-stars, 1 day, eBook, 318 pages, published in 2016, traditionally published
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