The Highland Chief (Scottish Strife Series Book 1) by Dana D'Angelo #review

Today I'll be reviewing the First book in my 2018 Highlander Romance Novels reading challenge.

Pages -  234 

Published -  March 2, 2015

Sold by -  Amazon Digital Services LLC

Series -  Scottish Strife Book 1 of 5

Sub Genre -  Historical Romance, Medieval

Language -  1/5

Sexual Content -  3/5

Narrative -  3rd P

With their father nearing death, Rory MacGregon and his brothers fear the inevitable. But their hopes are renewed when the ailing man names a renowned Scottish healer who defected to England years ago. Rory crosses dangerous territory to obtain her help, only to discover that the gifted healer would rather kill herself than save his dying father. Rory gauges that kidnapping the woman is his only option when the healer's beautiful daughter appears. The spirited lass declares that she is also a healer, and offers to go in her mother's stead.
Darra Berchelaine has heard many stories about the bloodthirsty savages from the north. When she learns that the devil Scots plan to abduct her mother, Darra must protect her at all cost — even if that means feigning co-operation and luring the brutish Highlanders away from the castle. But even as she schemes to escape from her enemies, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to the brawny Highland Chief. Suddenly Darra realizes that the handsome Highlander is neither an enemy nor a savage. And the only thing she needs to protect is her heart.

The beginning showed promise, I'll give it that much.

The story begins with a young maiden healer having to take over a majority of her mother's healing practice in their Northern England castle because the Lord of the keep has died and the mother is grieving.

Meanwhile, to the north in Scotland, a fierce warrior and his siblings are at their wits end about their father's slow and painful demise.

We learn how much the English hate the Scots and the Scots despise the English, and that Rory MacGregon's clan has done something awful to Darra's mother, but Rory and his two younger brothers are tasked with finding this woman so she can treat their father and bring him back to health.

Darra gets this weird feeling, and in the middle of the night she goes to check on her mother when she discovers the hulking Scotsman inside the bed chamber and panic ensues.

The mother adamantly refuses to go with them, and after some bantering and name-calling, Rory's brother ties up the old woman and the two take Darra in the old woman's stead.

As they are leaving the castle in the middle of the night, we're introduced to the villain, who happens to be a 40-something knight who thinks he is officially betrothed to Darra when it was no more than her late father's word against this conniving brute of a man.

Then everything fell apart.

The Scotsmen make unbelievable time to the Scottish border, make camp near a rushing stream, and even spot some British knights a few miles from them, but nothing happens.

Well, yes there does.

Darra goes for some water, slips and falls in, and Rory comes to her rescue.

They return to the camp, and Darra proceeds to run away -- even after telling herself it wouldn't be wise.

Rory chases after her, they end up between the British knights camp and their own, and...

they have sex.

Dead serious, here.

The author gave us the lame, heard-it-a-thousand-times-before excuse that Darra isn't interested in the man who thinks he's been chosen to be her husband, and because she doesn't love him, she believes that by having sex with a hot guy, that this will somehow make the next thirty or forty years more bearable.

Whoever thought up that load of horse crap needs to be banned from the Romance Novel Formula Writing board.

The only time that ploy works for me is if the female protagonist is doomed to Spinsterhood or truly believes she'll be a Wallflower for the very last time before retiring to Spinsterhood.

Any other reasoning just makes the heroine sound dumb.

I also agree with the negative reviewers at Amazon that the rest of the novel fell flat.

Flat characters, no romantic build-up save Rory's two other times of carnal need, which Darra easily and without argument allows him to partake.

The plot went out the window, and we are left with the day-to-day mechanics of boy meets girl amidst a bit of ineffective strife.

There were Era inconsistencies that couldn't be ignored as well.

Perhaps the author decided to make up characters instead of sticking to actual history?

At that time, Queen Elizabeth was the monarch, and in Scotland, it was Mary, but the author referred to them as King Harold and Queen Gertrude.

She also set up a 'faire' up in Scotland, and when I highlighted the word on my Kindle, the encyclopedia said the word was first coined in the 18th Century.

ceilidh (Kay-lay) - late 19th century: from Scottish Gaelic ceilidh first became popular around the 18th century.

She chose difficult to pronounce (and read) names... Eanruing, Griogair, and Mairead

An over-use of countenance to describe the face, poorly written and used in the same paragraphs:

• shock frozen on his countenance.
• her tear stained countenance.
• reflected on his rough countenance.

An overuse of the word Visage for the same reason and used to mean the same thing as Countenance:

• a knowing expression on his visage.
• a mildly amused expression on his visage.
• her captivating visage
• settling her regard on his visage.

An over-use of Masculine to describe Rory, Feminine to describe Darra.

Modern infused with Medieval

• It was a kiss like no other, it rocked him to his core.
• saw her as a sole means to breed
• The smile hit him in the solar plexus.

Also unimpressed with word choice as well.

• without making amends to the woman who he wronged.
• someone in distress, someone who was Darra.
• Darra chewed at the bottom of her lip.
• a voice shouted,
• A woman of her stature could only hope (she meant status)
• “Are ye all right, lass?” he grounded out.
• only Edwin Lochclay went into a rampage,
• giving him a wane smile.
• before turning her adoring smile on to Rory.
• tapped their feet and banged their hands
• He dragged his mouth until they covered hers,
• flying hooves outside the stable filled his ears
• there was no animosity in his regard,
• and then he reluctantly opened his jaw.
• he suffered in the hands of the English

and, The Comma Abuses

• We cannae stand by, and let them seize our land.”
• she said casually wiping up some of the liquid
• stopped what they were doing, and drifted over to them.
• Rory would take this woman as a wife, and forget about her.
• Rory moved to the front of the throng, and stood ...
• the flowering heather which spanned the horizon.

There are 5 novels in total for the Scottish Strife series

Scottish Strife Series by Dana D'Angelo

Sadly, I have to believe that the rest of the novels are written in a similar fashion and am, therefore, not interested in reading any further.

However, if you don't mind any of the issues I brought up, I think you will like this for the story itself, nothing more.