A #review of Highland Fire (Guardians of the Stone, 2) by Tanya Anne Crosby

The cover is all that is enjoyable about this book.

Pages -  335 

Publisher -  Oliver-Heber Books; 9 edition

Published -  January 15, 2014

Sold by -  Amazon Digital Services LLC

Series -  Guardians of the Stone Book 2 of 5

Genre -  Historical Romance

Narrative -  3rd Person

Sexual Content -  1/5

Language -  1/5

The year is 1123. Scotland's King David seeks an alliance with the fierce mountain Scot, Aidan dun Scoti. But only one woman will tempt Aidan--the accursed beauty whose father once betrayed his clan ...
Offered in marriage by David of Scotland as a guise for peace and cursed by Aidan's people for the sins of her father, Lìleas MacLaren is the one woman Aidan believes he is immune to. Alas, she is also the one woman who might bring the fierce chieftain to his knees.

I had a very difficult time engaging with this one.

And, I'm guessing this was likely written for the Middle School set: very dry and amateurish.

No real story line to suck me in, too much historical inaccuracy, and an odd vacillating between reality and fantasy for my liking.

The whole thing just didn't GO anywhere.

The two leads proved stiff, and only because the author chose to repeat herself again and again until I felt like chucking this one and moving on to another Highland novel.

How is anyone supposed to be expected to enjoy a novel whose premise sounds wonderful yet fails to be properly delivered by the author?

Telling us over and over again why someone is doing what they're doing, thinking what they're thinking, or (in this case) lying and being deceitful, isn't story-telling... it's not even writing!

The story dragged out this way throughout.

Nothing romantic about it aside from the author having either of the main leads 'think' one way and act another; never allowing either to act on impulse or hash out their differences.

What proved more romantic in a very gross way was that the Hero felt more attraction for his oldest sister 

His sister's lovely lips turned only slightly at the corners. ...with those soft, bonny features.

 than he did for the heroine... his forced-upon-him bride.

In a nutshell:

The girl hails from a loveless family, is a young widow with a young son, living in her late father's keep with a brother-in-law from Hades whose mistress is as devious as she is without guile (yes, that's right... I said she's devious AND without guile... you figure it out).

The new king wants the allegiance of some fierce North Scotland clan leader, so he devises a scheme to have the village witch betrothed to this man.

Her husband was shot through the eye with an arrow, and this somehow means his wife is to blame.

The nefarious bro-in-law decides he's going to add to the King's plot by threatening her son's life if she doesn't poison the North Scotland clan leader and marry him instead, and yes, our heroine goes along with the plan... for the sake of her son.

I have to say that the author did a much better job of character development with this b-i-l and his mistress than she did with the two leads.

Although, I have to wonder why the mistress needed to be in this story at all considering she did nothing else but rut with the b-i-l and then disappear once the b-i-l left after the wedding.

She wasn't an integral part of the plot or the story, but at least her 'romance' (if you want to call it that) had more meat on its bones.

The heroine hovers throughout the rest of the story, constantly reminding us about her son back home and the vial of poison in her trunk.

She then saves a village boy of a raging fever and later discovers the source of contamination that is causing so many of the villagers to die.

She also goes off on this weird trek and ends up inside an underground cave, finds a mystical area of ruins, and decides this is her new ticket to freedom.

Yet, all the while she is trying to make me believe that 'once she kills her husband, she's free to go back to her son and all will be well.'

Really?

These fierce (not) Highland warriors are just going to let you walk away after you've poisoned their leader?

And, by (not), I mean that the author continuously reminded us that Aidan dun Scoti is not a Highland Chief nor even a Scot!

He's Pect.

So, was the Highland word in the title a bait-n-switch tactic?

Lastly, the author's misuse of some words and an inability to use proper punctuation further ruined this one for me.

• blankets that had been lovingly knitted by someone folded neatly upon the bed,
• the effort they had made in their behalf,
• despite that a chill had risen in the air,
• bare-chested,
• he could simply not allow that to happen.
• not so steeled against her as he’d thought
• and he felt a new peril rising, hardening his shaft like a poppet on a string.
• beginning with the children first.
• save for the youngest
• pushing back the lid and then stood and stared
• and a sundry other items
• a cut and whelp on his forehead
• to kiss the pate of his head (a pate is the head)
• boots sank deeper into the frozen ground.

• backhand (tennis term first)
• smitten (mid-12c., from Old English smitan, is attested only as "to daub, smear on; soil, pollute, blemish, defile")
• She. Would. Not!
• they shot across the night sky like burning missiles

So, I have to assume that all of Miss Crosby's novels read in a similar fashion and am not interested in going through another ordeal like this one again.

However, if you are interested in novels because they have the word Highlander in the title, this series will probably delight you.

The Series

Amazon suggests these be read in order, and I do have the first novel but haven't read it yet, but I didn't feel lost or confused by having started with the second novel.

Book 1 - Once Upon a Highland Legend 

Book 2 -  Highland Fire 

Book 3 -  Highland Steel 

Book 4 -  Highland Storm 

Book 5 -  Maiden from the Mist