A #review of Highland Spring, Book One, Seasons of Fortitude #series, by Elizabeth Rose

A review of Highland Spring by Elizabeth Rose, Book One in her Seasons of Fortitude Series

Pages -  277

Publisher -  RoseScribe Media Inc.

Published -  May 18, 2017

Sold by - Amazon Digital Services LLC

Series - Seasons of Fortitude Book 1 of 4

Genre -  Historical Romance, Scottish Highlands

Language -  1/5

Sexual Content -  3/5

Narrative -  3rd

Spring has been raised as a warrior, always trying to please her father of Viking descent. Through the years she's tried to be the son he wished her to be. At a young age she's chosen the bow and arrows of a dead man as her weapon, and now she's mastered the skill. Growing up without a mother, the only skill she hasn't mastered is how to be a lady and someday a mother. But now her father decides to marry her off to their enemy, Shaw Gordon, in order to get inside the castle walls. Wanting to be a part of overtaking the castle, she goes along with the plan.

Shaw Gordon, chieftain, and laird is a widower with two boys and one unruly adolescent daughter. He decides it's time to take a wife again, but never expects to be presented with his enemy's daughter. The woman is fierce, and nothing like the mother he wants for his children. The Gunn clan has been an enemy of the Gordons for as long as he can remember. While an alliance would be good, he doesn't trust them. 

Can two enemies push aside their differences for the benefit of all? And can a woman draw strength from herself as well as from her new husband when she discovers the horrible secret of her past - that her entire life is nothing but a lie?

NOT a fan of the Cover Art.

I'm about to sound like a broken record at this point, but please excuse the odd fact that I picked two Elizabeth Rose novels in a row and forgive me.

Again, there were issues with the author's writing and GPS knowledge,

• As no’ only as yer lover but as yer husband as well,”
• exposing her naked breasts.
• doolally, (early 20th century: originally doolally tap, Indian army slang, from Deolali (the name of a town with a military sanatorium and a transit camp) + Urdu tap ‘fever.’)
• cockamamie (1940s American (originally denoting a design left by a transfer): probably an alteration of decalcomania.)
• make it more family-friendly.” (Really? You actually went there in an Historical setting?)

and yes, a lot of Scots Brogue tossed in for effect, though not nearly as often as the Madman MacKeefe series had, so there is that.

And, once again, the reviews at Goodreads were far more favorable than at Amazon (I'm beginning to think that a lot more readers go to Goodreads than they do Amazon to leave their thoughts... which might mean a lot more people read paperback or use something other than a Kindle to read novels?)

I can see, though, why folks wouldn't care for Ms. Rose and her writing ability.

Still, I really enjoyed Spring's unusual story about being raised by a cruel, rogue Scot and trained as an ancestral Viking warrior, and I, again, became engaged and wanted to discover how it all turns out.

The writer's style improved somewhat here, but not by a country mile if that is what you hope will occur.

Too much thick brogue for my enjoyment, and still on the juvenile side 'reading' wise to make me want to sing the woman's praises as I had with her Madman MacKeefe trilogy.

I won't apologize to anyone for enjoying those stories any more than I can apologize or back-peddle my opinion about Spring.

What I can do, though, is let everyone know that the writing needs more work, NOT the thought process behind it or the stories themselves because, even as written, they are still engaging.

It isn't all about sex, it has enough meat on its bones to make the reader wonder what will happen next, and the characters aren't so entirely over-the-top as to be unbelievable... not even for the time period in which they are plunked down and perform.

The story begins when Spring is a child and scavenging the remains on a battlefield (Brits slaughtering Scots), when she comes across a dead man hugging a dead woman.

The man's eyes are wide, and as young as Spring is, she still reads this corpse like a book and carries those eyes with her into adulthood (after she takes his bow and arrows).

She also witnesses three young boys run into a nearby chapel only to see the chapel go up in flames so has to carry that sad memory as well.

Cut to the 'present', and Spring is now One and Twenty.

Her heartless father has arranged for her to wed the widower of a nearby castle with the sole purpose of granting her father access to said Keep in order to steal it.

And when I say 'arranged', I mean... well, I don't post spoiler's here, so you'll have to read the novel in order to find out exactly what I mean.

If you'll bother to notice the running THIEF and THEFT and THIEVING and STEALING that occurs throughout much of the first few chapters, you will understand that the author likes to employ symbolism in her writing, which isn't a bad thing, really.

And, you can't entirely say her writing is predictable, either.

You think you know what's going to happen, and perhaps it does, but just not in the way you had assumed, which is refreshing to say the least.

Spring has always wanted family, friendship, and true love, and while it doesn't take her very long to adapt to her new life with Shaw Gordon and his two children, Spring tends to stick to her guns about being raised a warrior and, therefore, so should his daughter.

The 'love' between these two does happen a bit nano-second in my opinion, but the novel is rather short so time spans are as well.

The length of time in which it takes these two to know one another better, fall in love, and create a bond strong enough to make what Spring does near the end more believable is pure conjecture, if you don't mind.

Either you want to read the story for the sake of its being a fictional romance, or you don't.

I did, and I ended up enjoying the story, its two leads, and their eventual outcome, and I think, if you really want to read Fictional romance for the simple sake of escape, that you will, too.


Elizabeth Rose Notes:

(This series follows the Legendary Bastards of the Crown Series. It is recommended to read that series first but is not required. This book is the first in a series of four stand-alone novels.)

Watch for the other books in the series: Summer's Reign - Book 2, Autumn's Touch - Book 3, and Winter's Flame - Book 4. 

All books are also available in paperback and audio book form.

Seasons of Fortitude series