A #review of Taken by the Highlander by Julianne MacLean

Today I review Taken by the Highlander by Julianne MacLean, another Highlander Historical Romance.

Pages -  225 

Publisher -  Julianne MacLean Publishing Inc. 

Published -  December 26, 2015

Sold by -  Amazon Digital Services LLC

Genre -  Historical, Highlander Romance

Series -  The Highlander Series, Book 5

Language -  2/5

Sexual Content -  4/5

Narrative - 3rdP

A WARRIOR WITH A SECRET
Logan MacDonald, fierce warrior and bold scout for Angus the Lion, hides a shameful secret. When he arrives injured at a crofter’s cottage in Campbell territory during a secret mission for his laird, he is immediately suspected of treachery…. 

A WOMAN WITH A VISION
When Mairi Campbell stumbles across the mysterious wounded Highlander in a moonlit glen—a member of an enemy clan—she is strangely beguiled and cannot resist the desire to unearth the secrets of his darkened soul. Soon, Mairi surrenders to forbidden passion in his bed, which thrusts her into the middle of a war—in a battle for Scottish freedom, and in a battle against the true desires of her heart….

Great Cover Art.

Character development was there, and it did seem as if the author knew a little bit about the time period, but she also chose to use a lot of modern terminology and slang.

This phrase kept cropping up to annoy, and I still don't get it or the point in needing to use it:

"...used the pad of his thumb to caress..."

When do you ever use your thumbnail to do anything, so this just seems beyond redundant and unnecessary to me.

The premise of this story IS romance, but insta-love and insta-sex occurred, which threw the romance aspect out the window fairly early in the story.

Logan is in another part of the area, fighting with his older brother when the older brother breaks Logan's sword arm.

Upset, Logan takes off on his war horse, and when the pain becomes unbearable, the horse slows to a crawl and Logan slides to the ground in a daze.

Mairi, the heroine, is shell-shocked after a rape that gives her a son, and she lives with her mother and the boy in a small hut near where Logan ends up lying on the ground staring at the stars, wondering about everything in his life.

There is also the warring factions element, where the Campbells and the MacDonalds are feuding.

So, to say there is a lot going on is putting it rather mildly, but the author didn't write in a way that left me confused or wondering how anything was possible/implausible, etc.

What she did do was to include a few too many aside characters (in order to get me interested in the other novels in this series), and while it was done in a way that didn't confuse, it still made me have to keep score, and I don't care for that.

Meaning, I was never quite sure if Logan's brother and the woman he attempted to help was a before story or an upcoming story.

And, to be honest, I didn't care even if the two being in this particular story DID make some sense to the plot.

Here's what disengaged me most...

The author chose to inject her beliefs into the romance, making Mairi read like a modern-day feminazi with strong opinions that EVERYONE needs to adhere to... or else.

Mairi hates violence and war, so she raises her son to be feminine, and Logan is a born warrior needing to recover his sword arm in order to return to battle.

I was expected to believe that Mairi was afraid and distrustful of all men yet still capable of trusting and falling in love with Logan.

Because he's hot, capable, and willing to fake his own beliefs to placate Mairi.

Which, to me, is hogwash.

Logan ends up keeping secrets, denying himself to Mairi, and basically stringing her along in order to have sex with her, which occurs fairly early in their meet-n-greet, and that, too, isn't appealing.

He is kept in the barn with his war horse until his arm is mended, and while Mairi is distrustful and afraid of men, she continues to slip into that barn every night to lay with Logan... even before they really get to know one another better.

Logan just has to say he understands, that he's sorry she got hurt, and that he isn't that kind of a guy for Mairi to abandon her past and lift her skirt for Logan.

Yet, when it comes to violence and war, that's another story.

Mairi refuses to let that go and inflicts it upon Logan at every chance, making it seem as if I, the reader, am supposed to be in collusion with Mairi's opinion and shame Logan as well, and I didn't like that.

This mindset found its way into Logan's daily attempts to work his way into her son's life, when Mairi would scold Logan for talking about being a soldier, whittling a wooden sword for the boy, and telling him bedtime stories about famous battles.

It is stupid and implausible for the time period, so that completely kicked me out of the story and made the read lifeless.

It was a shame, because had that element not been included, this could have been a real joy to read and receive a much higher rating from me.

Maybe I am not saying it correctly.

For Mairi to be against warriors, battles, and manly pursuits is one thing, but for her opinion to dominate the story line and attempt to emasculate the Hero, Logan, is another.

Mairi definitely has a right to her opinion and to even attempt to thrust it upon her son, but that doesn't give her the right to judge Logan and force him to believe her side of the story and not his own.

At that time in our history, in order for all people to survive, Logan was revered as well as desperately needed, and I'm sure Mairi knew this, so why make her sound dumb and 21st Century?

When you are afraid to admit or believe or realize that men have their place in society -- today and yesteryear -- I have to wonder why you are in this particular market of all places.

If you truly believe that women are superior to men, that men are ridiculous oafs who need to be taught serious life lessons, then WHY bother writing Romance, and especially Historical Romance?

Let the man be in charge!

Let him do his damn job, and create true romance by having the two warring factions come up against one another in a battle of wills, wit, and wisdom.

NOT a my-way-or-the-highway duel that screams 21st Century "Look what I learned in my Gender Studies 101 class!"

I don't feel as if I learned much about Scotland and their true issues with the British, nor did it give me an overall sense of having been in the Highlands for the duration.

Like some of the negative reviews at Amazon and Goodreads, I felt like this was rushed and not a whole lot of thought went into the Romance, which is sad.

This is Book 5 in The Highlander series, and I would recommend this and perhaps all of the books in the series.

THE REBEL - A Highland Short Story 

Book 1 - CAPTURED BY THE HIGHLANDER 

Book 2 - CLAIMED BY THE HIGHLANDER 

Book 3 - SEDUCED BY THE HIGHLANDER

Book 4 - RETURN OF THE HIGHLANDER

Well-written and with a promising plot, but with too much modern nonsense to spoil it for me, but probably not for a majority of readers who enjoy Highland aspects to their historicals.