Review: Katie's Highlander

Katie's Highlander by Maeve Greyson
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This is a tough review for me to write because I really, really wanted to like this book. In general, I love time travel romances, and I am always looking for good ones to fill in the gaps between Lynn Kurland's releases. Unfortunately, "Katie's Highlander" was not one of the good ones in my opinion. I struggled to finish this book. If I hadn't gotten it from NetGalley and committed to writing a review, I would have DNF'd it. But instead, I persevered, and to be honest, I wish I hadn't wasted my time.

First, a couple of positive things about the book. Even though it's the third book in a series, it stands well on its own. The author did a good job of setting the stage at the beginning so that I didn't feel lost even though I hadn't read the first two books in the series. In addition, the setup for the time travel is very creative. In most of the time travel books I've read, it seems like the characters are just flung through time at random and never figure out why or how it happens. In this case, it actually serves a purpose: the protection of the Heartstone, which in this world is the source of all of humanity's love and hope. It's kind of cool to think about there being Highland Protectors out there fighting to keep those things alive for us, especially in this day and age when we hear about so much bad in the world.

Unfortunately, the things I didn't like about the book far outweighed the good. Most importantly, I didn't like Katie, the female main character, at all. She consistently came across as a spoiled shrew who threw temper tantrum after temper tantrum and treated the people around her like dirt. I couldn't figure out what Ramsay, the male lead, saw in her that was lovable. And speaking of love, the development of the relationship between Katie and Ramsay was basically nonexistent. About halfway through the book, shortly after they have traveled back in time, Ramsay basically just looks at Katie and thinks, "I love her and have to have her because she's so spirited!" By the way, this happens while Katie is in the middle of one of her tantrums and is actually threatening to kill Ramsay. She throws a knife at him a minute later! I guess that could be considered "spirited," all right, but seriously, WTF?! For Katie's part, she decides that she's in "love" with Ramsay basically because they have hot sex. This totally seems like a relationship that is destined to last!

There were a number of other things about the plot that bothered me too, but it was actually the author's writing style that I found to be the bigger annoyance. For example, I lost count of how many times she used the word "snugged" or "snugging." (I didn't realize it before I read this book, but apparently, I hate that word like many people hate the word "moist." It sounds just like nails on a chalkboard to me. Obviously, that's a personal problem, but still, let's all remember that variety in word choice is a good thing!) I could have ignored it if the word had only been used once or twice, but it was used repeatedly. Ramsay "snugs" his belt against his hips. Katie "snugs" against a cairn of rocks or against Ramsay's chest. I'd just like to point out that there are other words - nestle, snuggle, press, tighten, secure, etc. Thesauruses (thesauri?) are our friends!

Bottom line: This book just wasn't for me. It had a lot of potential, and with better editing I think it actually could be quite good. But in its current state, I just can't recommend it.

*ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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