Review: Highland Crown

Highland Crown by May McGoldrick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Highland Crown" was undeniably a well-written book, and I liked that there were aspects of real Scottish history interwoven with the story. Unfortunately, the pace of the book seemed kind of slow to me, especially in the first half. It didn't seem like very much happened aside from a few key events, and the main plotline didn't advance much at all. The second half of the book seemed better paced and I found it to be somewhat more interesting, but the end of the book really irritated me. There was a lot of foreshadowing leading up to the "big reveal" of Cinaed's parentage, but I hate that it didn't take place until so late in the story. There wasn't enough time left in the book for much of a reaction from the characters, and in the end, that made this entire first book seem like it was just an extended prologue for the next two books in the trilogy.

The other thing that bothered me about the "secret" of Cinaed's parentage is that it seemed like basically everyone else he met in Scotland knew about it before Cinaed did. How is it possible that no one ever mentioned his supposed "parents" to him before his uncle told him the story? If they didn't know, what exactly was it about Cinaed that everyone found compelling enough to earn him the nickname "Son of Scotland"? Sure, he was a handsome guy, but he wasn't rich or powerful, and his belief that he had earned their respect just for smuggling weapons into Scotland for the anti-English resistance fighters was flimsy, at best.

In addition, I was really not a fan of the "insta-love" between Isabella and Cinaed. How could they possibly have developed feelings for each other before they had even known each other for 12 hours? Finally, Cinaed's recovery after his fever was nothing short of miraculous. Somehow he was up and around almost immediately after waking up, and later that same day he was able to make love to Isabella too. How is it possible that he was physically capable of those feats? Shouldn't he have been weak after being unconscious and not eating through four or so days of fever? As for Isabella, as his doctor shouldn't she have advised him to rest and recover, not exert himself with strenuous activity?

At any rate, I was kind of disappointed with this book overall, but I am still giving it 3 stars because, as noted above, it was very well-written, and the aspects based in actual Scottish history were interesting. I'm not sure at this point if I will continue with the series.

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

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