Highland Warrior by Hannah Howell

Fleeing an obsessed suitor, Fiona MacEnroy rides recklessly into Scotland's wildest hills and is captured by a horde of well armed men. Instead of battling for her life she finds herself swept away by a powerful stranger and carried off to a remote, forbidding keep. Oddly, here at Scarglas, a place shrouded in mystery and the black reputation of the rogue clan MacFingal, Fiona feels a strange, comforting sense of safety . . . and a consuming passion for its rugged laird.

Spellbound by Fiona's beauty yet determined to fight the longing she ignites, Ewan MacFingal plots to ransom Fiona back to her kin. Sworn to protect his eccentric clan against the dangers invading Scarglas, he refuses to be weakened by the power of a woman whose every glance and touch tell him that she is everything his heart desires.

My Thoughts

Fiona is a beautiful and spirited lady who has suffered the cruelty of an obsessed suitor. Kept locked in Deilcladach by her family for so long after having been abducted four times by Ranald Menzies, a man whose offer of marriage she has rejected, Fiona manages to escape the keep for a little while only to find herself lost and taken hostage by the MacFingals of Scarglas. With plans to ransom her, Ewan is annoyed when Fiona refuses to tell him who she is. And although Fiona puts up a fight in the beginning, she knows she is no match against the strength of the clan's laird and actually finds herself very attracted to him.

Ewan MacFingal is amazed at the petite woman whose has courage and beauty he has never encountered before. What astounds him more is the strong attraction she stirs in him. But having been betrayed by a woman years before, he knows he needs to fight it or risk losing his heart again. As for Fiona, she senses the good in him despite the wall he has built around himself and in her heart, she knows that she has found her soulmate and is determined to win his heart.

Hannah Howell is hit and miss for me and I’m happy to say that this one was a hit. Howell uses pleasant details of Scottish countryside to draw the reader into her world. Scottish inflections are used throughout the story to lend that particular air of authenticity, although at times this became very distracting. Secondary characters abound in the novel, and Ewan's father, Sir Fingal, plays an important role, one too important at times, for Ewan is extremely fixated on the problems that the man causes for the rest of their clan. Once the plot moved back to focusing on the hero and heroine, readers will once again be nicely entertained. Dialogue between all the characters is good, especially between Fiona and Ewan and Fiona and Mab, one of the clan's adoptive members.

Considering the amount of characters that abound throughout, all were quite well developed. Readers will clearly feel Ewan's dilemma in remaining separate from Fiona due to his father's indiscretions. Fiona herself is an admirable heroine who more than proved her worthiness as one. She's never faint of heart and in fact jumps in, heart open wide and ready to claim her man.

Note that this is one in a series (the third I think) but easily stands alone.