His Secret Highland Bride by Allison B. Hanson

Tracy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Series: Clan MacPherson, #1

Release Date: May 13, 2024

After fighting abroad for five years, Shane MacPherson, now a guilt and grief-stricken widower is back in Scotland and must take over as Laird of his clan now that his father has passed away. He must also honor an agreement made by his father to marry the Laird of the Wallace clan’s daughter. He is on his way home to Cluny Castle to face the responsibilities bearing down on him, when he comes across a woman being assaulted on his lands, he is horrified to realize the men are MacPhersons and intervenes. This is when he meets Lindsay and with her, he finds peace for the first time since his beloved wife died. She seems to understand his grief and helps him heal. Yet neither is quite honest with the other, Shane believes Lindsay to be a maid and she believes him to be a simple soldier. They find a bit of happiness together and though they both think they are promised to others thanks to their fathers, they plan to defy them by marrying. But eventually Shane must return home and it is there that his short-lived happiness ends.

Lindsay Wallace was sent to the MacPherson clan by her mother to tend her ailing aunt, but when she arrived it was to learn that her aunt had already passed. She tries to help her uncle and his children, but is treated horribly by them and wants to return home. Her parents refuse and inform her of her impeding nuptials to the Laird of the MacPhersons. After the way she has been treated by them, Lindsay wants nothing to do with the MacPherson clan and certainly doesn’t want to marry their Laird. Shane is the only MacPherson she has met who seems honorable and they form a friendship of sort. She agrees to marry him to save herself, but wonders if she is doing the right thing, since he clearly still loves his first wife. When they return to Shane’s home, Cluny Castle, the truth comes out and any chance of happiness she might have had vanishes.

I am torn about this book, the writing was good and the characters likable, but the pace of the story was slow and the misunderstandings and misassumptions dragged on way too long to be truly enjoyable. The story has a lot going on and a lot of action, but relies heavily on misunderstanding, secrets and lies to keep the story moving forward – all of which become tiresome to the reader, especially when the issues could have easily been resolved with a bit of honest conversation. Personally, I didn’t feel any chemistry between Shane and Lindsay – he was still in love with his wife and blamed himself for her death, making it almost impossible for him to move on and then when he decided that it was time, he found something else to feel guilty about – UGH! And Lindsay wasn’t much better, she was a hypocrite who was quick to jump to conclusions and to judge and very slow to forgive – Double UGH! I didn’t hate this book, but I didn’t love it and wouldn’t read it again. This is the first book in the and while I didn’t care for this story, I would definitely read the next book.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher. All opinions in this review are my own. *