Tag: Heather McCollum

The Highlander’s Fallen Angel by Heather McCollum

On By TracyIn Check Content Warning/Triggers, Medieval (1066-1540), Non-Traditional Romance, Part of a Series, Scottish/Highlander, Tracy's ReviewsLeave a comment

The Highlander's Fallen Angel (Brotherhood of Solway Moss #2)The Highlander’s Fallen Angel by Heather McCollum

Tracy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Series: The Brotherhood of Solway Moss, #2

Release Date: April 29, 2025

Widow Tierney MacNicol’s father betrothed her to Ranulf Matheson, and now that her father has gone missing, her cousin Asher MacNicol has left and her clan has been decimated by war and sickness, Ranulf is insisting that she marry him, but lucky for Tierney there was a clause in the betrothal contract stating that the contract would be void if Tierney marries another clan chief. To save herself and her daughter from another brutal man, Tierney needs Kenan Macdonald, and desperate times call for desperate measures! During the wedding for Kenan’s sister Sara and Rory MacLeod, Tierney steals Kenan’s flying machine and crashes it into the ocean, which leads to Kenan saving her and ultimately leads to her taking him captive. She needs to convince Kenan to return with her to Scorrybreac and pretend to be her husband. But nothing could have prepared her for Kenan Macdonald…

Kenan Macdonald has the weight of the world on his shoulders, he was held prisoner for 18 months by King Henry after the Battle of Solway Moss and returned home only to lose his father, be betrayed by his own brother, watch his castle burn and now have his flying machine stolen – again! All Kenan wants is a united Scotland and the bonds he made in prison with his fellow captives are a good start to that, in fact he is on the brink of making an alliance with the powerful Mackinnon clan by marrying Cyrus Mackinnon’s sister Grace. Things are finally looking up, until Tierney MacNicol crashes into his life – literally. She threatens everything he has been working for and her interference could drag his clan into a war, but there is something about her that intrigues him and question everything he has planned.

I am not sure how I feel about this story – I loved Kenan and Tierney, but I didn’t really care for the inequality of the characters. Both Kenan and Tierney have suffered at the hands of others and have been subjected to life-altering horrors that reforged both of them. Overall, this was an interesting story with a strong heroine, a hero who really is a hero, a lot of action, emotion, heartache, betrayal, warm love scenes, wonderful secondary characters, evil villains, redemption and finally a HEA. The problem I had with this story is that while their experiences have changed them both, the reader is still urged to believe that Tierney’s needs and wants are more important than Kenan’s – I just don’t care for stories where one character surrenders their desires to make the other character happy rather than coming to a mutual compromise. This is the second book in the series and could be read as a standalone title, but I would recommend reading the series in order for the best reader experience. It should also be noted that readers with sensitivity to spousal abuse, imprisonment, and spousal rape should read the content warnings before reading this book.

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

The Highlander’s Wild Flame by Heather McCollum – Review

On By BarbaraIn Barb's Reviews, Medieval (1066-1540), Part of a Series, Scottish/Highlander, Tudor Era (1485-1603)Leave a comment

The Highlander’s Wild Flame

Barbara’s rating: 3.5 out of 5 Stars
Series: Brotherhood of Solway Moss #1
Publication Date: 7/23/24
Period: Medieval – 1544 – Isle of Skye, Scotland
Number of Pages: 384

The prologue briefly acquaints us with the four members of the Brotherhood and how it came to be. For me personally, I would have liked that expanded a bit to learn more about their actual escape and the formation of the Brotherhood rather than just learning their escape was successful and they had formed a Brotherhood. These were four expendable members of their clan who had been given to the English for imprisonment in place of a non-expendable member. No, these weren’t common clan members – they were sons and even heirs to the Lairdships of their clans. All were from various warring clans from the Isle of Skye – sworn enemies – who had to learn to work together so they could escape their captivity. I don’t know if we’ll learn more over the course of the series, but I would have liked to see it in this book. There are plenty of spots that could have been skipped or shortened so the Brotherhood formation could have been expanded.

This book follows Rory MacLeod and Seraphina (Sara) MacDonald, but we also learn more about Sara’s brother Kenan who was imprisoned with Rory in the English prison. We also get an interesting set-up for the second book in the series which will feature Kenan.

Rory MacLeod is the second son of Laird Alasdair MacLeod who is a mean, manipulative, hateful, deceitful man who rules his clan with an iron fist. Rory’s brother, Jamie, heir to the lairdship, is a carbon copy of his father. Both Jamie and the Laird have always taken great pleasure in tormenting and manipulating Rory – even to the point of turning him over to the English to serve in Jamie’s place. Oh! They promised they would ransom him out – but they never did. So, over a lifetime, Rory had learned to never, ever, trust anyone – and the one time he did, she was a traitor and spy.

Sara MacDonald, daughter to Laird Walter MacDonald, has grown up as the target of her father’s wrath and ridicule. While she could have grown bitter, wrathful, distrustful, and disdainful, she was a protector and peacemaker instead. Sara was truthful, always truthful, even when a lie would have saved her from harm or humiliation.

Sara has no love for the MacLeod clan because she has always been taught that they are the enemy and only want to destroy the MacDonald clan. However, she agrees to wed Jamie MacLeod to unite the clans and bring peace. Her father’s actions directly after the wedding shocked her! He locked the entire leadership of the MacLeod clan in the church where the wedding ceremony had just taken place and set the church on fire to burn them all to death. At great risk to her own life, Sara finds a way to save them – only to be met with calls for her own death.

There are spies, thieves, and murderers within Clan MacLeod and it is their mission to make Sara appear to be the guilty party. Do they succeed? They do in a way because Rory is very distrustful of anyone and everyone – especially a female MacDonald. Rory was distrustful of Sara in his head, but in his heart, he felt differently. Sadly, too many times Rory allowed his head to rule.

I did enjoy this book and I thought it was a good setup for the second book and the series. That said, I think Rory’s head ruling his heart went on for too long. Another thing was the issue of the ‘annulment’ of Jamie and Sara’s marriage. Just because the priest agreed and the marriage documents were destroyed as soon as the ceremony was over, I believe the marriage would still have been binding at that time in Scotland. During that period in Scotland, all you had to do was declare you were married before witnesses – and you were married – you didn’t even need a priest. So, the marriage was witnessed by both clans – and should have still been legal. After reading some reviews, I was surprised to find that I not only tolerated but somewhat liked Rory. Sara was my favorite character and I was happy to see her get her HEA – and the setup for the next book sounded like a fun introduction to the heroine.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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