In The Highlander's Bed by Cathy Maxwell

Fun and adventurous romance

4 stars

After failing in his mission to retrieve the legendary Sword of McKenna from the English, Highland warrior Gordon Lachlan decides to strike personally at those who hold the sword – by kidnapping Constance Cameron from her boarding school and demanding the sword from her relatives in return for her release.

Constance is fed up with being stuck away in a boarding school and decides to run away and make a life for herself in her American homeland. But before she can escape the school, she is kidnapped by a roguish, but very handsome, Scottish rebel.

Neither are what the other expected and as passions run high, the pair realise they may have to fight for something more precious than freedom.

This was the concluding book in a series about the Cameron Sisters of Ohio (after The Price of Indiscretion, In the Bed of A Duke and Bedding the Heiress) although it does set up another book after this one so I suppose the series is a continuous one. There is a plot line that flows throughout the books so I wouldn’t suggest you read this book without having read the others first.

Constance is fiery and independent without ever coming across as a stereotype while Gordon is a fantastically tortured hero – torn between his need for freedom and his desire for love. The pair were well matched and I liked the banter between them throughout the book. I am also a fan of this kind of plot line and so I enjoyed the romance between the pair too.

Despite enjoying the book, I did have a few problems with it that stopped it from getting the full 5 stars. Firstly, the underlying plot of the Scottish cause and the Sword of McKenna seemed to fade as the book went on and although the romance was satisfactorily ended, the ‘sword’ plot was not and I felt slightly disappointed that nothing came of the so called rebellion. Gordon was so passionate for his cause at the beginning and then gave up his fight without much thought at the end of the book. There were also factual errors that really irked after a while such as when they left Edinburgh and travelled east yet somehow managed to end up in the Highlands!

As I mentioned before, I did actually enjoy the book even with the faults. It was exciting, romantic, a real page-turner and very well written. I would recommend this book to fans of Cathy Maxwell and those who enjoy a fun romantic adventure. 4 stars.