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I simply had to laugh when I first saw Ravished by a Highlander by Paula Quinn. The title is about as subtle as a sledgehammer, and any trashy romance novel with the word “ravish” in the title has to be good, right? Unfortunately I wouldn’t say this book is “good”—more like mediocre. What’s a more underwhelming term for “ravished”?
The year is 1685, and young Davina Montgomery is in grave danger. As the first born (albeit illegitimate) daughter of King James of Scotland, she has been spirited away to a remote Abbey along the England/Scotland border to keep her safe.
Davina and her father are Roman Catholics intent on keeping Scotland’s allegiance secure with Holy Mother Church; but there are those who would rather see Scotland follow the Protestant faith, and they would stop at nothing in achieving that.
Admiral Giles, the head of the Protestant faction, is a truly despicable villain, going so far as to set fire to the Abbey where Davina Montgomery—really Davina Stuart—resides, killing all but her and her faithful bodyguard, Edward.
This is where we meet Robert MacGregor, first born son of the MacGregor chieftain. He is returning from a cattle raid along the border and stumbles upon the carnage at the Abbey. Never one to shy away from duty, Robert takes Davina and Edward to his clan’s home. Along the way, Davina and Robert fall in love, naturally. However, once her secret comes out, it threatens to destroy both the MacGregor clan’s safety and Davina and Robert’s budding life together—not to mention Robert’s life itself, should Davina’s father catch wind that the Princess has fallen in love and married without his permission.
I think the biggest problem with this book is that it simply doesn’t live up to expectations. With a title like Ravished by a Highlander, the reader expects, well, to be ravished. Unfortunately, I found Davina and Robert to be a rather bland couple, and the action (both in and out of the bedroom) simply wasn’t very exciting. I expected this novel to come in at about an eight, both in terms of romance, action, and emotion but it simply fell flat, barely mustering a four. The love scenes were serviceable, but certainly nothing to write home about. Perhaps we should send Ms. Quinn a thesaurus?
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