THE HIGHLANDER’S FRENCH BRIDE (The Highlander’s Bride #5) by Cathy MacRae-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date November 27, 2015

Heir to a lairdship, Kinnon Macrory is driven to prove his worth by fighting the English on the battlefields of France. His dreams of heroic valor are destroyed by the realities of war—the atrocities visited by fellow soldiers on the very people he is sworn to protect. Three years in a French prison for a crime he did not commit leave Kinnon longing for the one thing of beauty in his war-torn life—a young woman of great kindness and wisdom named Melisende.

Melisende de la Roche struggles to stay one step ahead of soldiers who would imprison her for helping an injured Scotsman wrongly accused of treason. She finds refuge in her uncle’s shop—until a chance encounter sends her fleeing into the unknown once again, haunted by the beguiling friendship with the troubled young Scotsman she is certain she will never see again.

Determined to find the woman of his dreams, Kinnon returns to France, only to discover a trail of clues to Melisende’s whereabouts. Their reunion will open the doors to passion, but half-truths and lies from the past could destroy the one thing they both are willing to fight for—each other.

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REVIEW: THE HIGHLANDER’S FRENCH BRIDE is the fifth installment in Cathy MacRae’s THE HIGHLANDER’S BRIDE historical romance series. This is Scotsman and heir to the Macrory Lairdship Kinnon Macrory, and French woman Melisende de la Roche. Kinnon is Gilda Macrory’s brother-first introduced in The Highlander’s Tempestuous Bride. THE HIGHLANDER’S FRENCH BRIDE can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty.

Told from third person point of view THE HIGHLANDER’S FRENCH BRIDE follows Kinnon Macrory onto the battlefields of France and into the lives of French sisters Melisende and her younger sister Lucienne. For weeks, Kinnon travelled to the sisters’s farm in search of food for himself and his men, but war soon came to the small village, and Melisende found herself trapped in town aiding the wounded and dying while her sister played nursemaid, back home, to an equally wounded Kinnon. When Kinnon is charged with treason and abandoning his post, Melisende and her sister become embroiled with the soldiers only to find themselves on the run with no place to go. Years would pass before Melisende would set eyes on the man with whom she had fallen in love, but not before Lucienne embarks on a journey for herself.

THE HIGHLANDER’S FRENCH BRIDE follows two paths that will intersect years later when Kinnon is reunited with the woman he loves. Upon his release, Kinnon needs time to heal from his debilitating wounds, but is determined to search for Melisende and her sister knowing that one or both could have been captured by the British soldiers. The relationship between Kinnon and Melisende is very slow to build as the majority of the storyline sees the leading characters separate and in different countries. The reader has a front row seat as Kinnon searches for the woman he lost; and Melisende is constantly on the run –one step ahead of the price on her head.

Cathy MacRae has admitted taking liberty with the historical accuracy and honestly I would not have noticed the timeline anomalies. Because the storyline traverses France and Scotland, we get a little bit of the Scottish brogue and the French language of love. Each of Cathy’s storylines features an animal or close pet. The premise is entertaining with a myriad of subplots and twists; the characters are colorful and animated-Lucienne’s personal story is heartbreaking and intense; Melisende and Kinnon’s life experiences add maturity and resolution; the $ex scenes are intimate but mostly implied. The romance and sexual tension between Melisende and Kinnon is sorely lacking due in part to the long separation throughout most of the storyline. I will add that the ‘long separation’ between leading characters is a regular feature of Cathy’s storylines.

Copy supplied by the author.

Reviewed by Sandy