The Highlander’s Unexpected Proposal by Heather McCollum- Review

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Description:
A lass begging to marry him might top the list of “oddest things to happen,” but Chief Adam Macquarie is desperate. And no matter how much he hates to do it, he’s not above lying to get what he wants. Starting with the fact that he just omitted the truth about the situation back at his home—where there are no women and only a handful of other people. Because he has a secret need for a wife himself, one she won’t be too happy about when she finds out.

Lark Montgomerie is thrilled the brawny chief agrees to save her from her drunken father’s machinations of wedding her off to the first fool that agrees. He’s easy on the eyes and no one can be worse than her current options. Now a new life awaits her, on an exciting Scottish isle no less, and nothing will dampen her spirits. That is, until she arrives in her new homeland and realizes more than a few things are amiss…

Review:

The Highlander’s Unexpected Proposal by Heather McCollum is the first book in her new Brothers of Wolf Isle series.

“A curse upon thee, Chief Wilyam Macquarie, and your land. 

For ripping my daughter, Elspeth’s, heart in two after getting her with child and not wedding her, killing her as if ye wrapped the noose around her neck yourself… 

Until your clan ceases creating bastards, turning them out into the cruel world alone…until the day when your clan learns what love is, your land and all those upon it will be barren. Your crops and livestock will wither, illness will spread, and sorrow will prevail.” 

The witch clutched the dagger, stained with blood, and stabbed it into the tree. From that moment on, the tree bled, weeping for the Macquarie clan of Ulva. 

Witnessed by Chief Wilyam Macquarie Randall Maclean, Dawy  Macquarie, Flora Macquarie

With a description like that I had to chuckle. Reading the book had me laughing out loud/ shaking my head / not really what I’d thought, it was so much more. 

Lark is an old spinster in bygone days, but she won’t settle for a drunk and a liar, so her shrewish nature keeps the idiots at bay, until her father has had enough and says at the next Beltane festival she’s to be wed, the only thing Lark has a say in is who. And that’s why Adam found her in a tree! 

Adam is a desperate man, his clan needs new blood and women are the best way to attain it, his brother Beckett is the best bet to marry, but when he hears of a father with five daughters, fate must surely be smiling down on him, his brother can have his pick, and who knows, maybe he can persuade her sisters to come for a visit (plenty of suitors) 

That is until he meets the fiery eldest daughter Lark! His brother is going to have his work cut out trying to tame that one!! 

Set in 1548 the story actually goes further back to 1422, it seems the lusty chief wanted the fun but not the responsibility. Making a young girl pregnant and then abandoning her brought down a curse that still haunts the Macquarie clan. Slowly the land died and people left the island, only a few remain, and now it’s Adam’s duty to bring the clansmen home, to return it to its former glory. 

Adam gets a shock when it’s in fact he who comes home with a bride and not his brother!! He’s a Chief now, his responsibility is to his clan, he doesn’t have time for a bride!! But she is a bonnie lass, maybe she can help the clan to grow. 

It did remind me a little of a film “seven brides for seven brothers” where the poor unsuspecting bride is taken home as is expected to cook, clean and care for her husband and his brothers! 

Now poor Lark isn’t expecting six brothers, but she certainly wasn’t expecting a barren isle, people may have lived on it once, but it’s going to take more than sweeping out cottages and hanging lucky Heather! There is a vibe that causes Lark to worry, what if she isn’t the good luck charm Adam thinks she is? Maybe she should have told him about her own plight before wedding him! 

The romance is slow burning , but when we get there it’s hot and steamy. The bond growing between Adam and Lark is all about trust, and the trust may turn into love, but with both of them hiding secrets, you have to hope trust will see them through it! 

We have a few mystery’s to solve, the characters also have a few skeletons to reveal and exorcise!! There is also the fact that other clans don’t think the Macquarie clan will be able to live on Wolf Isle (it’s curse will see the extinction of the Macquarie clan) and the usual clan squabbles. So can the Chief break the curse? Or will his clan be cursed forever? 

I loved the banter between the Macquarie brothers, you get the sense of love and loyalty. Their prowess at the games did have me rolling my eyes, a typical male chest pounding scenario. It was great seeing old MC’s from previous books, that was a nice surprise. 

And as it’s book one of a new series I’m hoping all the sisters get stories, it would be handy if they all found love on the island with the Macquarie brothers ?

I’ve read a few books from this author and I’ve loved the scene she sets for you. The descriptions have you whisked back to Scotland, the laughter and smells of the campfires, the musty smell of unused homes, it’s all given great detail. 

The mystery only adds to this story, the heartbreak a mother feels when a child is tossed to one side, a curse uttered in a moment of anger, and over a hundred years of misery. Can the curse be broken? Or is it simply not giving the muttering of a grief stricken mother the power? But you have to remember that in the period of time, curses, witches and god were believed in greatly, so if you give that curse the power, then it works….. 

Reviewed by Julie

Copy provided by Publisher