Saturday, December 1, 2012

Conquered by a Highlander

Disclaimer: This review gets a little steamy, so if that offends you, please don't continue. You have been warned!

Conquered by a Highlander, by Paula Quinn
Source: I received a free copy of this book from GoodReads' FirstReads program for my honest review.
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
GoodReads

I was really torn between 2 and 3 stars for this book, but settled on 2 because it really was just OK. Not terrible or awful, but not good or great either. In fairness, this is not my usual type of book and I'm sure there are many fans of Paula Quinn who would grant this 4 or 5 stars and I totally respect that, it's just really not really for me. I was hoping it would be and entered the FirstReads contest because I adore all things Scottish, am an avid reader of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books, and was looking to try a different author with a similar setting. When all is said and done though, this book cannot hold a candle to Outlander.

I have to admit I nearly put this one down altogether. It took me a long time to really get into the story and the language nearly drove me mad! The dialogue read much like a novel set in the modern day would except with words like "'twas" and "mayhap" here and there. When I got to a sentence that started "Mayhap 'twas..." I nearly threw the book up in frustration. To me, it just felt like such a forced way to try to evoke another time period. The only real comparison I have is the Outlander books, but those are written with heavy Scottish dialogue that managed to feel much more authentic and add to the story instead of detract from it. I'll give credit where credit is due though, and when the Scottish men are talking in this novel, they do use words like "aye" and "lass" and their dialogue flows much better, without being so distracting.

My other main criticism of the book was that we spent a LOT of pages rehashing how Colin is a big tough warrior and he can't believe he's letting a woman and her son get under his skin and soften his heart. You're a Scottish brute with a heart of gold and you're showing a side of you no one has seen before - OK, OK, I get it! I get. Really.

For any fans of steamy romance looking forward to the "good stuff" know that it takes a real long time to get to there. And then WHAM all of a sudden you can't believe things have progressed so quickly. Colin is putting something in all the other men's drinks to knock them out so he can steal away to a cave with his lady Gillian. He proceeds to go down on her and then walks away to the mouth of the cave and jerks off at a distance. At which point, I was left thinking "WTF, did that really just happen?!" I don't know, it just seemed to all happen really slow, then really fast, and then things went just a bit odd. To each his own, I suppose, but I can totally respect that he was trying not to get the poor woman pregnant.[And then WHAM all of a sudden you can't believe things have progressed so quickly. Colin is putting something in all the other men's drinks to knock them out so he can steal away to a cave with his lady Gillian. He proceeds to go down on her and then walks away to the mouth of the cave and jerks off at a distance. At which point, I was left thinking "WTF, did that really just happen?!" I don't know, it just seemed to all happen really slow, then really fast, and then things went just a bit odd. To each his own, I suppose, but I can totally respect that he was trying not to get the poor woman pregnant. (hide spoiler)]

Onto more mundane things, it's also important to note this book is part of a series. I'd heard it's not necessary to read the previous novels first and I definitely would agree that is true. I imagine readers who've been with the series from the beginning would appreciate this later volume more, but I had no problem following the story without having read any of the earlier books.

If you're looking for a quick romantic read, this is certainly not a bad book. If you're already a fan of Paula Quinn, please just ignore me because I'm sure you will like this one as well. But, if you're an Outlander fan and looking for another Scottish book you'll enjoy just as much, I'm afraid you'll likely be disappointed.

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