Review: Sweet Highland Romance  **Mild Spoiler Alert**
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 14, 2013
Is this Ms. Brodie's first book?  If it is then, OMG, her career has gotten off to a smoking hot start!  I absolutely loved Kade and Jillian's (Jilly's) story!  Is the book perfect, no?  But then, what book is?  Rarely have I read a book where I can say that I had absolutely no issue with any part of the story.  This is not one of those super rare books, but it comes darn close!  The book is well written and I love the plot....which IMO isn't a typical Highland historical romance plot.  Here we have two people who were very much in love and, due to circumstances beyond their control, were prevented from being together.  During the intervening four years that have past since they were denied the ability to marry, Kade and Jilly have both grown up and done a lot of living.  In Kade's case he has lost both parents, become Laird of his clan, and has lost his wife and newborn baby son.  As for Jilly, her betrothed was killed (though that is no big loss, actually quite the opposite!) both her parents died, and she is left to raise her young brother as best she can.  Jilly's unscrupulous cousin has designs on being the next Laird of the MacRae clan.  Unfortunately for him, he has no legitimate claim to the title because Jilly's 4 year old brother, Ian, is now Laird.  Her cousin, Gordon, storms the keep and takes over, imprisoning Jilly in her chambers.  Jilly manages to escape with Ian and make her way the McLachlan keep to enlist Kade's help in wresting control of the MacRae holding from Gordon.  In exchange for his support, Jilly offers herself to Kade.  From the book blurb I got the impression that Jilly was offering herself to Kade as his mistress, but that was not the case.  Jilly was offering marriage....remember in those days women came with dowries and apparently Jilly's was quite substantial.  So, even if Kade was not interested in Jilly herself, he could have still seen marriage as a viable option considering the wealth he would have obtained from the union.  In any event, Kade has no intention of letting Jilly slip through his fingers again and agrees to her proposition.  This book is unusual in that, for a Highland romance it is really short....the website says it 177 pages.  Most books I've read that are set in the Highlands are significantly longer....closer to 300 pages.  However, despite the short length this story has a fully developed plot and was a very satisfying read.  As you would expect the plot moved at a good pace.  What I really loved about this book is the relationship between Kade and Jilly.  There were no misunderstandings or secrets between the two.  If I had to describe this book in one word I'd say it is romantic.  Kade and Jilly are just plain good together.  ***SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER***  The only issue I had with the story was the part where Jilly disregarded Kade's instructions and followed him to the MacRae keep when he went to do battle against Gordon.  I thought that was really stupid on her part and, of course, she got herself captured into the bargain.  I was really disappointed when that happened as I felt that Ms. Brodie was falling into a cliché plot.  IMO the story would have better unfolded had Gordon gone to the McLachlan keep and somehow managed to kidnap Jilly from there.  ***END OF SPOILER***  But, that is the only issue I had with the plot.  The rest, IMHO, is darn near perfect!  Hence the 5 star review.  I read another review where that reviewer complained that at no time after his wife's death did Kade go after Jilly, whom he knew remained unwed.  I, however, thought the books explanation of that situation was perfectly acceptable.  By the time Kade's wife died, two years had already passed since he and Jilly's love had been thwarted.  It is reasonable for him to think that she might no longer care for him and for him to be afraid to risk being rejected by her.  Kade felt that if Jilly did reject him he would not be able to bear the heartache of having to walk away from her for a second time.  I did not find his belief to be unrealistic....I mean even after Jilly offered herself to him in return for his help he still wondered if she would really be his or whether this was another trick by fate.  Anyhow, that is my take on this book.  I loved it and highly recommend it to anyone who loves Highland historical romance books.  BTW this is not a clean romance, but the sex is not, IMO, overly graphic.  What I want to know is where is Galen's (he is Kade's best friend) story????  Supposedly it was to have been released this fall, but so far nothing!  I can't wait!