Mary McCall - Highland Treasure

I was kind of skeptical about reading this book because though it has a lot of stars, it hasn't been reviewed by many people (see Goodreads.com), which made me think the rating would not be very reliable, and it wasn't. I would probably give this book between 2-2.5 stars. What is sad is that this book had a lot of potential, but an extremely fast-paced story line, a lack of depth, and unrealistic situations/characters made it just an ok read. 

For one thing, everything happened extremely fast in this book, from Leonce and Hope getting married to them falling in love. This all happened in just a couple of days, and it just wasn't realistic and didn't allow the reader to enjoy the buildup of emotions between the H/h. It also was not believable that Hope, who had been abused by her father for years, could trust a man within days of meeting him. It was disappointing that Hope didn't make Leonce fight for her love. Instead of reacting like a normal woman who has been tricked into marriage by a man she has known for mere days and trying to escape or make his life impossible, Hope just randomly decides that she will give her heart to him and she will make him fall in love with her, WHEN THEY BARELY KNOW EACH OTHER!!!! Ugh it was just so unbelievable and annoying. And seriously, what was up with Hope? Was she bipolar or something? because she would be exuberant one moment and completely defeated the next, I swear it gave me emotional whiplash; I couldn't keep up with her mood swings. 

The lack of buildup also contributed to a lack of depth in the book. Because the author didn't give the characters time for their feelings to develop, it all felt very fake and cheesy. It would have been nice if Hope and Leonce had both had to work at cracking the other's shell and gradually falling in love, rather than how it played out. 

I'm also not sure whether to call Leonce an alpha male; I'm leaning more towards NOT. He just didn't make me feel like he was dominant and in control; most of the time he felt more like a petulant child rather than a grown man. Mind you, I'm not saying he should have exerted more control over Hope, but rather exuded more confidence and manliness than he did in the book. It just did not seem realistic that a Highland chieftain in the 11th century would have acted how he did.

I also felt like there was little plot in the book. It mostly consisted of Hope playing games, angering people, fighting with Leonce, and discovering she had family pretty much everywhere, which was also highly unrealistic and cheesy. I felt like the matter of her abusive father was not given much thought and was resolved much too quickly. There was basically nothing to make this book exciting, like mystery or intrigue. The magical aspect of the book (view spoiler) totally fell flat and was way too downplayed for my tastes. When people found out she was the Gifted One, they were in awe for like two seconds and then everyone forgot about it -__- . If it had been made a bigger part of the book, it would have made it so much better. It would have been cool if, say, her abusive father and his men were after Hope for being the Gifted One but this was a secret from Leonce and everyone else, and they had to figure out why she was hunted or something like that. Just anything to make it more exciting!!! *Sigh* oh well.

Overall, it's an ok read if you're looking for something without too much depth. But if you're looking for something a little deeper, steer clear of this one.

Book Love,

Lena