Narrated by Angela Dawe
I have a confession to make – I’m a Scottish romance fangirl. If I pick up a book and there is even a hint of a kilt or a brogue in the pages, I’m a-buyin’ it! (Thank you Sean Connery and Julie Garwood!) So when I saw the cover of this book and “Highlander” in the title, I said “Yes, please!”
Lost Highlander is a contemporary, time-travel romance beginning in present day Texas. Evelyn Merkholtz is a graduate student working nights in a cocktail bar called Hoochie Mama’s to pay the exorbitant amount of student loan debt. While at work one night, she receives a phone call from her best friend Piper who hasn’t been heard from in over three weeks. Piper needs Evelyn’s help and begs her to come to Scotland.
Once there, Evelyn discovers Piper’s issues aren’t so easily solved. Not only has Piper inherited a lot of money and a very old castle, she also has a man claiming to be from the early 18th century! Piper needs Evelyn’s help in figuring out how to return this man to his own time before something bad happens.
Lost Highlander was not the Highlander romance I was hoping for. The blurb mentions Evelyn and the trials she experiences when her friend Piper calls but the story itself is a combination of point of views (POV). While the majority of thoughts were told from Evelyn’s perspective, almost as much time was given to Piper and Lachlan. It read more like the first volume in an ongoing saga rather than a complete book. It ended but in a way that left you knowing there was still more left to resolve.
And the romance aspect – I felt it was the weakest part of this book. I, in no way, believed that Evelyn loved Sam or that Piper loved Lachlan. How could I? Evelyn and Sam spent too little time together to get to know one another. They did go out to dinner a few times but these dinners never felt like dates. I did believe Evelyn’s attraction to Sam was well demonstrated but not enough for her to love him all of sudden. The same went for Piper and Lachlan. As mentioned, most of this story was told from Evelyn’s perspective with a few moments from Piper. However, the moments from Piper’s POV show her attraction to Lachlan but not what made them love one another. Heck, Lachlan didn’t even speak to Piper directly until a quarter of the story had passed!
I also have to mention how random the love scenes felt. It’s not that they were gross or overly descriptive; it was more with where they were located. Evelyn and Sam had only just realized they were trapped in the past with no idea how to get back. So what do they do? They go at one another! I know if I were trapped in the past with no clue what’s going on and no money or clothes save what I have on, I’d have sex and hope for the best! O_O
Then there’s Piper and Lachlan. Piper had just been scared and abused by the bad guy when Lachlan comes in and lops his head off. So what comes next? The loving – right there in the room next to the headless dead guy! *sigh* I didn’t really feel these were some of the best places for love scenes. Admittedly, I’ve read similar scenes in the same situations but those were better written or more plausible.
I’m wondering too if this book was edited in any way. It felt like the majority of it was told to me instead of shown. One or two instances of telling is not uncommon – it’s even expected to move certain scenes along. However, there were whole blocks of scenes that were told instead of shown, either through dialogue or a few key words of setting. For example:
After Piper and Evelyn convinced Sam and Lachlan not to go running off with weapons blazing, they convened to the sitting room to come up with a plan. Sam was distraught, and poor Mellie was still on the verge of hysteria. It took a lot of tea and soothing from Sam and Piper to get her to the gently sniffling huddle she was in now. (3:43:05)
I was told what to think instead of being able to come to my own conclusions about what the characters were feeling. It made me feel dumb, as if the author didn’t trust me to arrive at the necessary conclusion about their feelings. I can admit I’m not the brightest person but I know when characters are upset!
There were also awkwardly structured sentences. It wasn’t always clear – based on the usual cues like “he said” or “she said” or a character’s name – who was speaking and when. In one scene, we are in Evelyn’s mind, observing Lachlan and Piper together, then suddenly, we’re in Piper’s mind, feeling her emotions in regards to Lachlan (2:26:55). There were no breaks in the scene or introductory words to indicate the shift in character. This happened again and again and it was frustrating. It was as if the perspective of the story went from Evelyn’s perspective to omniscient info from another character then back to Evelyn. I really wished there had been clearer scene boundaries but following along with the eBook helped.
Angela Dawe’s performance was satisfactory. It wasn’t outstanding but the story wasn’t either, so they were a match. Most of her considerable talent went to smoothing over the rough edges of the writing. She narrated in a pleasant, modulated tone that made for an even listening experience. She performed a nice brogue for the Scottish characters but the men and the women sounded alike in some cases.
Dawe’s pronunciation of Evelyn’s name bothered me; she pronounced it as Eve-lin. I’ve always heard it pronounced Ev-e-lin so it was jarring, enough so I winced for the first two hours of the book. I can’t say I got used it as much as I learned to ignore it.
There were very few instances of wit in the writing for Dawe’s talent to shine through. I would have liked to give Dawe a higher grade for her performance but she could enliven only so much of the book. Even with her cheerful tone the book still dragged.
For those looking for a great Highlander romance, Lost Highlander doesn’t offer much. It was a frustrating listen filled with unrealistic characters and an incomplete story. There was a big question mark in regards to Evelyn and Sam and a cliffhanger for Piper. Although I think there were attempts to compare this book to the Outlander series, it didn’t have the characterization and depth of emotion to do so successfully.
Diana
Narration: C+
Book Content: D
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence: Fighting
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Lost Highlander was provided to AudioGals by Tantor Audio for review.
