Stealing The Highlanders Heart by Fiona Faris

Stealing the Highlander’s Heart: Scottish Medieval Highlander Romance Novel is book 2 in the Tales of Blair Castle series by Fiona Faris. I really enjoyed this book. Faris paints a complex picture without overwhelming the reader. The characters are diverse and relatable. I liked the hero Malcolm Murray. Though he starts off naive, he grows into the leader his clan craves.

The main theme of the book is actually expressed quite poignantly by a secondary character named Fergus. He is describing a fight between himself and the old laird. “He held my life in his hands and justifiably could have taken it, but he did nae. He chose mercy when he had the power tae do otherwise. That, lass, is true strength tae have the loyalty o’ one’s clan and tae ken when tae wield it as a weapon and when tae pursue peace.” All throughout the story, each character must decide if they will forgive or wreak vengeance. I thought it was a thoughtful message. My only negative is the overuse ( in my estimation) of the Scottish dialect. Way too many “tae” and “nae” and “ ye” for me. I don’t want to have to stop and reread a paragraph because of the dialect. That said, this is a very well written story with twists and turns that you won’t expect.