Banished in the Highlands

Anna Durand pens another amazing novel, a prequel to her newest spin-off series, a fascinating and imaginative twist to her “Hot Scots” series, and she takes you back to where it all began, with Kieran MacTaggart Clan and his banishment to the Highlands. The story starts out with Alyssa Vescovi, an American taking a much needed vacation in Scotland, staying at the Dundubhan Castle with the MacTaggarts. Exploring the castle, she finds her way into a room and then another time, same Castle but in the 1500s. She was summoned there to save Kieran MacTaggart, summoned but his aunts who are practicing witches. It was great to learn more about Kieran after they found his sword in the latest “Hot Scots” book, and find out more about the clan’s history. Kieran was a handful, bossy and brass, but he met his match with Alyssa, who was thrown into a whole new world, well same world, but different time. She was a good sport about it all and as much as did not want to, she fell for Kieran and acclimated to the times. It was funny her mentioning of modern day convinces and him trying to explain his Gaelic phrases. Kieran was wrongfully banished to the Highlands and his trouble is far from over, his rival and enemy, Simidh, still has it out for him and plans on taking Alyssa away from him. I loved how everything played out in this book, it was great to take a step back in time, the world building and character development is fantastic and the story is cleverly plotted with plenty of drama, a touch of angst, some twists and turns, heartfelt emotions and steamy romance. Anna Durand, thank you for another fabulous story and emotional rollercoaster ride. 

🎧📚🎧 And for the fabulous narration, Shane East and Emma Wilder were the perfect cast to bring these characters and story to life. They had a complete understanding of who they were portraying, gave each a voice that fit that character’s persona, and were believable in every role they played. Shane East’s Kieran was perfection, nailing the Scottish dialect and words, as well as his character’s disposition. Emma Wilder also nailed it as Alyssa, grasping every side of her personality and was a natural in the role as she made it her own. Both were great performing the roles of the secondary characters too, accents and all.  They set the perfect tone for each story, captured all the characters’ emotions and projected them into their performance, making you feel every single one. These entertaining storytellers are a versatile voice artists and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for another fantastic listen.

Too much time spent on useless details but just enough mystery to keep me reading. But it was all solved in a page with highly disappointing reasoning. It was like the author just got tired writing and finished quickly.

The main character suddenly arrives 400 years in the past and quickly takes it in stride because a Scotsman is sexy. Excuse me! He takes her arrival in stride too. Weird.