Bros before hos! Final take: Claiming the Highlander

As with most romance novels, this one pulled at my heartstrings, but it made me also laugh about the sheer absurdity of some things.



To recap: The women of the MacAllister clan and their rival clan MacDouglas have been taking a stand against the feud between the men of the clans, by kicking the men out of their lives.  The leader of this entire plan is a woman named Maggie ingen Blar, who falls for the charms of Braden MacAllister, youngest brother to the MacAllister laird, Lochlan.  The other brother who is instrumental to this story is Sin MacAllister.  There are a couple other brothers left but they don't play a key factor into how this plays out.

Maggie's weakness around Braden is the fact that she has been in love with this guy ever since she was a little girl and probably when he was around sixteen years old (I'm not sure what their age difference is here) since that age is mentioned several times in the areas that they save each other from crazy people (namely their family and other members of the clan).  His job is to get Maggie to surrender to him so the women of the clans can go home.  She's been pretty stubborn and able to hold her own, for the most part.

Now: When their clan has broken into an uprising of its own - the men tying up Lochlan - the laird of all people, as well as Maggie's four brothers, and the women wanting to go home to take care of their families because their gardens and children need them - Maggie decides to get over to the MacDouglas castle to speak with the laird's wife, Ceana.  Apparently this is how the female population turned against the men, with a plan hatched up between these two women.  Who better to escort Maggie than Braden and Sin tagging along.  Braden because he's our obvious hero, and Sin to cover Braden's back.  Contrary to the time I originally read Born in Sin, Sin is actually pretty damn humorous here.  He's the one that catches Braden and Maggie in their "rough and tumble" acts and always asks,

"Is it time for me to take a stroll?"

The character of Sin is that of an observant guy.  He knows through Maggie's body language that she wants Braden.  He can also tell if she's awake or not (as well as to other people).  This comes from his years of being in "hell" and being trained to kill.  He's gotta read people.

As for Braden himself, he's the peacemaker of the family so he's not all up into that "I can read you" stuff.

I do love the way Maggie insults Braden during their journey.  She does this repeatedly, which only makes Sin and Braden laugh.  Apparently she's got a potty mouth because of the way her older brothers spoke in front of her.  Sin commends her because she's the first woman to ever insult Braden.  But I wouldn't find it funny, were I in her place.  I would've punched the guys...and then storm off in a huff like she does.

So there are a few scenes where Braden and Maggie do the "dirty-dirty" because on Maggie's part, she wants to "have carnal knowledge" of Braden before they die entering MacDouglas lands.  They also do this again INSIDE the damn castle, on the dining room table!  I skimmed through this really quick because I thought for sure they'd get caught, but when I figured it was safe, I went back and actually read through it.  Of course, after they bed each other, in their heads they're saying goodbye to each other without the other person knowing - like this is the last time they're gonna have sex?  Well, apparently to them, sex complicates things, and Maggie would rather live her life as a spinster since she thinks Braden is some veritable womanizer.

Anyway, Ceana and Maggie made a different plan - to see if the MacDouglas laird actually cares about Ceana.  The reason this feud even started is because the laird's original bride-to-be ran off with one of the MacAllister brothers, switched to another brother, and eventually ran off with some other rich guy!  Ceana ran off into the night to stay at a nearby cottage outside the castle, so the MacDouglas laird threatens to kill Maggie if she doesn't bring Ceana out "right this minute!"  He would've gotten away with it too because she was in stabbing range (or decapitation range - he really wanted her head on a pike) but Braden saved her with his own swordplay.  The cottage that Ceana stayed in caught on fire (she's pregnant - this isn't a good thing) so Sin ran off and went to go save her, injuring himself in the process.  Braden blames himself for his brother being injured, so he turns a cold face towards Maggie and avoids her.  What a dumbass.  Sin even thinks the same of his bro because Sin's been trained in a veritable hell to be a killer - apparently he'd been through worse.

At one point in the castle, Maggie sees a little boy - Connor - who looks a hell of a lot like a younger Braden.  Assuming that he's Braden's bastard child, she adopts him, even though she's under the impression that Braden doesn't want children.  However, contrary to her belief, Braden confessed earlier (either to Sin or in his head) on that he would welcome any bastard child of his with open arms, due to Sin's veritable upbringing and abandonment.  They're half-brothers because Sin's mother is not the same as Braden, Kieran, Lochlan, and Ewan's.  Their father had a tryst with another woman elsewhere, a few months before Lochlan was conceived.  Since then, there hasn't been a good stepmother-son relationship between Sin and Aisleen (the other brothers' mother).  Sin's own mother and the laird didn't want him either, so he decided a long time ago not to trust anybody or to fall in love.  (This changes a while later because, of course, he's got his own book written after this!)

Because Sin saved Ceana, the MacDouglas decides to end the feud and acts like they MacDouglases and MacAllisters are bros now (you know, bros before hos - this comes out a lot in this book).

Oh yeah, it turns out Connor isn't Braden's kid, but actually Kieran's.  They adopt him anyway because nobody in the MacDouglas clan wants to take care of him - but in the MacAllister's, he's sure to be loved.

Of course, in the ending of a fairy tale, you know what happens.


Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars