Campbell's Redemption: A Highland Pride Novel (Highland Pride #3) by Sharon Cullen

  Campbell's Redemption: A Highland Pride Novel (Highland Pride #3) by Sharon Cullen

 Blurb:

With Cait Campbell hiding Scottish fugitives from the British crown, who should arrive wearing his English-style coat but Iain Campbell, the traitorous clan leader and the man responsible for her husband's death. Iain seeks a healer for his fallen kinsman, and out of a sense of duty Cait is obliged to help. Her uncanny ability to read people is powerless against his dark, impassive gaze, yet Iain is kind in a way that moves her.

In Cait's company, Iain is overcome by painful memories of his best friend, her husband, who died protecting him. But grief shows weakness—a luxury he cannot permit, because Iain is playing a dangerous game with the British army. One small misstep and he could be branded a traitor or executed as a spy. But even with political tensions mounting to a fever pitch, Iain can't get Cait out of his mind. What he doesn't know is that Cait is playing a deep and deadly game of her own, and their love could put everything—even Scotland itself—in peril.
 

As much as I loved MacLean's Passion, the second book in the Highland Pride Series by Sharon Cullen, I must admit that this third book, Campbell's Redemption is even better! Once started, I couldn't put the book down and I enjoyed every single page of it right from the beginning right up to the last page.

The Campbell and I - well, I wasn't really sure what to think of him, when I read MacLean's Passion and I wasn't sure whether "we" could trust him or not but in this book and its story he really redeems himself and all his actions.
I felt with him, when things went bad, I fought my tears, I smiled and I was furious while I read this wonderful and well written story about the Campbell and Cait, the widow of his former first. Reading how Cait slowly starts to trust life, reading about Ian's love for her - how could I have put the book down before knowing that everythins truly and really ends well?!? Well, as well as one can expect in such times.

That was another thing that I loved about this book. It is not just a love story even though that story and its characters are amazing but it also tells a bit more about the English and their rule in Scotland after Culloden.

Usually we are almost exclusively made aware of the horrible losses and the terrible treatment of the Scots at the hands of the English. You can find all of that in this book as well, you read about the injustice, the horror, the refugees and the helplessness of the people but in this book you also get an idea what other possiblities there might have been, an idea how the Scots might even have profited from a cooperation with the English, at least on a small scale, how further tragedies might have been avoided - all the time knowing that in the end the worst happened and the clans were demolished and the Scots' weapons were taken.
Nevertheless,  it was good to get another perspective that never tried to minimize the horror and the loss but that tried to give hope.

Well written and well plotted, amazing, complex characters - this book has it all and I can wholeheartedly recommend it!

★★★★★