His Highland Surprise (The Clan Sinclair Book 5) by Celeste Barclay

 His Highland Surprise by Celeste Barclay

Blurb:

 A confirmed bachelor with no intentions of settling down...

Tavish Sinclair cannot imagine life with only one woman, not when so many catch his eye.  As the third son of Laird Liam Sinclair, he has two older brothers and their children ahead of him for the lairdship.  Tavish is stunned when his father informs him the king has arranged his marriage to a woman from the most notorious clan in Scotland, and one he has never met.  Drawn as much to her intelligence as her looks, Tavish is unprepared for his spunky bride-to-be when she goes toe to toe and head to head with him at every turn.  Can he protect Ceit from herself as much as the dangers that lurk at court?


A spirited lady-in-waiting with no plans to change...

Ceit Comyn is the niece of one John Comyn and the cousin of the other, making her a member of the most despised clan in the country.  Sent to the royal court as a peace offering to mend torched bridges, Ceit is forced in the king's services just as her uncle would control her for the same purposes.  She has no interest in marrying a rogue, but when the kind-hearted and honorable warrior champions her, she may discover he's more saint than sinner. 




Meet the members of Clan Sinclair in this fifth installment of the five book Highland romance series.  The Clan Sinclair features Mairghread and her four brothers, Callum, Alexander, Tavish, and Magnus.  Each member of the Scottish clan faces challenges as they meet their fated match, but all of the Sinclairs find their HEA.  Each novel in the series is a standalone, but they are best read together.

I was a bit torn and it took me some time to decide how to rate this book because on the one hand I enjoyed reading this story and I liked the characters but on the other hand there was a lot of introspection going on, especially in the mind of our hero.

All these thoughts, written in the first person in the middle of the story told in the third person, felt a bit strange. I often have problems with stories told in the first person, so this perspective combined with the musings and sentiments conveyed in these parts was a bit too much for my taste. Those parts just sounded a bit off for me.

Apart from that I enjoyed the story on the whole. There was a lot of spying and counterspying going on and people being used for someone else's gain. Fast-paced, with many many twists and turns, the story was entertaining and nice to read.

I haven't read any other books by Celeste Barclay yet and I'm not sure if I will try to do so because after a while I always had to put the book down and read something different before I could go on. I was tempted to skip pages but this was an ARC so I didn't want to cheat. If you loved the other books in this series, you will love this one as well though.

★★★