Review: The Gift: A Highland Novella by Margaret MalloryThe Gift by Margaret Mallory
Series: The Douglas Legacy #1.5
on December 17, 2014
Genres: Highlander Romance, Scottish Romance
Pages: 128
Format: eBook
Source: author
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
four-half-stars

Lily’s well-honed sense for trouble tells her no healer is safe in London while gangs roam the city looking for witches to burn. In the dead of night, she escapes on a northbound ship, intending to return after Christmas celebrations calm the city’s witch fever. But when Lily lands in the wilds of Scotland, her skills for surviving in the city can’t save her.

Roderick MacDonald is on a secret mission for his chieftain when he finds a lass near death on a barren hillside and is forced to take her with him. Though this mysterious Sassenach may have The Gift his clan needs—and he burns with passion for her—he’s determined to resist the enchantment she weaves on his scarred heart.

When love blooms amidst the harsh winter beauty of the Highlands, will these two obstinate souls from different worlds accept the Yuletide gift?

This was just what I needed tonight. A Highlander, a sassy Sassenach, and a guaranteed happy ending.

This novella starts out in London, where our heroine Lily is hightailing it out of town. There’s a witch hunt brewing, and as a healer, the last thing she needs is rumors to point them her direction.

Taking what she can, she locks her shop, knowing it will probably be looted and destroyed if she ever makes it back, and she heads north to hopefully stay with a friend of hers.

She stowed away on a ship and ended up too far north. Scotland to be precise. And wandering around the countryside in the winter wasn’t her brightest idea.

After being sent on an errand for his laird, Roderick MacDonald is happy to be heading back to the Highlands. His grandmother, the clan healer and seer, had warned Roderick that he would be bringing back the clan’s next healer on this trip, and since she was getting older, they really needed her. And sure enough, he stumbles upon a very unconscious Lily, dressed as a lad. I love that he figured her out right off the bat, and I love that he took her under his wing.

He was traveling with Douglas men, and he wanted to protect her from them. At the first chance he got, he convinced them to head home, and he talked Lily into coming home to live with his grandmother. (Lily told him she wanted to learn from a healer, and he assumed she had a vision of his grandmother).

I liked this story a lot. It has a feisty, stubborn heroine, a protective and thoughtful hero, and a lot of passion. There’s even an Easter Egg at the end (the hidden inside references to other series kind of Easter Egg, not the actual eggs) I see what you did there, Margaret Mallory. So for anyone in the mood for a short and satisfying Highlander novella, this is the perfect story for you.

 

***Review copy courtesy of the author

HighlandHussySig-e1383023891575

four-half-stars