Cormac Maclean had only wanted to read those two scrolls, the monks refused, and so Cormac "borrowed" said scrolls in the wee hours of the night. And the good brothers did not catch him. Lady Jyne Campbell so longed for an adventure of her own. Once a sickly child, Jyne feels the world has passed her by, as her overprotective brothers never let her do anything. A small opportunity presented itself when she asked to see her dowry lands, near Kinnoch Abbey. Unfortunately, Jyne got lost in the thick fog, fell in a bog, and was rescued by a handsome Highlander: Cormac. But as the monks are still pursuing him, Cormac speedily flees to the den of thieves from which he fervently wishes to escape because the formidable warlord Red Rex is his father. Red Rex has captured a monk, Luke, and to protect the brother, Cormac tells a tiny fib that will give Jyne her adventures.

MY HIGHLAND REBEL starts at a brisk pace and never slows down as Carmac's wee lie snowballs into an adventure of epic proportions. Amanda Forester's crisp prose and colorful descriptions give a clear picture of the abbey, the castle, the flora, and more specifically of the characters that inhabit this wonderful book. The writing is flawless throughout, the narrative sprinkled with witty remarks, and the dialogues are just as brilliant. But best of all is that, even with all the shenanigans happening, Ms. Forester's extensive knowledge of the Middle Ages is impeccable, and the period details contribute to the authentic feeling of MY HIGHLAND REBEL. Some of my favorite amusing episodes revolve around a horned helmet, and those passages alone are almost worth reading the novel. It is a stroke of genius, and I suspect very close to the truth.

MY HIGHLAND REBEL is a tad difficult to review without giving away any spoilers, but suffice it to say that Cormac finds himself in a real pickle because of his kind heart and a bad habit of procrastinating. His initial well-intended lie to save the monk's life degenerates into a huge mess, and it lands him in hot water when he falls in love. I was wondering how Cormac would get out of this situation, and although I must admit it dragged on a little too long, the author dealt with the matter expertly, and I held my breath a few times. Jyne is an endearing character, she feels very real, and she comes up with a very creative, and credible, way of dealing with the enemy, whereas Cormac is an intellectual, and I thought it very clever how he applied the theories he learned to warfare. I loved that Cormac was as starry-eyed as Jyne; they are both such lovely characters, and their romance is straight out of classic medieval novels: their love is true, powerful, and believable from the first moment they lay eyes on each other. I had so much fun reading MY HIGHLAND REBEL and I highly recommend it!