Book Review: Highland Master by Hannah Howell

Highland Master is the 19th book in the Murray Family series by Hannah Howell. This historical romance series can be read as stand-alones or as a large series of stories about related characters. Lady Triona McKee's life is under siege. Her marriage did not give her the love or support she had hoped for. Now she is a widow, mother, and laird trying to hold her people together an neighboring laird is trying to force her into marriage by sabotaging the crops and welfare of those she cares about. Then her cousin and her guard appear at the gates, and Triona is faced with hope, and more than a little temptation. Sir Brett Murray is among the guard, and wants Triona from the moment he sees her. But he notices that all is not well in the keep, and vows to stay until the troubles are settled. Can Brett and Triona avoid losing their hearts while enjoying the passion they share, and will the plots surround the keep be resolved without bloodshed.

Highland Master is another entertaining read from Howell. The characters are all well defined, with the strong women that I find make historical much more fun and interesting. Triona has been through hard times, but never blames other people of whines about it. She just does what needs to be done and depends on her heart and intelligent to get her through. Brett has his own troubled past and seems to dwell on his own guilt and misfortune much more than Triona- but not so much that it becomes annoying. I really like that while Triona really needs help to solve the problems she faces, it is not because she is unable to unwilling to take care of things herself. Even when assistance is there she is not diminished because of accepting the help, instead she just takes care of business and does everything she can to take care of her home.  As Howell fans might expect, the secondary characters and those from past books in the series are also well fleshed out and make readers eager to explore the previous books in the series, as well as any that might crop up in the future, just to discover more about them. The conflict and crisis surrounding Triona and her home are interesting and carry enough suspense and madness to keep readers guessing. What more could you want?

I would recommend Highland Master to all fans of Howell and of historical romances set in Scotland, with strong female charters, and that are simply fun to read.This might not have been my favorite of Howell's, but I was still a great read.