The Highlander by Kerrigan Byrne | Audio Review

Series: Victorian Rebels, #3
Traits & Tropes: damaged hero & heroine; hidden identity; soldier; tortured hero; titled hero; governess & employer; suspense; dark themes; age gap
Setting/Genre: Historical; Victorian; Scottish
Heat Level: 4/5
Publication Date: 08.02.16
Rating: 5/5
Narration Rating: 5/5!

Lieutenant Colonel Liam MacKenzie, Marquess of Ravencroft and Laird of the MacKenzie Clan, is better known as the infamous Demon Highlander.  He's intimidating to everyone, including his children.  After so much time away at war, Liam doesn't have the best relationship with his kids and asks his sister-in-law for help finding a governess to improve their manners.  The last thing Liam expects is to want to keep the lovely lady for himself.

Miss Philomena Lockhart is surprised by the Laird's reaction to her, as her family has always led her to believe she was unattractive and undesirable.  She's even more shocked by how safe and at home she feels at Ravencroft Keep and at her own ability to stand up to the beastly laird.  As the working relationship between Mena and Liam grows, feelings develop rapidly between them and he begins to grow more suspicious of the secrets he knows she must be keeping and to wonder if they are enough to keep them apart.

I see a lot of other reviewers who think Liam wasn't as good of a hero/anti-hero as Dorian or Christopher Argent and I see where they're coming from, but for me, he was just a different character and I, for one, loved that.  I love the fact that this series, though quite dark and difficult to read/listen to at times, has these well-drawn tortured heroes who are different as sometimes it seems that there is a formula for the tortured hero and they're all quite similar.  Liam was unique and no less beautifully flawed for it.  Even more so, I really enjoyed Mena and the degree of change she underwent throughout the book and the amount of growth she showed was remarkable as she truly came into her own.  This book does feature situations that some will struggle with but I won't mention here, so if you have any questions about triggers, etc., please feel free to message me.  I loved this book and am happily continuing on my audio binge of it and would highly recommend narrator Derek Perkins' rendition.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2312215683
https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/3167154848