Title: My Notorious Highlander, The Highland Adventure Series, Book 5, audiobook
Author: Vonda Sinclair
Genre: Historical Romance
Story Setting: Scotland. 1619
Pages: 282
Published by: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published Date: November 24, 2013
ISBN-10: 1493505394
ISBN-13: 978-1493505395

Narrated by: Dave Gillies
Length: 8 hours, 37 minutes
Release Date: July 25, 2016
Published by: Vonda Sinclair

Highland Adventure Series: All books are standalone books although interrelated. (ecopy links of digital book Amazon)

My Fierce Highlander, Book 1, EPIC Award Winner
My Wild Highlander, Book 2  National Readers’ Choice Award Winner
My Brave Highlander, Book 3
My Daring Highlander, Book 4
My Notorious Highlander, Book 5
My Rebel Highlander, Book 6
My Captive Highlander, Book 7
Highlander Unbroken, Book 8
Stolen by a Highland Rogue, Book 9
Defended by a Highland Renegade, Book 10

Publisher’s Summary:

Chief Torrin MacLeod vows to possess and wed the spirited lady who stole his heart the previous winter. But Lady Jessie MacKay wants naught to do with the dangerous warrior, no matter how devilishly handsome and charming he is. When Torrin arrives unexpectedly at Jessie’s home, along with Gregor MacBain, a man Jessie was formerly handfasted to, she is thrown off-kilter. She never wanted to see either man again, but now they are vying for her hand. Torrin promises to protect her from the devious MacBain, but how can she trust Torrin when she has witnessed how lethal he is?

The more time Torrin spends with the strong and independent Jessie, the more determined he is to win her heart. Once she allows him a kiss, he feels her passion flame as hot as his own. After she knows Torrin better, Jessie finds herself He for the fearsome Highlander. But the odds are stacked against them. The sinister MacBain is bent on kidnapping Jessie, making her his bride and killing Torrin, while Jessie’s conniving younger brother, Haldane, is determined to use Jessie to take over the castle in his older brother’s absence. Jessie fears she can never be with the man she loves, while Torrin will do everything in his power to ensure they are together forever. In his heart, she is the only lady for him.

©2013 Vonda Sinclair (P)2016 Vonda Sinclair

My Thoughts: Chief Torrin MacLeod is the kind of handsome, kind, loyal, knows-what-he-wants man, a most swoon-worthy chief.  He has a problem. The lassie he has set his heart on, shoots daggers at him when she’s obliged to look his way.

I must admit, Torrin wouldn’t give up. He’d been thinking about Jesse since he last met her, seven months before.  Even though his best friend, her brother Duncan, denied his request to court and marry her, he wouldn’t give up.

He probably shouldn’t have shown up at the Keep with Chief Gregor MacBain, previously hand-fasted to the lovely Lady Jessie MacKay.  Jesse paints men with the same paint stroke as she experiences with Gregor. Not married, yet hand-fasted, to a man she learned to love, ended up rather bad when he decides three months into the hand-fasting, she wouldn’t do, since he finds another which took his fancy AND quickly is with child.

But Laird Torrin and Gregor MacBain travel the same direction toward Durness.  Torrin knew of Gregor’s intent to re-win Jesse’s hand, since his wife had died after previously birthing him an heir. Laird Torrin’s need to protect what he knew to be his, forced him to travel with Gregor. When they arrive, Jesse is ready to throw both of them out of the Keep, but she relents with great reluctance. Not providing hospitality to a traveler is most improper.

Jesse sees the danger of these two men vying for her, but is little aware her younger brother, Haldane, is convinced he should be the new chief of the clan and intends to do what he must to make it happen. He is most unsavory and teams up with other unscrupulous highway men.

Where will the greatest danger come from for Jesse? McBain, MacLeod or her own brother?

I always enjoy what Vonda Sinclair writes.  Dave Gillies, with his character impersonation enhances the stories Sinclair writes. He has a great singing voice and quite flexible with women’s voices. He adds that extra intensity to the listen through his perfected voices, sentence cadence and depiction of character emotion.  This particular listen I did in one day.  It was fast-paced, suspenseful and a total delight to listen to.