My Passionate Love (Highland Loves #3)

Lady Mairi MacGregor is engaged to Laird Patrick MacEwan, but she’s in love with Laird Aaron MacRae. The family feud between the MacGregors and MacRaes started a year earlier and adds to the complications in this tug of war between duty and desire. Mairi’s and Aaron’s siblings’ concern for their happiness is pivotal. A well-intentioned but misguided meddler, bad weather, and miscommunications are only a few of the challenges these young lovers face in the rugged Scottish terrain. 

Descriptions of the landscape evoke a strong sense of place as a backdrop that highlights the deeply personal connections between family and clan members, and friends and enemies. Adversarial conflicts are layered in tension between the needs of different groups and the desires of individuals, making them believable. While the supporting characters charm, Mairi’s and Aaron’s traits pale in comparison. Mairi often veers into bouts of exasperating naïveté; Aaron indulges in excessive wallowing for more than half of the story. His self-awareness of his short-comings saves him from being irredeemable. Mairi’s earnest sincerity offsets her illogical actions. 

There’s lots of romantic teasing and fantasizing until the first and only love scene occurs toward the end of the book. “My Passionate Love” works as a stand-alone and as a YA historical romance for readers who enjoy self-inflicted dramatic angst. Potential for a future tale about two of the featured support characters is also strong. 

Cardyn Brooks