Title: Highland Rogue
Author: Tess Mallory
Pages: 304
Publisher: Berkley Publishing
Publication Date: May 6th, 2008

via Goodreads:

On her dream vacation in the Scottish Highlands, aspiring archaeologist
Maggie Graham discovers a tri-spiral carving in the floor of an ancient cairn,
and unwittingly sets its dormant magic in motion. Sent tumbling back in time 300
years, Maggie uncovers the most amazing find of all—a Scottish hero straight out
of her wildest fantasies. There are just two tiny problems with this grand
adventure: She's trapped in 18th-century Scotland, and the man she's fallen for
is an outlaw, a thief, and a daring Highland Rogue.

To be honest, I really didn't like this book as much as I thought I would. To be completely honest, I really didn't like it at all. That's incredibly rare for me, especially because I went out and bought this book (that's $1.50 I'll never get back :P ) for the Highland Reading Challenge.

The story is along the basic time travel highlander lines; girl goes to Scotland and finds a way to get whisked back in time to 16th century cotland where she stumbles onto the path of a rogue highlander. In this book, Maggie goes on her dream vacation to Scotland on an archeological dig. On a midnight walk, she finds a cavern with a phrase carved into the wall. Upon reading the phrase outloud, she is sent back in time 300 years and into the path of an ongoing battle between two highwaymen and a carriage of noble elites.

In the following moments, one of the highwaymen is captured by the opposition, and Maggie is saved by the other one. He is no other than Quinn MacIntyre, the famed Piper, a bandit, and outlaw, and the sexiest man that Maggie has ever laid her eyes on.

The rest of the story is pretty obvious at this point. There were a few major reason that I didn't like this book. One was the characterization. Usually, in a good book, the characters are believeable and you get the sense that you're really in the book. This book, the characters, Maggie especially, were quite dull and monotonous. There were a few instances where they came to life, but other than that, I found it pretty difficult to get past the doldrums. The book really didn't have any worthwhile substance. The characters severely downplayed the significance of key plot points, while focusing on steamy love scenes instead.

Though I'm a romance girl at heart, I like books that also have a plot. This one...not so much.

Over all, I was pretty disappointed.

Cover: 3

Writing Style: 3

Characters: 2

Plot: 3

Ending: 2

Overall: 2

Here's to a better book than this gracing your shelves!