Publisher's Description:

Englishwoman, Grace Ellington, has made a home in Scotland, but to escape from the meddling people around her who seem to think she needs to wed right away—because women need saving, right? —she volunteers to journey north to aid a friend in childbirth.

Keir MacKinnon, the younger brother of the MacKinnon clan chief, has been raised to strike fear in people, on and off the battlefield. Trained to uphold MacKinnon law, he has hardened into a lethal warrior. Caught in a Highland blizzard with the feisty Grace, Keir realizes the beautiful woman who saved him can also save his nephew’s life.

Sparks fly when he takes her against her will to his home, and Grace’s courage is put to the ultimate test. Is Keir MacKinnon the passionate, kind man she saved in the Highland blizzard, or is he truly the cruel executioner who seeks to solve all issues by the sword?

My Thoughts:

This is book #4 of this series and I have read three of the four. I seem to have missed book #2.
I enjoyed reading this one more than I did books #1 and #3.
It kept my attention more. I simply couldn't put this one down and I finished it in one sitting.

Grace is my type of heroine. She is understanding if a bit clumsy and bungling at times. She has a fear of water that she has never overcome since her brother held her under water when she was a child.
When she sets out to help her friend Mairi with the birth of her first child she is forced to stop at an inn. Her traveling companion has become ill and Grace intends to go to the local apothecary for something to help him. Only the snow is worse than she thought and she becomes lost.
Keir MacKinnon is looking for the renowned Mairi, the healer he needs for his nephew. He happens upon Grace who is cornered by wolves. In the process of his heroics, he is bitten and knocked over the head by a tree branch unwittingly dislodged by Grace who he has placed up a tree.
How will this convoluted tale procede? Will this unusual beginning lead to something Keir and Grace never thought to have for themselves?
I gave this wonderfully written if sometime violent tale 4.5 of 5.0 stars for storyline and character development and a sensual rating of 4 of 5 flames. The intimacy between our hero and heroine is very heated indeed.
Although there are repeat characters from the other books in this series, this book can be read easily as a standalone title.
I received a complimentary digital ARC copy of this book via NetGalley from the publisher to read. This in no way affected my opinion of this book which I read and reviewed voluntarily.

The Devil of Dunakin Castle has strong personalities in both Devil and Grace. Grace is described as being shy and sounds like those around her view her as a ‘biddable’ Englishwoman. Yet, because she is with Devil throughout this story, we do not see her that way. She is strong, courageous, a thinker and a healer. And, above all else, she is not afraid of Devil. All of these traits are what draws Devil to ‘kidnap’ her to try to heal his nephew.

Devil was raised by his father to be a killer, to protect the clan and to do whatever his brother, the clan chief, tells him to do. No questions asked. His childhood friend, Brodie, knows Devil or Keir to be a kind soul who has to do his duty. There a hints in the book about something horrible that happened between Devil and his parents. (No spoilers here).

One aspect I appreciate about Ms. Collum writing Devil’s character is his personal code of which he will not let others see nor admit to even to Grace. Yet, what keeps her from being afraid of him, as everyone else is, is the glimpses of goodness she sees and senses in him. He is gentle, kind and protective of her, even when he kidnaps her. Another aspect of his character shows in how he does not take the three women offered to him by his brother upon his return to Dunakin Castle. Keir does not seem to understand his feelings for Grace, but he intrinsically seems to realize that he wants no one but her. He even tries to keep himself from acting on those feelings.

Shy, innocent Grace has a strong passionate side as per her encounters with Keir. She and her sister witnessed a couple quite by accident which lead her to understand more about what couples do than most virgins. I cannot help but feel some of what she did was a bit out of character for a ‘shy and innocent’ maiden. But, that is part of what drew Keir to her, that passionate and quite vocal part of her character.

Getting back to the reason for Keir kidnapping Grace was due to his concern for his nephew. He is quite ill and possibly dying. Grace has been raised to be a healer. She will do what is necessary to try to save the child. Once in Dunakin Castle, there are more threats than just the life of the child.

Ms. Collum draws you in to the relationship between Grace and Keir quickly and keeps you captivated until the end trying to figure out from where the real evil comes. Although not a long book, The Devil of Dunakin Castle has everything needed to keep your interest.

I’ve read and enjoyed the previous book “wolf of Kisimul Castle.” So I was looking forward to reading the Devil, and I wasn’t disappointed.

They are all standalone books, so don’t need to be read in order (but I may just have to go back and read the other two) 😉

Grace is a feisty and independent woman (we meet her in book 1) so needs no man to complete her life (even though other people seem to want to marry her off) so she goes to help her friend (Miari )to give birth. Along the way she meets “The Devil” Kier MacKinnon .......

People wear masks to hide their true selves and Kier is no exception, brought up from an early age, he was taught to be a warrior and then the sword hand of his brother, his job is to uphold the law (even if Keir doesn’t like it) he’s done things he hasn’t liked, and so it’s hardened this man into an unfeeling monster, but like beauty and the beast, the beast is tamed by beauty.

Kier has been told he needs to bring back a great healer Miari (from book 3) to help his ill nephew, but gets caught in a storm and ends up rescuing a woman from wolves.

The feelings that both Grace and Kier feel for each other are soon over shadowed when he realises that he can’t take the pregnant Miari, but Grace could save his nephew, and with that, he takes her against her will to the castle. It doesn’t go down well with Grace ......

Once Grace helps the clan, other things start to happen and she wonders if the illness wasn’t an illness !

As with the previous book, the author brings the characters to life. The scenes were very well written and I could imagine myself easily in Scotland .

Before I begin my review, I have to say that this book had the absolutely best dedication I have ever read and that dedication is reiterated in the note from the author at the end of the book. It was beautifully done and really touched my heart.

This book has all the elements I love in a story: humor, action/adventure, a misunderstood hero, steamy love scenes and a heroine that you can’t help rooting for.

Grace has been a secondary character in the previous books in this series, she is the sister of Ava, the heroine of the first book ( The Beast of Aros Castle ). Grace has always been portrayed as meek and even a bit weak, she has many fears and considers herself a coward, but inside she longs to be strong and have adventures of her own. When an opportunity to leave Aros arises, she jumps at the chance to leave and secretly hopes that she will find her own adventure. She leaves with an escort to travel to Barra to help Mairi with the birth of her child. But on the way, she and her escort are caught in a storm and take shelter at the inn. When her escort Thomas becomes ill, the healer in Grace takes over and she ventures out in the storm to find herbs to treat Thomas. But she gets turned around in the blizzard and soon finds herself lost and alone.

Keir MacKinnon is on a mission, he is on his way to Aros to bring back Mairi MacLean the famed healer. Keir is the brother to the chief and his nephew is gravely ill, he will find the MacLean healer and bring her to the Isle of Skye – no matter what. Keir is known as the Devil of Dunakin, the fierce warrior and executioner of his clan. When Keir hears a scream while on the way to the village, he tells his friend Brodie to go ahead to the inn and turns back to investigate.
What he finds is Grace surrounded by wolves. Injured while trying to save her and then knocked unconscious, Grace knows she cannot leave him to die. She tends his wounds and those of his horse and then begins to make a shelter to protect them from the storm. When Keir awakes, he is shocked to find Grace on him and asks if she is an angel. When he realizes that he is not dead, he leads them to a deserted cabin. Over the course of the storm, Grace cares for Keir and when he finally wakes, she is smitten. They spend time to together and the attraction grows. Just as things begin to heat up between them, Brodie shows up.

Grace learns that Keir is planning on taking her with him and is furious. But along the way, she learns much about Keir and is shocked by the way people treat him. She tries to stay angry, but her heart goes out to this man.

When they arrive at Dunakin, Grace faints at the sight greeting her, but when she recovers, she agrees to treat Keir’s nephew, Lachlan. But the news is not good, not only is the boy sick, but now his father, Rab is also showing signs of the illness. When Grace learns the cause, she has no one she can trust except Keir. And she is not sure she really knows who Keir is, is he the sweet, gentle man who saved her or is he the killer his clan deems him to be. Grace decides that she does trust Keir and together they form a plan to weed out the villain.

The plan works perfectly, except it also implicates Keir’s sister and Rab orders Keir to execute her. Grace is horrified for Keir and seeks him out. When she finds him, she learns his deepest secrets and knows that she loves him. She begs him to refuse to kill Dara, knowing that it will be the act that finally destroys him. Keir loves Grace, but he feels there is no future for her with the “Devil” and tells Brodie to return her to her family.

Desperate to save Keir, she seeks out the one person she believes will help her and learns of a clan legend – that the Devil will be killed when an Angel pierces his heart. To save the man she loves, Grace will have to overcome her own fears.

This was such a great story, the book is well written and flows great, has lots of action, steamy love scenes and a great ending. While this book is the fourth book in the series, I think it could easily be read as a standalone title with no real problems. But, if you would like a better understanding of Grace’s character, I would recommend reading the first book (The Beast of Aros Castle ), before you read this story.

a superbly written historical romance. Good solid story.

Just finished Heather McCollum’s The Devil of Dunakin Castle. Tortured hero. My favorite. And they don’t get much more tortured than Keir Macleod, raised to be his chieftan’s enforcer, the Devil of Dunakin, he’s known nothing but killing and violence his whole life, 500 crosses tattooed on his body marking the lives he’s taken. According to legend, he’ll never be free. Not until an angel pierces the heart of the Devil of Dunakin Castle. So, Keir does his duty blindly, expecting death every day, until he meets his angel, Grace Ellington, a healer, a Sassenach, and woman determined to have an adventure. I love Grace, too. She’s truly Scot Curious. Great reading, moves like lightening, Grace and Keir are scorching. I loved this book and so will you!

I promised a fair and honest review in return for this ARC and it is certainly no hardship! This book was SOOOO good. A very different kind of tale with such great characters and a truly enthralling story! I loved it from beginning to end. You MUST read this. Trust me.

Another romp through the Scottish Highlands! In the book, we read about Grace, a very fearful woman, who yearns for adventure. Being a healer, her services are needed far away to help a friend. Along the way she is taken against her will by Keir, the Devil, as his home in the Isle of Skye is in serious need of her talents. They clash and bristle yet feel an attraction that is more deeply felt by the time they arrive. Yet this place is full of suspicion and deceit that Grace helps to uncover. This story grabs the readers attention and doesn’t let go.

Thoroughly enjoyed this novel and its the first novel by McCollum that I have read and I am going to be looking for others buy her. Characters and story were all enjoyable.

I enjoyed the story of Keir and Grace. They had great chemistry and I was very interested to see how Grace would overcome the situation that she is forced in. I also kept reading to see how she'd reach Keir, as he seems intent on continuing as his brother's puppet (which is why I deducted a star from the story). Although the ending was a little cheesy, I did enjoy the story overall.

English woman Grace Ellington is a gifted healer and well loved among her Scottish friends and family . She is very mild mannered, which makes all the men want to take care of her. She would rather be brave and gave an adventure of her own. When the chance comes to travel to help at a birth in the family Grace will get more than she was looking for.
Kier MacKinnon has been brought up as the Devil of Dunakin. The man who keep discipline within the clan and brings terror it's enemies. His nephew the heir to the clan leader is very ill, so Keir has been sent to fetch the best healer in the area. By any means necessary.
Our heroine might think she is a coward, but nothing could be further from the truth. When someone is in need, her real personality shines through.
Our hero will discover someone who treats him very differently than all those at home.
A wonderfully exciting historical adventure . There are a few hot sexy scenes, but its' much more of an emotional romance. Our characters have a dangerous mystery to solve and a mad man to deal with.
This is part of a series but easily read as a stand alone. I loved every page.

The Devil of Dunakin Castle by Heather McCollum is Book 4 of the Highland Isles Series.

What a fantastic historical read! I was looking forward to Grace’s story since she first appeared on the scene and wow, did Ms. McCollum deliver! A must-read!

An ARC was generously provided in exchange for an honest review of which this is both honest and completely voluntary.

The devil has a tough act to follow, my fellow Scottish romance book loving friends. You see, having read all the books in this series so far, The Wolf got 5 wolf whistle stars from me and The Beast and Rogue were not far behind.

The henchmen could also be used to describe Keir, the hero/perceived devil of an enforcer, whose assigned task is to carry out his laird brother’s decrees of punishment to anyone who crosses the clan’s rules, including neighboring enemies and fellow clansmen. Of course, we get to see the softer side of this tough guy’s persona and find out things are not always as they seem.

This “I want to go on an adventure...I want to be brave” heroine’s mantra at the beginning came across a little like Frodo wanting to leave The Shire in Lord of the Rings. Yeah, they both got more than they bargained for, folks. No, she didn’t almost fall into a fiery inferno, but that dunk in the icy river probably felt similar to her. You see, this English lass may be wild about Scotland’s beauty, but she is not a fan of its bodies of water. There was an attempt to use this to add a slight touch of extra drama near the end, but along with the odd Avenger type costume she switched into, I found her coming across rather silly instead. Her words would have simply sufficed. She has a good heart though and is a straight shooter in expressing her opinion.

Unfortunately, there were some other bumps in the road that lowered my rating. Their first almost intimate encounter at 30% had Grace unrealistically wanton considering her innocent state. It simply felt too much was unleashed at once, especially her smexy talk. It’s not a good thing when I found myself wanting to look away and feeling somewhat embarrassed for her. Of course, this devil of a mountain of muscle and tattoos loved every second of it. Including at 75% when it happened again. To me, it felt overly fabricated for the sake of being erotic. I also wasn’t a fan of how she confessed she got her first lesson in learning how to be lusty. Sorry, honey, but confessing to being a peeping Tom is just not cool.

Well, not surprisingly, Grace doesn’t take it graciously when Keir becomes a cur and whisks her away for his own reasons. Up until near the end though, the writing and story seemed to flow and was very engaging. You sensed Keir’s pain and reluctance to continue living the life he had been assigned. But the devil is always in the details, some of which left me feeling rather lost and not overly impressed with how the ending was scripted. Not so much regarding what transpired, but how it was written. Mainly starting with the show down with the traitor scene, which is a dang shame since I enjoyed the majority of this book. Perhaps since I read an advanced reader copy, it was edited before final publication.

Just know, overall, I did enjoy this series, and here’s to hoping you will feel the same.

Title: The Devil of Dunakin Castle, Series: Highland Isles (Book 4), Author: Heather McCollum, Pages: 233, stand-alone but part of a series, enforcer type hero who hates his job, healer heroine who ends up having to point out the obvious, a few VERY steamy scenes, some graphic violence, romance safe. Rating: 3.5 stars

Book 1 - The Beast of Aros Castle, (Tor and Ava), Pages: 266, 2/20/17
Book 2 - The Rogue of Islay Isle, (Cullen and Madeleine), Pages: 238, 5/15/17
Book 3 - The Wolf of Kisimul Castle (Mairi and Alec), Pages: 229, 8/14/17
Book 4 - The Devil of Dunakin Castle (Grace and Keir), Pages: 233, 11/13/17

(I received a free advanced reader copy provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. No type of compensation was given to this reviewer, nor is there any relationship/affiliation between the reviewer and the author/publisher/NetGalley.)

I loved it. It's an amazing adventurous read. I think the story is quite thrilling with a hint of mystery. Grace is a lovable character, she is courageous, funny, and has the habit of saying whatever is on her mind. Keir is not bad either. He is living behind the mask of "Devil of Dunakin" but have a kind side which only his closest friend sees, and now Grace can too.
Keir saves Grace from wolves and then she saves him from dying. They both feel attracted to each other but there are things that Grace doesn't know about him. To her it's just a grand adventure. To Keir it's a mission to save his nephew.
I liked how the story unfolded, not to mention all the characters. Romance part is also quite interesting, both Grace and Keir have explosive chemistry which made it all the more fun to read.

Grace has been a stand out character from the first instalment in the Highland Isles series from author Heather McCollum. Her strength of character shines through with every page turn, and was a joy to read. She is a hoot a character, and a great match with Keir's. Action and emotion fill the pages, and it was a book that I could not walk away from. I was not expecting this pairing for Grace, but it was a nice surprise.
Review copy received from Entangled Publishing via Netgalley

I devoured this book. Grace was a super strong heroine, but did not see herself as such. To me that kept her from being unlikable. Keir.... oh my! Loved him. When you start getting glimpses into who he is really is under the "Devil of Dunakin" front, you fall in love.

It is part of a series, but I did not feel as if I had missed much. I will be going back to the start though to enjoy more.

Grace believes that she is a coward. A word that shouldn't be used to describe her. A coward runs and hides. Grace battles her fears. She faces adversity while standing firm. I relished watching her self-confidence blossom. Keir believes that he is a devil. He lives a desolate life dedicated to his clan. Keir is convinced that he has no future. When Grace and Keir's paths cross during a blizzard a brand new course for their lives begins to emerge, if they are both willing to view themselves in a new light. I loved Keir's strength, both physically and emotionally. I'm amazed that he was able to survive his childhood and the awful duties that were thrust upon him. He was able to maintain a sense of tenderness and integrity, where others might have succumbed to brutality and insanity. This story was passionate and intriguing. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I read an advanced reader's copy of this book provided by NetGalley.

I received this book from net galley for an honest review. Thank you.
This is a new to me author and series, this was a really fun read. I enjoyed the characters and the situations they found themselves in.
Will definitely be reading more of this Author.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a new to me author and series and I was able to jump in and not feel as if I had missed a thing. This was a really fun read. I enjoyed the characters and the situations they found themselves in. I found some of the dialogue and all of the sex scenes pretty wince inducing but I still liked the time I spent with this book enough to read more by the author.

When it comes to his Grace, Keir really does have a soft side, “ye look like an angel straight from King James’s court.” He leaned in to her ear, inhaling the floral scent of her skin. “And ye look delicious, too.” I really liked this book, I fell in love with Keir.