Though a strong, strapping, handsome lad, this hero seemed to be saddled with bungling bad luck. From spy jobs going south to repeatedly being the victim himself, I found myself feeling rather sorry for his manly image. I wanted to tap him on the shoulder and tell him surely things will eventually get better.

The rich heroine seemed to prove money can buy you just about anything, except common sense. Rushing in without realizing bad guys shouldn’t ever be trusted had me shaking my head at her not using her noggin’ and full resources at her disposal, namely muscle and brain power of those around her.

This main couple spent a great deal of time back and forth bickering/bantering, folks. Heck, their first brief kiss wasn’t even until 40% into it. His holding her at arms length while she began to moon after him was like a wet blanket for me. However, the real mood killer was how overly drawn out the entire book was. Looking back, most of it was slow paced exhausting. Taking too long to get anything done and too much content slowed down or tied up the romantic plot here, folks. 

Yeah, the rich girl got the guilt ridden, reluctant to commit guy here. At least that’s what it felt like to me. 

Title: The Highlander’s English Bride, Author: Vanessa Kelly, stand-alone but part of a series, rich related to royalty heroine, from well off family but doesn’t show it hero, not smexy until late in book, no OW/OM drama, no love triangle.

(I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not given any payment or compensation for this review. There is no relationship or affiliation between this reviewer and the author, publisher, or NetGalley.)

What a fun Scottish highlander romance and adventure tale. I really thought it was going to have a little more spicy and steamy scenes but I still loved Graeme and Sabrina's story. I really loved Sabrina's strong female character who didn't need saving and was headstrong! 

I thought that since it was book 3 in this series, I might have been lost to previous information but I was pleasantly surprised to never get lost in the narrative or characters. 

Thank you so much to Netgalley and author Vanessa Kelly for this advanced readers copy.

Give me a historical romance with highlander's and I am already going to enjoy it - a lot. A nice and romantic book with the perfect amount of conflict and steam.

I have enjoyed Vanessa Kelly's writing in the past but this one just missed the mark for me. A lot of kidnapping and the male lead just wasn't that great.

How marvelous! A dip in the Serpentine, robbers, threats against the King, shots firing, dips in a loch, kidnappings everywhere and we end up with a HEA!

Lady Sabrina is strong, intelligent and not easily intimidated. She is used to giving orders and having them followed. But she has an underlying calm that others take as weak. She has been taking care of her father's household for a long while and is not about to turn over her independence or her fortune to just any money grabbing aristocrat looking to line his pockets.

Graeme is a Highlander through and through. Big, brawny, often brash, smart and not used having his orders or requests ignored. he has been carrying around a terrible belief since he was a little boy and it has shaped his life and threatens his future. He is used to strong women in his family, just not in his personal life. The mayhem that Sabrina brings is charming and fun.

I enjoyed the fast pace of the book. The clashes of will between Sabrina and Graeme had me chuckling out loud several times. Graeme's family are charming, loud, rambunctious and the perfect addition to the mayhem. Thank you Ms. Kelly for a wonderful story, as always you did not disappoint.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complementary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in anyway.

Reviewed by Lisa RIngsby

While this is a very well written book, with a large cast of characters, it did have a number of issues for me. 

We had Graeme, one of the endless tribe of Kendricks, working for Lord Angus the King's spymaster on a couple of covert missions trying to catch a criminal, he bums into Lady Sabrina Bell, who is robbed in the park while he is tailing a suspect. when he tries to rescue her from a dunking in the Serpentine. They are attracted to each other, but also rub each other up the wrong way, cue lots of silly arguments, nonsensical behaviour from both parties, and a book that went on a bit too long for the plot devices it used.

Lady Sabrina, is a little TSTL as she continues to get involved and interfere even when she has been asked not to. Early on when she wants to deal with the villainous Lord Cringlewood. 

Graeme vacillates between telling Sabrina what to do all the time - even when she rescues him, and being a bit of an inept spy.

His reason for staying away from Sabrina also felt too slight, and the interference of the Clan Kendrick in the burgeoning relationship fell flat for me, it didn't feel like funny light relief, but unnecessary interventions that made the book go on too long .

All in all there were too many will they/won't they moments, which made the book drag a bit for me.

I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book and all opinions are my own.

I loved the book all of the characters were funny. I liked Sabrina and Graeme together. I’m very interested to know more of the brothers stories. Graeme was so adorable even though he tried to not show his tender side. Sabrina always had to be strong  because of her father’s weakness. That makes the perfect combination. Thank you for allowing me to read this book.

what an amazing book!! The author is a master of creating stories and characters. I will definitively be reading books of this author!! Great job.

What a fun read!

Love the different locations, the large family, the many characters including both the heroine and hero, the adventures and romance. 

I need to go back and read book 1 again and then read book 2. I'd definitely advise readers to read the series in order to understand who all the characters are.

This was an ok story. There are A LOT of characters in this book that made it more than what I wanted. I didn’t really care for Sabrina, though in all fairness, the description does warn you of her character. Graeme was decent enough though. I don’t think I’ve read the other books in the series, which might’ve made a difference in how I felt about this one if I had read them first.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The story was well-written and had wonderfully interesting and colorful characters.  Filled with action, bad guys, humor and romance.  This book was hard to put down.  Absolutely loved it!

I love reading Vanessa Kelly's books and the third installment from her Clan Kendrick series was fabulous. I loved every single page. Five stars.

This is the third book in the series about the madcap Kendrick Clan. It has it all: history, romance, adventure, intrigue, kidnappings, an assassination threat, beautiful scenery, wonderful characters and comic relief, all written in a well paced and entertaining voice.

Twins Graeme and Grant have grown up and have been having separate adventures. Graeme has been in London working as a detective for Captain Aden St. George, England's chief spymaster and half-brother to Graeme's sister-in-law, Victoria. While on a case, chasing after thieves, he is interrupted when he must rescue Lady Sabrina Bell from the Serpentine. Graeme finds out that a banished villain has returned and is now after Sabrina and still threatens his other sister-in-law Ainsley and his niece, Tira. He is now bound to not only find the thieves but protect Sabrina, who has a mind of her own. When Sir Walter Scott convinces the king decides to visit Scotland, Graeme is sent there as well, and finds to his dismay that Sabrina is traveling with the royal party and then plans on visiting her ancestral home and righting some wrongs. She has finally found the man that she wants and she is going to get him, despite his mistaken belief that he doesn't deserve her. There she meets his whole wacky family- and fits right in.

This is such a fun read. Perhaps I was reading into it to much, but I detected at the end, a nod to KING'S QUEST, a game that I spent many hours playing with my sons in the 1980s. I read an ARC that I received from NetGalley.com. This is my unbiased and voluntary review.

Absolutely wonderful! Characters were well rounded and natural feeling. Always enjoy a good historical romance.

Mixed emotions at the beginning of the book but not in glad I carried on reading the story between Graeme and Sabrina is lovely I will definitely be reading more books from this series thanks netgalley for the opportunity to read this I would recommend

This is the third story in this series, and while I have not read the earlier books, I didn't feel lost as the author did a good job providing enough information about the other couples without getting too detailed; thus, this could easily be read as a stand alone.

Graeme Kendrick is on the job for his friend/mentor/in-law that works for the king on special missions, and in this case, he is on the trail of a thief who targets the wealthy by stealing jewels and purses at various gatherings. In this case, Graeme has been following the perpetrator all night and finally has a good shot at catching him... until the criminal realizes he is being pursued and uses a distraction he knows Graeme will be unable to resist.

Lady Sabrina Bell is in the park very early on a rainy day to meet with a suitor, though she knows she risks ruination in doing so. As she impatiently awaits his arrival, she is suddenly grabbed by a man she believes to be simple pick pocket who takes her purse and shoves her into the Serpentine! And if that wasn't humiliating enough, a man jumps in after her to try to "save her" and acts like the whole situation is her fault! 

Graeme cannot believe that he was thwarted by an ungrateful lady who had no business being out that early and certainly shouldn't have been meeting a gentleman at that hour. And when she seeks him to apologize out at a societal event where he is certain the thief will strike, she manages to get in the way of his capture yet again. Infuriating! But also alluring, and he is inexplicably drawn to her though he believes he is not good enough for a lady of her standing.

Sabrina finds the highlander she keeps running into intriguing - and he is the first man she has been attracted to in the way she is to him, which is saying something as she has been out for years and has been offered for by many gentlemen as she is a heiress. Unfortunately, this particular gentleman is not a fortune hunter, so she will have to employ other wiles to try to get him to realize that they are right for each other. But when danger seems to threaten wherever they roam, will there be any possibility of a future for either of them?

What I liked:
--- I liked both of the main characters and wanted them to have their HEA
--- The ancillary characters made me want to go back and read their stories bc they were entertaining couples; the grandfather was especially amusing
--- The steamy goodness (what little there was) was good

What I didn't like as much:
--- Too many moving pieces.... First, Graeme was after a thief, then before he can catch the guy/resolve that issue, he is assigned to protect the king on his visit to Scotland; THEN he helps rescue children from a predator; THEN he goes to help Sabrina find out what is going on at her mother's Scotland estate and figure out why there are problems there --- and NONE of these are at all related to one another --- it felt like too much crammed in that didn't connect at the end, so it was like random story lines being halfway played out before moving on to a completely different issue
--- The kidnappings ***SPOILER I like that Graeme was the one kidnapped by the predator and had to be "rescued" by Sabrina, but when he was kidnapped AGAIN by the villains at her estate and she had to "rescue" him again, that was a little ridiculous --- this guy is supposed to be a spy AND he was described throughout the book as a huge man with exceptional skills --- overplayed the h rescuing the H in this one*** END SPOILER
--- Only 1 steamy goodness encounter? :( And very late in the story even though these two were pretty insta-attracted

Overall, I liked it, but too many moving unconnected plots coupled with a too slow of a slow burn bummed me out a little.

Plot --- 3/5
Main Characters --- 4/5
Supporting Cast --- 4/5
Steam Level* --- 3.5/5
Violence --- nothing graphic
Language --- not egregious
POV --- 3rd

*Steam level is not a rating so much as a how hot was it: 0/5 - clean; 1/5 - mild; 2/5 - sensual but nothing descriptive; 3/5 - now we're getting somewhere; 4/5 - yes please! ; 5/5 - they did EVERYTHING in this one, y'all

Note that I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Sadly I did not find myself swept away by the plot and romance. Th heat and intensity I wanted to pulsate of the page did not manifest

This is book three in the "Clan Kendrick" series. Vanessa's Highlanders are right up there at the top of the Historical Fiction Genre when it comes to Scotland and handsome, stubborn, honorable, and witty Highland Heros.  I absolutely adored the first two books in this series.  If my review sounds familiar it's because I have run out of complimentary words to describe Vanessa's love stories. Vanessa has a talent for pairing stubborn Highlanders with stubborn ladies, be they Scottish or English.

Graeme Kendrick is in London trying to track down a den of thieves that are preying on society.  So far the bloody Sassenachs have proved elusive.  On this day in June 1822, he has tracked a flunky he followed to Hyde Park hoping that the thief will lead him to the ringleaders.  His luck today is the same as last month, none!  Not only does he lose the thief he has to rescue a young lady that the culprit pushed into the Serpentine to getaway.  Of course, the young lady thinks Graeme is trying to drown not rescue her.  Unfortunately for Graeme, this is just the beginning of months of pain and frustration involving this particular young lady.

Lady Sabrina Bell is wondering what the heck she was thinking about meeting a man in Hyde Park on a cold and rainy morning.  She knows better!  The gentleman never showed up and she is soaking wet from a dunk in the Serpentine!  The only redeeming part of this miserable morning is her rescuer, the most stunning man she has ever seen and he's Scottish. He comes up with a plan to save her reputation which makes him her salvation.  There would be hell to pay if her father finds out what happened.  Sabrina has no idea that meeting Graeme is the defining moment in her life.  

Sabrina and Graeme are so alike and different at the same time.  Their interactions are both hysterical and romantic with a sizzling sensuality that practically singes the pages.  All of Vanessa's stories have interacting characters from her other books, it's like catching up with old friends.  There is always lots of action, mystery, and HAE's in her stories.  All her books are stand-alone stories that any Historical Romance fan will love.  I recommend reading all of her books.  I am certain that you will love them as much as I do.

I honestly had a lot of hopes for this, and for the most part I enjoyed myself a lot. This book was a it’s not you it’s me thing. I can’t seem to deal greatly with rape in any way it’s very triggering for me. It usually just sours the book for me and I can’t seem to get passed that. 

Thank you Netgalley & publishers.

The Highlander's English Bride by Vanessa Kelly is a fascinating historical romance. From sexy highlander warriors with their heavy brogue to their enemies on both the English and Scotland areas. One young English woman, runs her father's business for him successfully. He allows her complete control over it. Sabrina is just like her Highlander warrior, strong, brave, and a force to be reckon with...she listens to no one. Graeme has his hands full in protecting the beautiful English lady. Something about her stirs his heart which he has so carefully protected. 

Inside this read, there was plenty of danger, risks, and suspense to keep me on the edge. I enjoyed following Lady Sabrina and Graeme as they risked their lives and fight their way through all the danger. The couple's banters were hilarious. I loved how Lady Sabrina ended beating Graeme to his own game. Overall. the plot and scenes were well-written. I cannot wait for the next grand adventure from Vanessa Kelly.