Audiobook Review: Wishing for a Highlander by Jessi Gage

Single-and-pregnant museum worker Melanie voices an idle wish while examining a Scottish artifact, that a Highland warrior would sweep her off her feet and help her forget her cheating ex. The last thing she expects is for her wish to be granted. Magically transported to the middle of a clan skirmish in the 16th-century Highlands, she comes face to face with her kilted fantasy man.

 

Tall, handsome, and heir to his uncle's lairdship, Darcy Keith should be the most eligible bachelor in Ackergill. Instead, thanks to a prank played on him in his teenage years, he is known for being too large under his kilt to ever make a proper husband. "Big Darcy" runs his deceased father's windmills and lives alone at his family manor, believing he will never marry.

 

But a strangely dressed woman he rescues from a clan skirmish makes him long for more. When the woman's claims of coming to Ackergill by magic reach the laird's ears, she is accused of witchcraft. Darcy determines to protect her any way he can, even if it means binding her to him forever.

 

Series: Highland Wishes | Publisher: Jessi Gage, Romance Author | Narrator: Marian Hussay | Length:  10 hours 42 minutes| Genre: Time-Travel Romance | Source: Purchased | Rating: DNF

Okay, so I picked this book up to help with Droughtlander and I was so very disappointed. But I really did try to finish this one out—I promise, I did. I actually made it through 80% before I finally couldn’t take any more of it.

 

Here’s what’s going on: Melanie is a museum curator. She’s single, pregnant, and wishing for a sexy Highlander from one of the Scottish romances she reads to come and take her back to his keep and make her forget all her problems. Well, she gets her wish when a Scottish artifact she’s examining magically transports her back to the 16^th century.  Landing in the middle of clan skirmish, she finds herself rescued by sexy and kilted Darcy Keith. When Darcy takes her back to her Ackergill, he soon claims her and much to Melanie’s dismay and protests, they find themselves wed. Darcy then finds himself protecting Melanie from his uncle who believes her to be a witch. Escaping his uncle, they go on the run seeking protection from a neighboring clan, whose chief just so happens to be married to a time-traveler.

 

Sounds good, right? Well, mixed into the goodness were a lot of things that kind of crawled under my skin.

 

First, Melanie’s a historian who specializes in Scottish history and she has absolutely no clue about their customs or what’s going on around her. She’s constantly going around wondering what this or that is and wondering if they have this or that in this particular century. As someone that specializes in the era, she should have had knowledge of these things. Although I’m fairly sure Melanie was a bit too busy rambling on about how horny she was to actually think about anything else.

 

Then we have Darcy, who they call “Big Darcy”. There’s a reason he’s called ‘Big Darcy’ and it has to do with a troublemaking lass, once upon a time, telling him that he was too large under the kilt. Now he’s constantly, and when I say ‘constantly’ I mean like every time it switches to his POV, whining/complaining/groaning about how he’ll never be able to properly bed a lass because he’s too large. It seriously became annoying. Then we have the whole swearing his featly, except when they are fighting the Keith, to another clan thing that no actual Highlander would ever do.

 

Okay, so I had rolled my eyes so many times at this point, I was starting to get dizzy, but I kept on listening. Then this happened. A car popped up smack dab in the middle of 16^th century Scotland right in front of our extra-large hero who, thanks to an off-the-page conversation with Melanie, knew how to drive said car.

 

Honestly, I should have walked away then and there but I continued on. I finally gave up when Constance, the other time traveler that Melanie befriended and wife of the Murray Laird, figured out what was going on based on the contents of a single thank you note.

 

Oh, and let’s not forget that they had tea served in teacups and saucers in the 16^th century. Plus, Darcy kept referring to Melanie’s magical box as a box rather than a casket, which would have been the correct term for the era. And speaking of boxes, when Darcy goes to the furniture shop—yes, you read that right, it was indeed a furniture shop, in 16^th century Scotland—to search out the maker of the box, noble couples were milling about in said furniture shop purchasing tables and upholstered armchairs and the clerk was ringing up their purchases.

 

Oddly enough, I really enjoyed the narrator, Marian Hussay. She was very easy to listen to and brilliantly portrayed the character’s emotions. I would gladly listen to more from this narrator.

 

Overall, this novel had potential to be a grand read but lack of research, odd plot choices, and having things conveniently tie up into a nice shiny ribbon when it suited the characters caused this novel to suffer.

 Does it take you out of the book when an

author fails to research the era their writing about?