Ohhh – those evil stepmothers of romance land. They are always looking for ways to punish, ruin, or abuse their stepdaughters, who by the way, everyone else loves but they, without reason, hate. I could most definitely do without this premise in my romance reading, but I guess it can provide the hero with an occasionally effective opportunity to swoop in and save the stepdaughter from her tortured environment. Much to my chagrin, my first challenge in reading Devil of the Highlands was getting past one of those irksome evil stepmothers.

As you may have guessed by my introduction, Evelinde is a kind and endearing sort whose faithful servants are also her closest companions. She has become rather adept at avoiding her stepmother, Edda, and Evelinde can only pray that someday she will be free of Edda’s control and abuses. But in the meantime, Evelinde is determined to enjoy life in every way she can and is, despite her environment, quite a free spirit.

Edda is delighted with her latest ploy to forever ruin the despised Evelinde’s life by betrothing her to none other than the cold and heartless Devil of Donnachaidh, an infamous Scottish laird otherwise known in more proper circles as Cullen, Laird of Donnachaidh. Rumors abound that he killed both his uncle and his father to gain the title and that he also murdered his wife when she produced no bairns.

Cullen has come to claim his bride and his first encounter with Evelinde is, to say the least, both unique and entertaining, albeit a little on the ridiculous side. The ferocious Cullen is not so ferocious after all but he has no problem with his public persona since it clearly works to his advantage as he struggles to keep his land and people safe from outsiders. His gruff, considerate personality aside, as a reader I clearly felt a bit of a bait and switch – yet another personal reading challenge since I find such changes annoying. Why advertise something that will not be delivered?

It doesn’t take Cullen long to realize Etta’s maliciousness and he determines to remove Evelinde from her poisonous reach as quickly as possible. A speedy wedding ensues and, dare I say, another reading challenge for me as the circumstances surrounding the ceremony border on slapstick.

Once Cullen brings Evelinde home, her array of mishaps, while humorous at times, gives the impression that Evelinde is not the brightest of heroines and the author often portrays her as lacking common sense. Cullen is patient but bewildered by her antics and their amusing verbal exchanges are enjoyable, even if they are almost lost in the midst of so many predictable plot elements.

But the biggest challenge for me lay in the transformation of the story from a sort of endearing bumbling romance to an all-out whodunit by the halfway point. When I realized our rather daft heroine would be called upon to solve not just one, but all three, of the mysterious deaths in Cullen’s dark past, my reaction was “Please, noooo!” Sure enough, as I feared, pages of the heroine searching out the simple details of the murders as she begins to connect and solve the three mysteries left me wondering – why hasn’t anyone already figured this out?

Devil of the Highlands started out with a bit of sparkle, and humor carried it a little further, but the mundane mixed with a bit too much foolishness (rather than true comedy), and an uninspiring mystery (with many, many suspects) soon left me counting the pages to the end. And, finally, the last challenge – the drawn out ending as the mystery is solved in a most predictable manner. Definitely sweet, but I could only yawn.