Highland Flame is the story of the Laird of the clan MacGowan, a tempestuous flaming-haired beauty named The Flame, and her supposed rival, Roderic Forbes, the Rogue.

She kidnaps him believing his clan is responsible for murder and poaching. Ravishingly strong, but horribly mistreated in her youth, she fights the growing attraction to her captive. Never having felt strongly himself about a woman, he revels in the new feelings that have arisen. Naturally she cannot believe him. Naturally he must have her.

This is where the fun begins. Roderic is very clever, witty, and sexy. He is also caring, thoughtful, and a fabulous lover. The Flame (Flanna) slowly begins to trust and love him, but after each turn, she closes herself off to him. This becomes very annoying and things crawl to a snail’s pace even though there is plenty of action in this book to keep it moving quickly.

This book works best when the Rogue and the Flame are with their clans. When they are at “home,” the Forbes clan’s sense of humor is apparent, and is delightful. Although the sexual tension grows when they take to the road, Flanna’s introspective thoughts and hand-wringing about her lack of worthiness become tedious. Had the author added a little more lust and removed some of Flanna’s self-flagellation, this book would have fared better. Frankly, one of the most touching scenes in the book is when Flanna is unconscious with fever and the spotlight is on the magnificent Roderic.

The true ne’er-do-well in this book is obvious to the reader. The author would have done well to minimize his import, and focus more on the humor she obviously writes so well. This book would have been just as exciting if his part were ended earlier; it would have been more enjoyable to watch Roderic woo and win his lady on his home turf with his relatives egging him on.

Although it was certainly touching when Flanna finally admitted her love to Roderic, it came too late. A story where the hold-out admits to love on the second to the last page is not a story well-done. And, as if that weren’t bad enough, there wasn’t even an epilogue. Having read through more than 350 pages to get there, the author owed the reader at least a couple of lovey-dovey, lusty-post-baby pages.

There is a fine book hidden within the pages of Highland Flame. Unfortunately, it’s a little hard to find amidst the extraneous flotsam and jetsam.