[ARC Review] Highlander Most Wanted by Maya Banks

 Highlander Most Wanted
The Montgomerys and Armstrongs #2
Maya Banks
March 19th 2013
Ballantine Books
352 pages

Arc was provided via Netgalley.

Amazon/Book Depository/B&N

 In Highlander Most Wanted, a reclusive woman content to live in the shadows shows a Highland warrior the true meaning of love.
 
Genevieve McInnes is locked behind the fortified walls of McHugh Keep, captive of a cruel laird who takes great pleasure in ruining her for any other man. Yet when Bowen Montgomery storms the gates on a mission of clan warfare, Genevieve finds that her spirit is bent but not broken. Still, her path toward freedom remains uncertain. Unable to bear the shame of returning to a family that believes her dead or to abandon others at the keep to an imposing new laird, Genevieve opts for the peaceful life of an abbess. But Bowen’s rugged sensuality stirs something deep inside her that longs to be awakened by his patient, gentle caress—something warm, wicked, and tempting.

Bowen seizes his enemy’s keep, unprepared for the brooding and reclusive woman who captures his heart. He’s enchanted by her fierce determination, her unusual beauty, and her quiet, unfailing strength. But wooing her will take more than a seasoned seducer’s skill. For loving Genevieve, he discovers, means giving her back the freedom that was stolen from her—even if it means losing her forever.

I wasn't going to read this book for awhile, as I'd just finished Never Seduce a Scot. Someone on Goodreads kept adding updates that kept raising my interest. I couldn't resist. Maya Banks writes some of the best highlander romance I've read. Especially this series.

The heroines in this series are top notch. No simpering lasses here. Eveline was full of fire despite her disability. Genevieve tops that, and continues to rocket into the stratosphere. She is scarred in more ways than one, and most of the book is spent overcoming them.

I felt for Genevieve, for all she endured and continued to endure at the hands of the McHugh clan. Bowen Montgomery, painted as a ladies man, falls for her hard. He shows great restraint and respect for Genevieve. The usual trope of the brash warrior is thrown on it's head. Sure, he snaps a guy's neck at one point, but overall he's a big muscle-y teddy bear.

Throw the usual romance novel formula out the window. The secrets are there from the beginning. There's no halfway sex scene, barely any titillation. The characters are so compelling that I didn't even care. There's not a lot of colorful prose about pleasure and genitals until almost the end of the book. By that point, I was a blubbering mess.

This book was by far my favorite of Maya Banks. The characters were larger than life. The plot was compelling and the love scenes were tender and compassionate. 

I can't wait to see what the next book will entail. It's supposed to be about Taliesan, who was introduced in this book, and I honestly was hoping it'd be about her. Super excited to get my hands on that!