Book Tour: The Runaway Highlander by R.L. Syme

Anne de Cheyne has a choice. She can play the dutiful daughter and allow her mother to sell her to a greasy English sheriff, or she can take control of her own life and find her own match. After a frightening run-in with her promised husband reveals a dark secret, she makes a desperate choice. Flight. Aedan Donne needs easy money and no-questions-asked. When Milene de Cheyne offers him enough to pay all debts, requests complete silence, and pays half up front, just for a simple recovery, he can't believe his luck? until he meets his mark. Anne?s beauty and passion ignite something Aedan can?t ignore, even as she leaves him in the dust. Suddenly, he finds himself wanting to capture the runaway Highland lady for himself.

The Highland Renegades Series

Book One: The Outcast Highlander
Book Two: The Runaway Highlander
Book Three: The Pirate Highlander -- Coming Soon!

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About the Author

R.L. Syme works at a youth theatre, teaching kids performing arts and musical performance classes/camps when she's not writing. Otherwise, she's putting her Seminary degree to good use writing romance novels. Let not all those systematic theology classes go to waste... For more information please visit R.L. Syme's website and blog. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Review:

Series: The Highland Renegades

Release Date: 15 April, 2014

Publisher: R L Syme
Genre: fiction/historical/romance

ISBN: 9780996010306

Edition: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★☆

Review Written: 5 June, 2014

While it's not crucial to read the first novels in series such as The Runaway Highlander, I found myself wondering if I were at a slight disadvantage for not having read the first book in the series. That said, The Runaway Highlander proved to be a nice and easy read, a good way to sneak into June.

Syme's book introduces us to Anne de Cheyne, a young woman who's family has risen to power during a turmoil-filled time in Scotland. With her mother willing to sell her to the highest bidder, Anne finds herself stuck near the English border with the prospect of being forced into marriage with an English sheriff. Things take a turn for the worst when she gets captivated in a plot to free her former fiance, as well as a large number of Scottish Rebels from the dungeons. She escapes with them, finding her way out of the city after a brush with death at the hands of her husband-to-be only to realize her sister hadn't been brought along. Terrified of what might happen to her sister, Anne sets off on a journey to recover her. 

What Anne doesn't know is her mother has hired Aedan Donne to come after her. Aedan, a sellsword with the goal of only working long enough to be able to pay for his sister from indentured servitude, has been working for the sheriff against the rebels. When Anne goes missing however, her mother requests his help, promising an amount of gold that will make it easy to pay for his sister and his father's debts. As their paths intertwine, Anne and Aedan find themselves both fighting their feelings for each other and bound together to try and save their families.

Syme's novel left me feeling a bit teased, though it was well written to focus upon the outlying circumstances and not purely on reader gratification. The characters felt organic, giving it a sense of reality that perhaps they could have existed. Readers will not be disappointed if they so choose to pick up this novel and give it a chance.