Never Love a Highlander by Maya Banks

After reading Keeley and Alaric's story, I excitedly picked up this book because I wanted to read about Rionna and Caelen.

Banks built up their characters very well and we see Caelen's character unfold with each of his brother's story.

Rionna is a twice-jilted woman.  She was initially betrothed to Ewan and then to Alaric -- her father is desperate for the alliance in order to protect their clan against Duncan Cameron who has ambitious plans of taking over the Highlands.

Caelen accepts the responsibility of fulfilling the agreement between the McDonalds and the McCabes.  But it is not just responsibility that compels Caelen to marry Rionna --

He finds her strangely attractive, despite her manner of dressing and her inclination to wield a sword.  A betrayal in his past has left Caelen wary of love -- but he believes he and Rionna could make a comfortable life together --

If only Rionna would stop fighting him every step of the way.

Rionna resists Caelen's "heavy-handed ways" and believes he is trying to change her into becoming a different woman entirely.

But all Caelen wants to do is to cherish Rionna and to show her how much he treasures her.

This lacked the emotional gravitas found in the second book -- and I could sense that Maya Banks was trying to tie up and resolve all of her stories.  (This is a plus point for me -- a lot of authors usually leave things hanging.)

I did wish she developed the emotional aspect of Rionna and Caelen's relationship more deeply -- at the end of the story, one feels a companionable affinity between the two -- but none of the intense love that we saw in Keeley and Alaric's story.

Congratulations to Maya Banks on this very solid trilogy!