GENRE: Highlander romance, Historical romance

SETTING: Southwestern Highlands, Scotland Spring 1307

CENTRAL FEMALE CHARACTER: ELENA LAMONT, daughter of Fergus, chief of Lamont; a healer

CENTRAL MALE CHARACTERS: SYMON MacLACHLAN, chief of Clan Lachlan; a man plagued with extremely extreme headaches and dizziness.

SYNOPSIS: Dougal of Dunmore attempting to steal position of clan chief by forcing Elena into marriage. Seeing Elena being hunted down, Symon of MacLachlan fights Dougal in hopes of her healing his madness.

I give this book (THREE) stars because too much repetition of events and too much whining in the story. ( )

Elena Lamont escapes her home, chased by the clansman Dougal who wants her so he can become the new laird. She runs into the Devil of Kilmartin, Symon MacLachlan, who saves her and takes her home. Elena is a healer, one of those Scottish women who can heal through 'magic' heat in their hands. Symon discovers Elena can cure his madness, which is the result of a poison. The two fall in love but Elena comes up with all sorts of reasons why they can't be together.
Symon was an alright hero, but Elena dithered and made so many wrong choices that I quickly found her unlikeable. Healers should want to heal, but she had to be forced into taking care of a burnt child. There were also too many convenient solutions in the plot: tunnels appeared that no one knew about, the means for the poison was unrealistic, and so on. Still, it's a quick read. I just thought there was potential for much more to this story. ( )

I love historical romance for a couple reasons. I enjoy being transported back to a time I never knew, to see and feel the costumes of the day, to hear the language spoken and to immerse myself in an unknown culture. And of course I love love stories. With Devil of Kilmartin, Ms. Wittig delivered on all counts, plus a touch of fantasy. I kept wondering what it would be like to have the kind of healing powers the heroine holds, to step inside a circle of grass to find magic within, and when I clicked past the final page on my Kindle, I felt like I was saying goodbye to new friends. :-) ( )

I loves historical romances, especially those set in Scotland or England. I love how Ms. Wittig wove the ancient culture into the story in ways that fed my interest (culturally) but didn't throw me out of the story itself. Great love story too! ( )