I read and loved The Velvet Promise and couldn't wait to give Highland Velvet a whirl. Some people I've spoken to who have read the Velvet Quarter say Highland Velvet is their favorite and that Stephen is the best of the Montgomery brothers. Well, I beg to differ on both accounts. Though I enjoyed this novel and I think it's great, The Velvet Promise, in my opinion, is better and these protagonists got on my nerves more than Gavin and Judith did, if that's possible. But more on that later. Bronwyn McArran is a Highlander that is made laird of clan McArran. But her life becomes a shambles when she is held prisoner in England and ordered to marry an Englishman by King Henry VII. Stephen Montgomery isn't exactly thrilled with the prospect of marrying a Scot. He knows about the Scot's unorthodox ways and how their women have freedom, so he imagines some big, bull of a woman who will make his life hell. He had never imagined meeting the spirited raven-haired, blue-eyed beauty, and he had never imagined doing just about anything to obtaining her body, to get her to become his wife, and to make her fall in love with him. There are various twists throughout the novel.

I love how beautifully described the setting and the scenes these novels are. Then again, Jude Deveraux has always been quite descriptive. The times of King Henry VII come to life in this offering and Bronwyn is the proverbial Medieval beauty. The ways her gowns and her hairstyles are described make this setting all the richer and beautiful. And I love the jousting battle between Stephen and Roger Chatworth (the main antagonist in this offering, brother of Edmund from TVP). What could be more romantic than the hero risking his life in a duel for the woman of his dreams? There is a great deal of passion going between these two fiery protagonists, but they got on my nerves at times. Bronwyn is so hardheaded! She refuses to yield to Stephen and snarls at every little thing that he does. I like spirited, unyielding heroines, but she is over the top at times, though I do understand where she's coming from, for the Scots are abused by the English and she suffers a lot of indignities with the Englishmen. You can just about imagine what goes on between a proud, independent Scotswoman and a stubborn Englishman bent on his own traditions. This makes for interesting reading, but you also want to strangle them throughout the novel. Stephen is the proverbial alpha male. The only thing I don't like about him is that he's blond. I have already associated the Montgomery men as having dark hair and dark eyes (and sometimes green, blue or gray eyes). And blond men are so not my type! But I enjoyed his sensual, passionate nature and the things he does for Bronwyn. He is certainly more likeable than Gavin! Anyway, I am so loving the Velvet series thus far. Even though I liked TVP better than this one, Highland Velvet gets five stars for the simple reason that there is no raping of the heroine here (I took away one star from TVP because of that). I look forward to giving Velvet Song a whirl. I think Raine is my favorite of these men and I look forward to reading his story.

I enjoyed this book so much as well as the rest in the Velvet series. You will enjoy the banter of the main characters. The herione is strong and flawed but so much delightful. You will have so much fun with this story.

The second book in the Velvet Quarter, HIGHLAND VELVET continues the saga of the Montgomery brothers, this time featuring Stephen.

Picking up from where we last saw him in the first book (VELVET PROMISE), Stephen Montgomery is on his way to meet his bride, a Scottish laird whom King Henry has ordered for him to marry for political reason. Delayed by the accident and miscarriage of his sister-in-law, Stephen reluctantly rides to his wedding, expecting to meet a female barbarian, who her father was foolish enough to choose as his successor. To his shock, he meets a statuesque and beautiful woman - but with a raging temper to match.

Bronwyn MacArran is laird and protector of her people. A proud Scot who holds contempt for everything English, she sees herself and her people as victims of King Henry's manipulations, but helpless to prevent her marriage to an English. Left standing at the altar on her wedding day, she vowed to make her future husband pay for the insults she had to suffer as a result of her shame. And make him pay she does! When she foolishly falls for the lies of Roger Chatworth, an Earl who bears a grudge against the Montgomery's, she agrees to marry him instead therefore resulting to a battle between Roger and Stephen, which Stephen easily wins. Then on their wedding night, she puts a knife on his shoulder injuring him. But does it stop there? I only wish it did.

HIGHLAND VELVET, in my opinion, is a bit of a let down after reading the first book. The first half of the book was a little slow for me, especially reading of Bronwyn's constant complaint and anger for Stephen. Now I could appreciate Bronwyn's initial hatred for the English, but I wish that her stubbornness and pride were toned down a little bit. I like my heroine to have some spunk, but not to the point of being outrageously stubborn. Fair enough that Stephen started off arrogant, but I felt that he really went out of his way to please her by trying to befriend her people, learning the Scots' ways, dressing like them and even changing his name, but all she did was accuse him of being a spy and having an ulterior motive, and constantly declare that she is "The MacArran". What really saved this for me was toward the third part when the table was finally turned and Bronwyn realizes her mistakes. I was so glad to see her contemplating her mistakes and become fully appreciative of everything that Stephen has to offer.

Overall, it starts off rather slow but picks up halfway through. For all my complaints about the heroine, she does redeem herself in the end, which was truly nice to see. It was also good to see the Montgomery's reunited again and get an update on Gavin and Judith and the other two brothers, Raine and Miles. And as usual, Ms Deveraux sets the story well for the next book VELVET SONG featuring Raine.

This book had everything you need to create a good romance: a dashing hero, a beautiful heroine, a person who always seems to interfere with the hero and heroine, and, most of all...PASSION! The relationship between the leads is endearing. The secondary characters are enjoyable as well. The interaction between the leads was great. They really enjoyed smarting off to each other because they did not like a lot about each other in the beginning. But their disagreements were often very funny. This was a very entertaining book. This book was a pleasure to read and I couldn't put it down until it was finished. I loved watching Steven and Bronwyn grow as people. And where able to see that there is good and bad in all kinds of people. You can't judge someone for their race but who that are as a person. I know there are a lot of people who didn't like Bronwyn. I really don't understand why. Steven screwed up big time in the beginning coming 3 days late for the wedding. He had not even come to see her before that. Steven was arrogant and disrespectful. Steven changes as he sees Bronwyn as a true and great leader. It took Bronwyn awhile to forgive and trust Steven. Plus Bronwyn was forced to marry Steven after father and three men she was choose from to be her husband. Bronwyn had a lot to get over before she could fall head over heels in love with Steven.

I really enjoyed the characters, as they were very likeable.

This story was honest about how women were thought of at that time.

Some people hate this book. Some people love this book. I'm in the camp that love this book.

I read this book as a teenager. I lost it over the years. I remembered it was an excellent and well detailed love story. I wanted to read it again and hold on to it this time and add it to the collection of keepers. The author drew my imagination into the story. I felt enveloped, like I escaped from "reality" (for the time that I read it).