After reading The Velvet Promise and discovering that my biggest problem with it (besides the '70s tropes) was that Gavin was dumber than a bowl of mice (and not lab mice, either), I wasn't sure what I'd think of Highland Velvet. I remembered that Stephen goes off to marry a Scottish laird, who turns out to be a beautiful woman, and that things go pretty well for them, but was it going to be full of more '70s tropes and stupidity?
Actually, it's not, which was a pleasant surprise. In fact, most of this book revolves around the problems too much pride can cause (and I'm not talking about simply having pride in one's abilities, but rather the stubborn type of pride that makes people refuse to ask for directions or refuse to tell other people why they're hurt or upset -- both of which happen in this book). Stephen and Bronwyn have a surprisingly easy courtship; it's easing into marriage that gives them difficulty.
This is one of the better Deveraux books in terms of female competence. Like Judith of The Velvet Promise, Bronwyn grew up with the expectation that she could and would make her own decisions, as well as taking responsibility for many people other than herself. She does a really good job of it, and it's rather startling when held against the example of Jura from The Maiden. Bronwyn's purpose isn't to support her mate, it's to be the laird of her clan -- Stephen has to fit in around that.
There are some misunderstandings and miscommunications, but they happen on both sides. There are some problematic moments from a feminist perspective -- a female character we haven't seen much of ends up being little more than a plot point to convince us a character is bad when we already knew that, and Bronwyn has what I'm coming to understand is a Typical Deveraux Heroine Moment Of Realization (in which a woman realizes that the guy she's with has been Right All Along and she's been Wrong All Along, and to make up, she has to go grovel) -- but they don't make up the bulk of the story.
(It occurs to me that if that Typical Deveraux Moment were left out of most of her books, I'd still be okay with them as an adult. As a 13-year-old, I didn't much see the problem with it, but women having to grovel to men who are acting like selfish, jealous jerks does not sit well with me now.)
I'd thought I might go on to a different book at this point, but I believe I'll finish the series first. It's nice having books to read that are so quick (I only just started this one two days ago), and events happened in this book that pushed the series further along in its ultimate overarching plot (the conflict between the Montgomerys and the Chatworths). I can't completely remember where that's going, but I'm very curious, and I won't mind padding my book totals for the next couple of days! I'm at 96 books for the year -- unfortunately, there's very little chance I'll finish four more in the next three days, no matter how easy the reads are. I'd have to pick up really short books, which seems a bit like cheating.
Tags: historical, jude deveraux, reading, romance