TOP 15 COUNTDOWN: Highlander/Scottish Romance
It’s no surprise that the Outlander novels, and now the TV series, has hearts and temperatures aflutter everywhere, and I mean really can you blame us?! So, if you’re after more (we know you are!), here’s 15 of the best highlander novels written by Aussie authors (and an honorary Aussie—Frances Housden from across the ditch):
The Chieftain’s Curse
Frances Housden
Euan McArthur is a chieftain in need of an heir.
While still a young a warrior, Euan incites the fury of a witch. She retaliates with a curse that no wife will ever bear him an heir. As he buries his third wife and yet another bonnie stillborn son, Euan can no longer cast her words aside.
Morag Farquhar is a woman in need of sanctuary. With a young relative in tow, Morag flees the only home she has ever known to escape her brother, Baron of Wolfsdale, and find sanctuary in the MacArthur stronghold. Pronounced barren by a midwife, Morag is of little value to her family, but a Godsend to Euan, a lover he can’t kill by getting with child.
Years ago, chance drew them together, and tangled their lives in ways they could never have imagined. This time their destiny lies in their own hands, but it will take courage and strong hearts to see it through to the end.
Chieftain By Commancd
Frances Housden
Gavyn Farquhar’s marriage is forged with a double-edged blade. Along with the Comlyn clan’s lands, a reward from the King, he is blessed with an unwilling bride, Kathryn Comlyn, and an ancient fort with few defences that desperately needs to be fortified before it can act as a sufficient buffer between Scotland and the Norsemen on its northern borders.
Gavyn needs wealth to meet his king’s demands, and he knows of only one way to get it — with his sword. Leaving his prickly bride behind in the hands of trusted advisors, he makes his way to the battlegrounds of France and the money that can be made there.
Two years married and Kathryn is still a virgin. A resentful virgin, certain that, like her father before her, she is perfectly capable of leading the Comlyn clan. In her usurper husband’s absence, she meets the clan’s needs, advising and ruling as well as any man.
But she is an intelligent woman, and she knows the only respect and power she will ever hold will be through her husband. And to wield it, she needs to make him love her. An easy task to set, but impossible to complete, when said husband has been gone for two years, and there is no word of his return. But Kathryn is undeterred. After all, a faint heart never won a Chieftain.
The Chieftain’s Fued
Frances Housden
The Chieftain’s Feud is the third book in the internationally bestselling, award-winning Chieftain series: a Yuletide novella with a Scottish twist and bad boy highlander about to meet his match…
He may be young, but Jamie Ruthven has earned a name as a skirt-lifter and seducer, though to his credit he never touches an innocent. Then Evangeline Buchan comes to the Scottish court with her gentle heart and beautiful eyes, and sets his world askew.
The feud between the Ruthvens and Buchans started long before Jamie’s birth — though neither he nor Evangeline know the reasons.
Can their love reveal the secrets and heal the pain of the past, or will the feud prove too strong for even true love?
The Healer
Allison Butler
Curb your Outlander cravings with Allison Butler’s seriously sexy Scottish novel about an English woman, a Scottish Laird, a case of mistaken identity and a love that will surpass all barriers.
An outcast in her own home for as long as she can remember, Lynelle Fenwick will do anything to earn her father’s approval. Including exaggerating her healing skills, and setting off alone to rescue her step-brother from a band of raiding Scots.
Living under a curse that has haunted the Closeburn Clan for years, Laird William Kirkpatrick, will do anything to save his sole surviving brother. He may not believe in curses, but his clan does, and the growing number of graves seems to support their side.
Having banished all healers from the clan for trickery, he has no choice but to allow an Englishwoman, claiming to be a skilled healer, into his home and into the room of his wounded brother.
Enemies by birth and circumstance, they can only succeed together. But blood runs deep, and tensions high. What matters the desires of a heart?
The Thief
Allison Butler
To fulfil his father’s dying wish, Border laird Lachlan Elliot must marry and sire a legitimate heir, cementing his family’s name in the tumultuous borderlands. But his marriage will be one of convenience.
Lachlan has no time for the pain and betrayal of love, and his land and position must always come first. So even when the spirited thief he catches stealing his horse turns out to be breathtaking – and appropriate – he vows to marry her, bed her, but never love her.
Kenzie never wanted an arranged marriage, but to be forced to wed the domineering laird who catches her thieving from his lands is even worse. Feisty, strong-willed and determined to make her own way, Kenzie may have no choice but to agree to the marriage, but she will never give up her independence. Lachlan may own her body, but he will never own her heart.
Highlander
Cathleen Ross
When Sir James Bruce conquers enemy territory, his reward is the hand of beautiful virgin, Lady Isobel McLaird. Although Isobel has no intention of marrying Sir James, he is determined to change her mind by taming her to his touch. Only James has the power to save her imprisoned brother and the stubborn tenacity to win her heart.
Highlander in her Bed
Cathleen Ross
Scotland 1308 Sir David McLaird is a prisoner of Sir James Bruce. When healer, Lady Arabel Bruce tends to his wounds he doesn’t expect to fall in love. The trouble is Arabel is from the enemy clan.
Lady Arabel loves the wild highlander but won’t betray her clan and marry him, until Sir David abducts and makes her his.
In Her Wild Highlander’s Bed
Cathleen Ross
When Sir Jasper Bruce discovers a lady hiding under his bed in the castle he has just conquered, he doesn’t expect to fall in love. No Scottish knight in his right mind would fall in love with a Sassenach enemy, not in 1313 when Scotland is fighting England for its independence.
Forced into a betrothal with a cruel Scot, Lady Rosamund Percy can think of nothing else except escaping to England after her betrothed leaves her stranded in a highland castle. The trouble is Sir Jasper considers her a delicious prize of war. How can she convince him to let her go when he can think of nothing else but getting her into his bed?
Love in Ruins
Erin Grace
Eager to escape a disastrous relationship, archaeologist, Ellie Harper, jumps at the chance to travel to the remote Scottish Highlands, and excavate the ruins of Castle MacKinnon. However, no matter where she goes, the shadow of her ex follows her, promising she will never be free of her painful past.
But, when a mysterious stranger turns up half-dead on her doorstep in the middle of a violent storm, Ellie is thrust into the realm of ancient secrets and impossible magic that challenges everything she holds dear.
Faced with a heartbreaking decision, Ellie must put her emotions and logic aside to help Laird Ewan MacKinnon find a way home to the thirteenth century – if one exists. What she doesn’t expect is to journey to a past more astounding than history, find a love more precious than ancient treasure, and survive the deadly wrath of an evil man’s revenge.
Highlander in the Mist
H.C. Brown
Kate must decide to escape the horrors of 1425, or fight for the love of her delicious Highland warrior.
During a tour of the Highlands, Kate Mackintosh goes to the aid of a drowning boy and mysteriously slips through time to 1425. A stunningly handsome Highlander, who believes she is a faerie intent on stealing his brother, immediately challenges her and offers himself as the boy’s replacement. Rather than remaining alone on an isolated mountainside, she follows the delicious, Laird Alexander Murray to his Broch Lavern home.
Alone in a strange, brutal world, the noble Alex, offers her not only his protection but a love and passion so great, her longing to return home soon fades. However, the fate of the clan rests on Alex marrying Mary Frazer, and his stepmother insists on the match.
Kate must leave the love of her life or remain and risk torture or death to fight for her handsome Highland laird.
Her Savage Scot
Christina Phillips
When tough Scot warrior Connor Mackenzie rides into the barbaric lands of the Picts on a mission for his king, he never expects to be captivated by a beautiful Pictish widow. Drawn under her spell, yet unaware of her true identity, he risks everything for one passionate night in her arms.
Aila, princess of Pictland, swore long ago she would do anything within her power to help defeat the Vikings who invaded her land and murdered her husband. But after meeting Connor, her frozen heart thaws and once again she imagines a future filled with love and passion.
When Connor delivers the message from his king, Aila becomes a pawn in a deadly game of politics. Her heart belongs to Connor, but she must marry the prince of Dal Riada – Connor’s half-brother. But the fates have other plans for the star-crossed lovers as they fight their enemies and themselves to find true love.
Her Vengeful Scot
Christina Phillips
Ordered to remain in Pictland, Cameron MacNeil fights the lust that consumes him whenever he encounters the aloof princess, Elise. Not only is she a cursed Pict, she’s married to the man responsible for his sister’s death. In order to avenge his sister, he must destroy the woman he wants most.
Despite her reputation, Elise has no interest in men until she meets Cameron. Lacking the famed Scots charm, his blunt ways enchant her and he ignites a passion in her she thought long dead. When she is freed from her difficult marriage, Elise places her trust in the tough warrior who stole her heart.
Bound by blood oaths, the only way Cam can protect Elise from political schemes is to make her his bride. When Elise discovers the truth of her husband’s death, she wonders if everything she knew about Cam was a lie. All she can do is trust that her goddess was right and Cameron is her true love.
Warrior’s Surrender
Elizabeth Ellen Carter
A shared secret from their past could destroy their future…
Northumbria, 1077. In the years following William the Conqueror’s harrying of the North, Lady Alfreya of Tyrswick returns to her family home after seven years in exile. But instead of returning victorious as her dead father had promised, she returns defeated by Baron Sebastian de la Croix, the Norman who rules her lands.
To save her gravely ill brother’s life, Alfreya offers herself hostage to her enemy. As Alfreya gets to know her new husband, she finds he’s not the monster she feared, and their marriage of convenience soon becomes a bond of passion. But Sebastian is a man with a secret—one that could destroy him.
As a series of brutal murders haunt their nights, the man who betrayed Alfreya’s father returns claiming to be her betrothed. He has learned Sebastian’s secret and will use it to further his own ambition—using Sebastian’s own family—which will destroy Sebastian and mark him a traitor, and plunge an unprepared England into war with the Scots…
Tracking Ainsley
McKinlay Thomson
Ainsley Gordon has never been much for adventure and the outdoors, so why she ever let her friend convince her to go hiking in the highlands of Scotland is beyond her. When a storm moves in and a tragic accident befalls her friend, they are well and truly stuck and in desperate need of rescuing. Conall and Finlay Breckenridge are wolf shifters and members of an elite squad called Highland Rescue. They operate in the harsh and dangerous wilderness of the highlands, saving stranded and injured travelers. When they receive a call to rescue two hikers, they never expected to find their mate. The weather takes a turn for the worst, leaving the brothers no option but to take Ainsley to a remote cabin and wait out the storm. But when a rival pack bent on revenge find them, can the two sexy wolf shifters convince Ainsley to trust them with more than just her heart?
The Capture of the Earl of Glencrae
Stephanie Laurens
Three heros, three rescues, three weddings.
We joyfully request your attendance at the wedding of Miss Angelica Cynster
…but not until she and her hero confront a devious enemy and lay to rest an ancient grudge in the Scottish Highlands!
Headstrong Angelica Cynster is certain she’ll recognize her fated husband at first sight. And when her eyes meet those of a mysterious nobleman across a candlelit ballroom, she knows beyond doubt that he’s the one. But her heart is soon pounding for an entirely different reason–when her hero abducts her!
The eighth Earl of Glencrae has no choice but to kidnap Angelica, the one Cynster sister with whom he hadn’t wanted to tangle. But to save his castle and his clan, he must persuade her to assist him–and he’s prepared to offer marriage to seal the deal.
AusRomToday 
Great list of fantastic Aussie Authors.