I received an ARC of this book on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I had to DNF this book at 26%. I was really really looking forward to a highland romance with a Black MMC and FMC, the background and story behind Black highlanders could have been so interesting to read about but the romantic leads were both very unlikable. While it's typical for the MMC to not want to get married or be a rogue they don't usually hate women. Kallum comes across really strong in the first impression as hating women and it was really hard to like him when his internal monologue continued to view women as annoying. Ailsa could have been really interesting but she gave off "not like other girls" vibes. And a little later you find out that she doesn't speak to or engage with any of the other enslaved folks which just reinforced the feeling that she thought she was better than them. I really tried to power through with the hope that I would grow to like them but then the first time Ailsa sees Kallum naked is when he's peeing in the woods, and I guess it's meant to be awkward and funny but it just came across as really unromantic. That was the final ick. I might come back to this and try again, but at the moment I don't think I can do it.