June 2, 2021
Genre:
Cozy Mysteries, Historical Mysteries
Length:
311 pages
Series:
Tales From the Highlands
Book description courtesy of Goodreads:
All that stands between him and freedom? Turning her hatred to love.
Elizabeth Innes has a tongue too sharp for her own good, and she is never more ready to employ it than when faced with the MacKinnons. With just one piece of evidence connecting their clan to a near-deadly attack, she is determined to prove the laird guilty and see him brought to justice. So, when chance throws her in the company of one of the MacKinnon men, she resolves to take advantage of the opportunity to glean more information.
Malcolm MacKinnon has long lived under the thumb of his cousin and laird, Angus, who keeps a secret with the power to ruin him. With his mother and siblings entirely dependent upon Angus's capricious generosity, he cannot afford to offend his cousin. When Angus proposes a way for him to finally be free of his shackles, Malcolm is more than ready to oblige. All he must do is help Angus seek revenge upon the rival, neighboring clan. The way to do it? Gain the trust—and love—of one of their young women.
As Malcolm and Elizabeth pursue their goals, they find their tasks much more difficult than anticipated, with challenges to their loyalties at every turn. Both must decide how far they are willing to go for revenge—and love.
Elizabeth Innes has a tongue too sharp for her own good, and she is never more ready to employ it than when faced with the MacKinnons. With just one piece of evidence connecting their clan to a near-deadly attack, she is determined to prove the laird guilty and see him brought to justice. So, when chance throws her in the company of one of the MacKinnon men, she resolves to take advantage of the opportunity to glean more information.
Malcolm MacKinnon has long lived under the thumb of his cousin and laird, Angus, who keeps a secret with the power to ruin him. With his mother and siblings entirely dependent upon Angus's capricious generosity, he cannot afford to offend his cousin. When Angus proposes a way for him to finally be free of his shackles, Malcolm is more than ready to oblige. All he must do is help Angus seek revenge upon the rival, neighboring clan. The way to do it? Gain the trust—and love—of one of their young women.
As Malcolm and Elizabeth pursue their goals, they find their tasks much more difficult than anticipated, with challenges to their loyalties at every turn. Both must decide how far they are willing to go for revenge—and love.
My Thoughts:
This was my third Martha Keyes book to read. I like the setting of Scotland and hadn't read any of her romance books set in England. While she does a good job of creating atmosphere through dialect and description, her books are definitely geared toward the reader who likes the "enemies into lovers" story with a happy ending. In this book, the plot revolves around Elizabeth and Malcolm who work to trick one another into falling for them in order to obtain information that can help their families. Of course, in doing so they fall for one another, resulting in their surprise as well as that of their families. Having read the first book and gotten to know the clans and their families, I was looking forward to seeing what happened to the sister, Elizabeth, of the first book's main character. Malcolm, being part of a rival clan from the first book made him intriguing too.
While I have enjoyed some of her other books, this one just wasn't my cup of tea. I think this has more to do with my own personal tastes than Keyes writing, however, this book did feel a bit repetitive and short on content. A lot of time was spent with Malcolm's "secret" in the background and Elizabeth's exasperation with him. There were whole chapters on the dog, Fergus, and how he was bringing them together. I can appreciate the readers who want a romance more than historical fiction but in this book the history part was almost non existent. It was definitely more romance and if you like that then you will probably love this book.
There are two more in this series that I might read later just because they involve different characters and a different story line. I started thinking halfway throughout the book that it might just be the actual people in the book I wasn't bonding with. In her other books, I just liked them more.
While it wasn't my favorite, my previous reading makes me want to try again, if nothing else than to just finish out the series and see what happens to the families.
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