ABANDONED AT THE ALTAR #1: TROUBLE AT THE WEDDING
Laura Lee Guhrke
ISBN:  978-0061963179 (Mass Market Paperback)
ASIN: B005AJY7XM (Kindle)
ASIN: B006QGIAWW (Unabridged Audio)
December 2011 (Mass Market Paperback)
December 2011 (Kindle)
December 2011 (Unabridged Audio)
AVON / Harper Collins / Tantor Audio
Historical Romance / Victorian

Miss Annabel Wheaton had been in love, and knows how much it hurts when it is one-sided.  Having made that mistake once in her young life she is not about to make it again.  When the opportunity to elevate her standing with the snobbish Knickerbocker set of New York who looked down on her Mississippi mud roots, before she inherited oodles of money, she would take it.   She would marry a British Earl knowing full well that he was marrying her strictly for her money.  However, Christian Du Quesne, Duke of Scarborough believes the stubborn heiress to be making the biggest mistake of her life and he is determined to stop her.   When Annabel’s  family offers Christian a very large sum of money to stop the wedding, he is more than happy to oblige!

***  Set in 1904, when wealthy Americans were ready to pay for that elusive title only the British gentry could bestow, it was quite common to marry the title thereby saving said gentry from foreclosure and bringing in that new American money to shore up the falling down castles and manors who could no longer afford to keep them up.  The only thing the titled Brits had left besides moldering rocks were their titles that the Americans were ready to marry for.

Annabel knew that her earl, Rumsford was a womanizer and fortune hunter but didn’t care as long as he treated her with respect.  However the feisty American was not about to be made over into something she was not and Christian knew deep in his heart that Rumsford was a man who would shut her away in the country and live a dissipated life on her money.  Christian knew this, because many years ago, when young and foolish himself, he had done much the same thing, and now lived twith the ever constant guilt.  No, Christian our hero was no angel and that is one of the reasons TROUBLE AT THE ALTAR was such a great read.  Ms. Guhrke let you see right into the heart of both protagonists, scars and all.

Guhrke did it it with both emotion, caring, and some very refined humor.  At first Christian was in this predicament strictly for the payoff -  he never thought to marry again or cause another woman the pain and suffering he had caused his first wife.  I liked that our hero was flawed – he wasn’t perfect but young and foolish with a conscience that recognized the damage he’d wrought.  But as always, love doesn’t take no for an answer, it wraps itself around you when you least expect it and Guhrke directed it with vim and vigor to encase Annable and Christian in a most marvelous tale that I hightly recommend!  Be ready for laughs and a couple of tissues handy for for a joyous ending!

Marilyn Rondeau, for www.ck2skwipsandkritiques.com

 

 

Welcome to our latest guest blogger… Dakota Banks!

 

Read the review of Mortal Path Book 1: Dark Time

Read the review of Mortal Path Book 2: Sacrifice

Read the review of Mortal Path Book 3: Deliverance

To enter Dakota’s Swag Bag Giveaway, leave a comment below! Winner will be chosen May 1st.

I’d like to thank the staff for the opportunity to visit CK2S Kwips and Kritiques. It’s a pleasure to be here!

The Mortal Path series of urban fantasies/supernatural thrillers is based on Sumerian mythology. Sumerians lived from 5,000-8,000 years ago in what is now the land of Iraq. They had a wonderfully rich assortment of gods, goddesses, and demons that they were certain not only came from outer space but created the modern human race by mixing their “essence” (DNA) with that of primitive man. Sounds like I’m making it up, but it was all part of the Sumerian belief system. Their deities had strong personalities, romances, marriages, jealousies, rages, and grudges against each other, just like the Sumerians themselves. The Sumerians explained many actions of the natural world that they didn’t understand as having been caused by demons, such as disease, poor crops, or lightning strikes. In the Mortal Path, the Sumerian gods have left Earth, but seven of the most vile demons remained behind and have been plaguing (sometimes literally) humans for millennia.

A wife and healer unjustly accused in 17th century Colonial America is burned at the stake for witchcraft and other false crimes. One of the Sumerian demons pulls her from the flames, but he’s not doing a good deed. He offers her immortality if she will serve him, and with her body on fire, the deal sounds fair. She becomes the Black Ghost, an Ageless assassin gifted with otherworldly skills and superbly trained in martial arts. She obeys Rabishu’s orders and remains a beautiful young woman. Then she’s given an assignment she can’t bear to carry out. She gives up her immortality, turns rogue, and emerges from three centuries of reluctant service as the demon’s slave as a woman who has to relearn what it means to be human.

Maliha Crayne discovers that if she balances lives she’s taken with lives saved, she can reclaim her soul. If she fails, she faces eternal torment at the demon’s hands. The ticking clock? Every time she saves lives, she ages an unpredictable amount, sometimes days, sometimes months—or years. The deck is stacked against her. She’s got her own agenda, too—collecting artifacts that will allow her to wipe out all of the Sumerian demons, freeing humanity from their savage influence.

In Deliverance, the third book of the series, one of Maliha’s closest friends is kidnapped to force her to cooperate. Someone knows about Maliha’s skills and wants to put her to use as an unwilling assassin to further their own goals. She faces one moral dilemma after another in this book, stripping away all of the defenses she’s built around her heart and forcing her to make choices she doesn’t even want to think about.

The excerpt below shows one of the problems she faces. To save her friend, Maliha is supposed to assassinate a journalist named Camila. In this scene, Maliha visits Camila’s apartment and finds that the stakes have suddenly gotten higher. The section between the # marks is a short flashback to the time when she was in jail in 1692, facing charges as a witch. At the beginning of the scene, she’s looking for a way into the secure apartment building where Camila lives.

—————————-

Camila Reyes lived in a small apartment in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C. During the day, there was a doorman, but at night there was controlled access with a video cam to each apartment so the occupant could see who was buzzing them.

A little research was all it took to locate a single man in his thirties living in an efficiency on the eighth floor. At midnight, Maliha went into the lobby and stepped in front of the video cam. She was wearing a blond wig, heavy makeup, and a top and skirt that barely covered her body’s erogenous zones. A skimpy jacket, not warm enough for the weather, hung around her shoulders. She pressed the buzzer.

A sleepy voice came on. “Yeah?”

“Mr. Hernandez, I’m here for you.”

“Uh … What?”

“You will have the best night of your life, Mr. Hernandez. Ring me up.”

“Just a minute.” She pictured him shuffling to the door to get a look at the video screen. She smiled into the camera and waved, making sure that plenty of cleavage showed.

“I … I’m not Mr. Hernandez,” he stammered.

“You are not?” She pouted and read him the address from a slip of paper. “Room 821?”

“No, you’re at least ten miles away.”

“I’m new in town. I guess Mr. Hernandez will be disappointed tonight.” Her face brightened. “Who are you?”

“I’m Gil Ceja.”

“Hi Gil, I’m … Trixy. I’m here already. Would you like some company, Gil? I’ll give you a special deal. I promise you’ll have fun.”

There was a brief hesitation, and then the iron-barred doorway blocking access to the elevators clicked open.

“Oh, Gil,” she said. “Get naked and wait for me by the door. I’ve got a surprise for you.”

Maliha headed for room 408, where the journalist lived. Using a torque and pick set, she opened the standard lock on the door. Easing into the room, she slipped off her heels and left them by the entrance. After letting her eyes adjust to the dark, she could see that there was a desk with a computer on it in the combination kitchen-living room. Checking it out, she could see that the computer was on, with a bouncing ball screen saver.

            Later.

She moved on to the bedroom, drawing a knife from a sheath that rested on her back, attached to the skirt’s low-rise waistband. Maliha moved like the Black Ghost she once was. Soundless, a shadow, something glimpsed from the corner of the eye followed by a rush of darkness and death.

She turned the doorknob and cracked open the bedroom door. In this room there was a night light, a yellow starfish shape with a smile. Camila was asleep, her blanket slipped to one side and one leg exposed from the knee down. Maliha had an urge to cover the woman’s leg. The heat was turned down for the night, and it was cold in the apartment.

She pushed the door open a little wider, revealing a dresser and mirror, a brush, makeup kit, and a tottering stack of books—the ordinary things of this woman’s life that were about to become mute witnesses to her death. Camila was snoring softly. The double bed she slept in was shared with no lover, just a cat. The cat’s eyes opened and looked at Maliha through narrow slits. Satisfied, it adjusted its position and went back to sleep.

Maliha could go in, slash Camila’s throat, and be out in a few seconds without causing any noise.

            Then what? Another target? I’m trapped. Give up on my friend or go against what I believe in and deal with the fallout afterward?

Maliha pushed the door open further and stepped into the room.

She froze.

There was a crib against the wall that had been blocked from her view by the door. Maliha was drawn to it. She walked over, her knife still at the ready. In the crib was a baby boy, about six months old, wearing pajamas with feet. As she watched in the pale yellow light of the starfish, a bubble formed between his lips and gently popped. She put her hand on the baby’s chest, feeling the rise and fall of his small rib cage as he breathed.

#

Maliha couldn’t control the urge to push. With her back against the cold stone wall and her legs drawn up, she bore down. Her screams echoed in the room, again and again, as she strained and rested. One last mighty push and the infant slipped out onto the earthen floor.

She lay down next to the small body. In darkness as deep as a cave’s, she could see nothing, but she could feel that her baby was flaccid, unmoving. Hope dying in her heart, she did what a midwife would do for a baby who appeared dead—try to share her own life with it. She placed her mouth over the baby’s mouth and nose and breathed out in small puffs. Each time she lifted her head, she willed the baby to draw breath and begin crying.

After a while she stopped trying. The heat left the small body and the soft, perfect arms and legs locked into the stiffness of death.

#

Maliha closed her eyes at the painful memory. Constanta, my daughter.

She put away her knife. There has to be another way.

———————-

What do you think of having intense moral dilemmas in a book? Is it important to have the main character’s morality tested by putting him or her in the position of making hard choices, the damned if you do, damned if you don’t kind?

Website: http://dakota-banks.com
Blog: http://dbanks.me/mortalblog
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DakotaBanksPage
Twitter: @dakotabanks or http://dbanks.me/DBtwit
Goodreads: http://dbanks.me/DBgood

 

MORTAL PATH BOOK 1: DARK TIME
Dakota Banks
ISBN: 978-0-06-168730-3 (Mass Market Paperback)
B002HPRBWG (Kindle eBook)
July 28, 2009
Harper Collins Publishers/Eos Books
Urban Fantasy
Dark Fantasy
Mass Market Paperback and eBook

Courtesy of Amazon

Wow! I loved Dark Time and am very impatient for book two is this fascinating and refreshingly original series.

Over three hundred years ago, Susannah Layhem was wrongly accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake. Just as she is facing her last moments of life before giving in to the flames, she is whisked to safety and offered a trade. If she agrees to sell her soul to the demon Rabishu, he will save her life. But is it worth it?

Now, Susannah is Maliha Crayne, assassin for Rabishu to advance his malevolent plans. However, after a few hundred years, Maliha has grown weary of the life of a killer and longs to be free. She has one chance… Returned to mortal life, if she can save as many lives as she has taken over the years, before dying, her soul will be free. If not? She is subject to an eternity of the most horrendous of tortured that can be inflicted by Rabishu.

Dark Time is a complex novel bound to grab you by the throat and not let go until the final page is turned. We find passion, danger, intrigue, seemingly impossible quests, even a slight touch of romance between the covers of Dark Time. While Maliha’s story may seem superficial at times, there is depth to her plight that mesmerizes. We also have a complicated subplot that is introduced here and guaranteed to unfold over future books in the series. Rabishu is vicious, cruel, and out for himself, determined to stop Maliha from finishing her personal mission. The world presented here is brilliantly portrayed and Dakota Banks does a masterful job with her descriptive imagery. It’s hard to believe this is her first novel.

Maliha is a fascinating woman who seems to have everything her heart can desire, yet she is lacking one thing, ownership of her soul. After centuries of living free of the restraints of her conscience, she finally realizes she is miserable. Guilt consumes her for the wicked deeds in her past and her only goal now is to make amends for all the destruction she wrought and finally be free. She can come across as selfish at times, but then we are reminded that she really does have a big heart, as evidenced by her relationships to the men and women dedicated to helping her with her quest. Those bonds go deep and I enjoyed seeing these people through Maliha’s eyes.

I could not put Dark Time down and eagerly anticipate book two, Sacrifice, due out in June 2010.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, November 2009. All rights reserved.

TO TAKE HER PRIDE
Anne Brear
ISBN: 978-1908483119 (Paperback)
ASIN: B007I8RSXO (Kindle)
March 8, 2012 (Paperback)
March 6, 2012 (Kindle)
Knox Robinson Publishing / Knox
Historical / Victorian

In 1898 Yorkshire, Miss Aurora Pettigrew was one very fortunate young lady.  Aurora led a comfortable life with loving family, a nice home and generous and loving parents.  The only thing missing from her life was a marriage proposal and once Reid Sinclair returned home, she was hoping that the special friendship they shared would culminate with an offer she dreamed of.  However, Reid’s mother Julia was ruthless in wanting only the best for her eldest son and heir and would do anything to derail their budding romance.  Julia unearthed a family secret that tore Aurora’s world apart.  Not wanting to bring shame upon the family she loved Aurora left behind all her dreams and left on a journey to discover her roots – roots that led her to a world she had never known existed.  It thrust her into a neighborhood with people she would never have mixed with before.  Before the danger she had brought down upon herself came to fruition,  Aurora was saved by the chance meeting of a man from her past that gave her the security through marriage to take her out of the mean streets and into a life more suited for her to raise her, as yet, unborn child.  When tragedy does strike, would Aurora still run from her past or take a chance on a new future with the man she had never stopped loving?

***   All I could think of when reading this marvelously well versed, historically correct, and lovely romance were the likes of another favorite author of mine, the late Catherine Cookson who made it her specialty of writing of the down-trodden inhabitants of her deprived youth in Northeast Great Britain.  Ms. Brear was able to capture this same style and relate it with as much feeling and emotion as the late great Ms. Cookson had.  The other thing Brear did was show the ruthlessness of some of the upper gentry who made life among the common people so hard to bear.   During this reading I would find myself close to tears, or rather clapping with joy for the most menial of achievements each person accomplished.

The characters Brear brought to life were multi-dimensional, and they became real to this readers imagination – real enough that I really cared that they get their just desserts whether it be for good or bad.   Brear’s pacing was outstanding and the pages flew as I just kept telling myself in the wee hours of the morning – just one more chapter – just one more chapter and I’ll get to bed!  

The pages flew and not only with the struggles Aurora had to face, as she came to finally accept the mother that had given her up so that she would be loved and cared for when she knew she could not  provide for her.  But, also to discover that goodness in people was not a class distinction but came in all walks of life, be it the down-trodden or the upper crust of society.  The same held true for Reid, when he discovered his mother’s complicity in interfering in both his life and that of his siblings, and learned a greater truth about his brother and how he played and payed the ultimate price in Reid’s eventual happiness.

Bottom line:  I loved this story.  It was first-rate and something I have come to expect from Anne Brear   aka Anne Whitfield.  Bravo my dear – this was an absolutely stellar effort and I highly recommend this book to be read by all!

Marilyn Rondeau, for www.ck2skwipsandkritiques.com

SWEET TREATS BAKERY: MATTIE’S MELTAWAYS
Mary Manners
ISBN: 9781611161137
January 2012
White Rose Publishing
Contemporary Romance/Inspirational Fiction
Ebook short story

Fans of the other Sweet Treat Bakery stories (Kate’s Kisses, Grace’s Gold and Tessa’s Teacakes) will delight in catching up with Kate, Grace and Tessa and the wonderful men in their life.  Tessa is pregnant and both Kate and Grace already have children to run after.  This fact brings Mattie both joy and longing for her own child.  Tyler lost his wife in childbirth and now he’s falling in love with Mattie, a wonderful woman whose deepest desire strikes overwhelming fear in his heart. Both must struggle with choices and trust that God will remain with them whatever may come.  Tyler’s little girl, Jessie, adds a sweet touch to the story, exposing Tyler’s softer side.  Tyler is a fireman, but I was disappointed that his career didn’t really play a large role in the story at hand.  In fact, there were several very interesting avenues that could have lengthened and expanded the story, but it was still a very satisfying romance.  The beauty of these shorter length stories is that the reader can pick one up during a busy time and finish it without too much guilt over the break.  The sad part is that the final page always comes too quickly and we are left wishing for more time with the characters we have so quickly come to care about.

 

A WISHCRAFT MYSTERY: IT TAKES A WITCH
Heather Blake
ISBN: 9780451235527
January 2012
Signet
Cozy Mystery/Paranormal
Mass Market

This first Wishcraft Mystery is totally adorable.  I certainly WISH it had never ended, and I WISH the second in the series (A Witch Before Dying, August 2012) was already in my hands to begin reading next.   Hmm.  OK, I guess Darcy Werriweather, the engaging heroine of the series is not within earshot.  You see, she has recently discovered that she is a Wishcraft witch.  This means that she is bound by her craft to grant any wish uttered in her hearing when it is phrased correctly (“I wish…”).  Only there is a caveat; the person asking for the wish has to be doing so from a pure motive.  Oh!  And they also can’t be another Wishcraft witch.

This new cozy mystery series has just been added to my “favorites”.  It is an enjoyable blend of mystery, interesting magical (and non-magical… very hard to tell the difference at times, as Darcy and we discover throughout the course of the mystery) characters, an appealing heroine and a whodunit plot that I never unraveled before Darcy.  All the best elements for the start of a very successful series!  But then, Heather Blake is not new to the cozy mystery craft.  She has also published two other successful mystery series (The Lucy Valentine series and the Nina Quinn mystery series) under the name of Heather Webber.

In It Takes a Witch, we meet Darcy and her sister Harper.  They have just discovered they are part of a long line of witches (on their mother’s side) and have come to live with their Aunt Ve in the Enchanted Village, located in Salem, Massachusetts.  All the witches in this village work under the theory of “hiding in plain sight”; they openly market their small town as a tourist attraction with many different kinds of “magical” shops.  Very few who visit, however, realize that many of the townspeople truly ARE magical.  And there are different kinds of witches.  Darcy is a Wishcraft witch, sworn to granting wishes.  There are also Curecraft witches, Numbercraft witches, Bakecraft witches and Crosscraft witches (a cross of two different kinds of witches).  There are also rumors of Vaporcraft witches, a group that was thought to have died out many years ago.   I really look forward to learning more about all the different kinds of witches and spending more time with the many interesting characters in the Enchanted Village.  Sigh.  Too bad I can’t really take a trip there this weekend.  Wouldn’t that be fun?

 

DIRK & STEELE Book 11: WITHIN THE FLAMES
Marjorie M. Liu
ISBN: 9780062020178
November 2011
Avon
Contemporary Paranormal Romantic Suspense
Mass Market

I have not read all the previous books in the Dirk & Steele series, but could fully enjoy this latest release.   Dirk & Steele is the name of an international detective agency made up of various types of paranormal characters.  Similar to Kelley Armstrong’s Women of OtherWorld Series, each of the novels in Dirk & Steele is created as a standalone story, but returning readers will recognize and enjoy the reoccurring characters that make regular appearances.  This latest release features one of these favorite reoccurring minor characters: Eddie, a Dirk & Steele agent who has pyrokinetic abilities that he is still struggling to control.  His previous life as a thief provides the author with all sorts of exciting possibilities regarding the scrapes and adventures that Eddie experiences throughout the series.

In Within the Flames, Eddie finally gets to be the key focus of the plot.  He is tasked with locating and protecting Lyssa Andreanos, the last shapeshifter of her family’s line, who is now being stalked herself.  The thing is, nobody bothered to convince Lyssa that she needed a bodyguard, and Eddie has to utilize all his skill, charm and sheer tenacity  to convince her to trust him.  Did I mention that the sexual sparks (please forgive the pun!) between the two are explosive?  I also really loved that both characters have flaws and internal baggage that they have to face and deal with.  This adds depth and heart-wrenching realism to what might otherwise just be a top notch paranormal adventure/romance.  Granted, we might not have uncontrollable flames that suddenly leap from our bodies, but the feelings underneath the fantastical elements are all too human and recognizable.  I highly recommend this excellent addition to the Dirk & Steele series.

THE CHATTAN CURSE #1: LYON’S BRIDE
Cathy Maxwell
ISBN: 978-0062070227  (Mass Market Paperback)
ASIN: B006569IV0 (Kindle)
April 24, 2012 (Mass Market Paperback)
April 24, 2012 (Kindle)
AVON / Harper Collins
Historical Romance / Fantasy

“When a Chattan male falls in love, strike his heart with fire from above…”    And basically that is the foundation upon which LYON’S BRIDE is written.  Lord Lyon has requested need of a well-known and respected matchmaker to find him a very special wife.  The candidate must have breeding, not necessarily be beautiful, but not ugly, and above all, no one with whom he could possibly ever fall in love with!  A tall order.  However when the matchmaker, beautiful Thea Martin – a duke’s headstrong and consequently disowned daughter turns up – Lyon is almost struck dumb.  A long time ago, Lyon and Thea were inseparable, until he disappeared from her life without a word.

***  The prologue to this story (I love prologues) was perfect in outlining how the plot in LYON’S BRIDE would run.  The angst was of perfect proportions to give the story the proper amount of interest and motivation, while the secondary characters of Lyon’s siblings brought to bear their own problems with Lyon proceeding with his suicidal plan of trying to continue their heritage with a damnable curse hanging over all their heads.

Neal, Lord Lyon was naturally a gorgeous human male, but because of the family curse, should he fall in love with his wife, he would die!  It had been that way for hundreds of years so there was proof that the curse did exist.  Naturally, Thea and most like her found that such a curse seemed to be too much of a woo-woo effect.  To think that Neal had abandoned their friendship for such a reason only made her that much angrier.  But of course in Thea’s now reduced circumstances after having been disowned by her ducal family for marrying below her station, Thea would have to bridle her anger and try her best to find Neal a bride – a post she unconsciously had wished for herself back in the day.

Along with Maxwell’s delicious humor, sparkling dialogs, and scenarios involving the characters she brings forth from her mind, the readers soon meet Thea’s adorable young sons, and some young debutantes who would absolutely love to get their hooks into the extremely reclusive, handsome,  desirous, and wealthy Lord Lyon.  Not at all suitable in Thea’s mind for a post she would much rather take up herself.

Bottom line: It’s not a coincidence, for it happens every time, but I generally have a smile on my face from the very first pages of Ms. Maxwell’s books, from beginning until end, and LYON’S BRIDE will do that for you as well!  Excellent and highly recommended!

Marilyn Rondeau, for www.ck2skwipsandkritiques.com

THREE SOLDIERS #3:   VALIANT SOLDIER, BEAUTIFUL ENEMY
Diane Gaston
ISBN: 978-0373296576 (Mass Market Paperback)
ASIN: B005DB85S0 (Kindle)
August 23, 2011 (Mass Market Paperback)
September 1, 2011 (Kindle)
Harlequin Historical
Historical Romance / Regency

A SCOTTISH LOVE
Karen Ranney
ISBN:  978-0062027788 (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN:  978-1617933288 (Hardback)
ASIN: B0053V714O (Kindle)
December 2011 (Mass Market Paperback)
December 2011 (Hardback)
December 2011 (Kindle)
AVON / Harper Collins / Harper Collins
Historical Romance / Scottish

Years ago, Shona Imrie and neighbor Gordon MacDermond were pretty much inseparable, but through some parental manipulation of realizing how prideful Shona was, she choose instead to marry an older man with the title of Earl. Gordon who had gone off to war, was back – now a lauded hero with a baronetcy and fortune earned through his own efforts; Shona was a widow facing disgrace and poverty after refusing to follow her heart those many years prior.    Her pride would not allow her to ask for help, neither from her brother, returned home a wounded hero; and especially not Gordon who would certainly gloat over her now penniless situation, and never know how much she still loved him body and soul.  Shona’s only option is to sell the family Castle to a wealthy American, but when accidents started to occur in the castle, Shona questioned whether they were of the human or ghost variety!

***   Now I know that there must be a requisite amount of angst in a romance, or danger, or misunderstanding to create a superlative romance.  However, as much as I am a huge fan of author Ranney; the angst that drove the bulk of this story might just have been a bit over the top even for me.

Ranney’s main characters, Shona and Gordon, were well suited to one another – they had after all been lovers before Shona’s stubbornness led her to make a disastrous life-changing decision of marrying an older man – no matter that he was kind to her – instead of fighting for love.  That being said, after a while Shona’s attitude and  pride-driven rudeness towards Gordon got to be ‘old’ and not at all enjoyable, all the while he was trying to be kind and neighborly towards a woman he had not only loved but considered a friend as well as lover.  The lady doth protest way too much!

Bottom line:  While Ms. Ranney’s prose is spot on as usual and she inserts a very nice mystery along with her story, it just didn’t make up for the boring and unenjoyable angst that seemed to overstay it’s welcome in A SCOTTISH LOVE.  This was rather a disappointment for me.

Marilyn Rondeau, for www.ck2skwipsandkritiques.com