The Highland Earl by Amy Jarecki

Tracy’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Lords of the Highlands, #6

Release Date: June 25, 2019

Lady Evelyn Pierrepont is the eldest daughter of the Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull and supporter of the Jacobite cause. She spies on her father and reports her findings to Claude Dubois, a French national who supposedly has contact with Prince James while he is in exile.

John Erskine, the Earl of Mar, Secretary of State for Scotland and member of Queen Anne’s cabinet is still grieving the loss of his beloved wife Margaret. But his father’s crushing debts will push him prematurely out of mourning, he needs a proper wife to mother his young boys and one with a substantial dowry to clear the debt. Though she is 16 years his junior, Mar decides that Lady Evelyn would be the perfect wife for him.

After a bit of a rocky start, they marry and Eve continues her spying, but she begins to question Dubois’ loyalties. When she is set up to be caught, Mar tries to intervene and is labeled a traitor. This sets into motion a wild and unpredictable quest to clear his name and maybe get a second chance at love.

This was a well written book with a lot going on: spying, lies, secrets, betrayal, steamy love scenes, wonderful secondary characters, action, adventure and a surprise cameo from Aiden, Marquis of Tullibardine!! I did like the interaction between Eve and Mar, it was not insta-love and I liked that they took time to get to know each other, I felt the emotions felt; anger, hurt and forgiveness, were very realistic and well done. I also like that Ms. Jarecki uses actual historical figures for her characters and gives the reader in-depth facts about the real person and how she worked the events of their life into her story. Honestly, I did not get the whole “Mr. & Mrs. Smith meets Outlander” feeling – the beginning was sort of like True Lies, but definitely not Mr & Mrs Smith.

This book is the sixth book in the series, but it can definitely be read as a stand-alone title, which I am happy to recommend.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that was provided to me by NetGalley and the Publisher.*