Flippin' Pages Book Reviews

Series: Studies in Scandal #4
Publication Date: 6/26/18

I have been on pins and needles waiting for this book ever since Cam and Gemma met in the last book. WOW! What fireworks between them – it was an epic battle – he was rude, abrupt and condescending and she was highly insulted and stubborn. Oil and water – they just don’t mix. But you knew that they would and it was so much fun to see them blend together so seamlessly. No, it wasn’t easy, but they did it.

The book is a fun read with fun characters and, I hope, the epilogue left a tiny crack for further books in the series or perhaps a new series with Special Appearances by the characters from this series. I’d love to see Lady Serena get her HEA. Did we maybe see a set-up for that? Perhaps, but we’ll have to wait and see what Ms. Collins decides to do.

In case you don’t know the premise behind the series, I’ll give you the short version. In her will, Lady Celeste Beauchamp chose four young ladies for their intellectual capabilities to spend a year in residence at her house, Beauchamp House. It boasted one of the most impressive libraries in England, a much-envied fossil collection, painting studio, etc. Each young lady was given complete freedom and the tools to continue her education in her chosen field. Each young lady was also bequeathed a letter and a task/puzzle from Lady Celeste. At the end of the year, any young lady who was still unmarried and still living in the house would inherit the entire estate. If all of them married or if all of them remained unmarried, then they would all share the inheritance equally. The first three books saw Ivy (classics scholar), Daphne (mathematician), and Sophia (painter) solve their puzzles and find their HEA. This book deals with Gemma Hastings, a geologist, and sister to Sophia.

What an exciting beginning – Gemma is a bit of an insomniac and she’s gotten up in the wee hours of the morning and crept from her bedchamber to go on a midnight ramble about the house. Outside, she sees what appears to be a lantern bobbing along in the night. Heedless of the consequences, she dashes out to confront whoever is on their private property. As she observes, she sees that it is her brother-in-law – Lord Cameron Lisle. Cam’s brother is married to Gemma’s sister Sophia, but Gemma doesn’t like him even a little bit and is indignant that he’s roaming around on their property. After she calls out to him, and he shushes her, she realizes that there is someone else with another lantern further ahead of Cam. Cam is exasperated that Gemma has alerted the man he was following and who has now disappeared. What was Sir Everard Healy doing on that beach? Now, neither Cam nor Gemma would learn any time soon.

A couple of days later, Sir Everard is found dead at the base of the cliffs below Beauchamp House. He was murdered while trying to steal a geological find of Gemma’s. Gemma didn’t murder him, Cam didn’t murder him – so, who did and are they still skulking around? Gemma’s artifact is missing, so whoever murdered Sir Everard stole the artifact. Cam and Gemma must work together to find the artifact and also solve the murder. Of course, as they work together, they are attracted to each other and that grows – until they are discovered in a compromising position and have to become betrothed.

Somehow, between compromising positions, ‘temporary’ betrothals, unchaperoned road trips, pretending to be married and spending the night together at an inn as man and wife, they manage to solve the murder and find the artifact.

It was a lovely, interesting, well-written read and I’m sorry to see the series end. However, it did have a lovely epilogue with future plans for Beauchamp house and Lady Serena. So, that is what gives me hope that we might get to visit with all of these lovely ladies in a future series or additional books in this series.

I have seen several two and three-star reviews for this book and they all talk about the same issues. I actually agree with much of what they say, but I just thought the book, as a whole, was good enough that it offset those issues for me. The first thing is that there weren’t enough fireworks between Gemma and Cam given the argument from the previous book and Gemma’s continued dislike of Cam. I would have liked to see a few more epic battles before they came to a meeting in the middle. The second was the lack of character development for Gemma and Cam. I thought Cam grew and changed a lot – he actually did most of the changing and adapting to Gemma’s ways rather than the other way around. However, Gemma did grow and she had to learn that she could have love and her choice of vocation IF she chose the right man.

This was a delightful read and I didn’t want to put it down once I’d read the first page. Well, actually, I didn’t put it down — I read it straight through and enjoyed every minute of it.

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“I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”

The Highlander’s Promise by Lynsay Sands
Tracy’s rating: 5 of 5 stars

Series: Highlanders, #6

Release Date: June 26, 2018

Laird Aulay Buchanan’s day is not going as expected. He felt a black mood coming and set out to his hunting lodge for some time alone, but his younger brother Alick has tagged along. Aulay reiterates that he is going fishing – nothing more. Alick is disappointed (he was hoping fishing meant drinking and wenching), but decides to stay for a couple of days anyway. They take a boat out on the ocean and Alick spots something – it looks like a ship mast. They get closer and discover a woman tied to the mast. They cut her free and are shocked that she is alive. She wakes and looks at Aulay, he prepares himself for the inevitable scream of horror when she sees his scarred visage. But she surprises him by asking if he is an angel. He asks if she has family they should notify and she gets upset and babbles about a cat, a white lady and betrotheds who are not her betrothed killing their first wife and now will kill her. Aulay promises to keep her safe and will not alert anyone until she is well. He asks her name, but she has passed out. That is when he sees the blood. They rush back to the lodge and he sends Alick to get Rory and a few of his other brothers.

She is wounded and Rory doesn’t expect her to live, he shaved part of her head to treat the wounds and leaves her in Aulay’s care. He spends the next few weeks nursing her back to health. He has been calling her Jetta, because of her beautiful black hair, but he longs to know who she is, because she is the first woman to look upon him without horror since he got the injury in the same battle that took his twin brother Ewan. She wakes and believes that Aulay is her husband, she has no memory of her past and when she tries to remember, it causes her extreme pain and she passes out. Rory tells Aulay to play along, he doesn’t want her to get upset or be frightened. Aulay agrees, but his attraction to her makes it hard to keep his distance. Especially when Jetta doesn’t understand why her “husband” won’t bed her.

Slowly, Jetta heals, but has not remembered much more than a few trifling bits of her previous life. She and Aulay spend a lot of time together and she tells him how lucky she is to have him for a husband. When he is called back to the castle to investigate the shooting of a maid, Jetta learns more about his past. Aulay longs to return to Jetta, but he owes Katie, the maid justice. His attempts to discover who Jetta really is have turned up nothing and he wonders what will happen if she learns they are not really married. Will she leave him? His uncle points out that his family has descended on the lodge and she will soon be brought to the keep – if she calls him husband and he calls her wife, they will be in fact married. But Aulay doesn’t want to trick her, he will have to tell her the truth.

Jetta and Mavis are at the lodge and are upset over the death of Robbie’s dog when Saidh, Edith, Murine and Jo all converge on the lodge. The ladies wanted to meet Jetta and they all love her – they want her to be married to “her sweet Aulay” and if Saidh has anything to do with it – she will. They take her back to the keep and Aulay is worried that she will inadvertently announce they are married and takes her right up to their room. He leaves her to rest and goes back to his family. They all think he should keep her and the ladies go up to get her dressed. When she finally comes down, she is pushed and tumbles down the stairs. They are unable to find the person who pushed her, so Aulay orders a guard on her. Later over dinner, she remembers more and Aulay’s secret is out. She is upset, but when he very sweetly proposes, she accepts.

They marry and when they slip away to consummate their vows, another attempt is made on her life. Worried for her, he confines her to their chamber. But later sees her sneaking into his brother Niels’ room and propositioning him – Aulay is devastated, he believed her words of love and feels like a fool. But soon he realizes, not all is as it seems but can he save her before the viper in their midst gets to her!

You just can’t go wrong with a Lynsay Sands Highlander novel, they are a perfect blend of humor, action and steamy love scenes. I loved this book and cannot wait for the next installment in the series. Even though this is the sixth book in the series, but it can absolutely be read as a stand alone title with no problems and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an UNCORRECTED eARC that was provided to me by Edelweiss and the publisher*

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