St. Martin's Press
Featuring: Major Gabriel Forrester; Fiona Blackstock
384 pages ISBN: 1250095417 EAN: 9781250095411 Kindle: B01CXON354 Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List
HERO IN THE HIGHLANDS is book one in the new No
Ordinary Hero
series from Suzanne Enoch. Set in 1812 Scotland, it
features the usual
seventeenth century tension between English and Scots
peppered with the
spice of a 100 year old curse and some good ole modern
sheep thieving. An
spitfire of a liberated lass butts heads with a stubborn
Englishman, and
Enoch makes the feathers fly!
Major Gabriel Forrester is known as the Beast of
Bussaco for his daring
actions in setting Napoleon's munitions wagons afire
outside Lisbon.
Gabriel is a competent and down-to-earth man with a
sense of fairness. I
like him a lot. Gabriel abruptly find himself as the
Duke of Lattimer after
the death of a distant uncle and is now owner of several
small estates in
England and one very large one in Scotland, Lattimer
Castle. Gabriel hires
himself off to the Highlands to investigate why his
newly-inherited
Scottish estate has been bleeding money for several
years. It's endearing
how he'd like nothing more than to quickly solve the
dilemma of his
Scottish estate and return to war in Spain.
Fiona Blackstock is the acting steward of Lattimer
Castle after her
brother, the real steward, disappeared several years
ago. Fiona has been
struggling to keep the crumbling castle from
disintegrating around her. She
has also been struggling to keep her clan employed and
fed around the
castle, protecting them from a protracted spate of
disasters that all
nearby attribute to the Lattimer curse. The Highlanders
believe that
Lattimer would be ruined as long as it lays in English
hands. Fiona will
appeal to the modern reader who likes their heroines
with some gumption.
Fiona being a Scot allows the historical reader to
accept her independent
spirit and her management of the castle.
Gabriel uses his forthright approach to investigate
the troubles that
have befallen his estate, and quickly discovers Fiona's
noble nature and
trustworthiness. I like how they learn to work together
to solve the
mystery and, of course, fall in love. There's a fairly
obvious villain, but
that doesn't significantly decrease the suspense of the
plot. Fiona has a
heavy brogue that can make for some slogging through her
dense dialogue.
The setting and history are where Enoch shines here, and
make HERO IN THE
HIGHLANDS a thoroughly enjoyable romp through the
Highlands with a stalwart
solder and a pert Scottish miss.
Scotland, 1812: He’s ferocious and rugged to the bone, an
English soldier more at home on the battlefield than in any
Society drawing room. And when Major Gabriel Forrester
learns that he’s inherited the massive Scottish Highlands
title and estate of a distant relation, the last thing he
wants to do is give up the intensity of the battlefield for
the too-soft indulgences of noble life. But Gabriel
Forrester does not shirk his responsibilities, and when he
meets striking, raven-eyed lass Fiona Blackstock, his new
circumstances abruptly become more intriguing.
Like any good Highlander, Fiona despises the English—and the
new Duke of Lattimer is no exception. Firstly, he is far too
attractive for Fiona’s peace of mind. Secondly, his right to
“her” castle is a travesty, since it’s been clan Maxwell
property for ages. As the two enter a heated battle of
wills, an unexpected passion blazes into a love as fierce as
the Highlands themselves. Is Fiona strong enough to resist
her enemy’s advances—or is Gabriel actually her hero in
disguise?
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy