Mesmerized by a dirt covered drawing she discovers while
researching an historical weapon at the Fogg, graduate
student Haley Fritzpatrick reaches to touch the bloodlike
marking on the woman's neck in the sketch that looks
remarkably like her own scar. Suddenly, there is nothing
but blackness. Coming to, Haley is stunned to find herself
insulted by a well-muscled man dressed in a torn and dirty
plaid intent on rescuing some woman. Was this someone's
idea of a creepy joke?
For his part, Alasdair MacColla was badly outnumbered as he
raided the Campbell stronghold to rescue his sister, Jean.
Hoping stealth and surprise would help him on his mission,
he is shocked to find a Campbell woman dressed in strange
garb in the dank cell with his sister. Sensing she was a
prize worth taking or a spy he can't afford to leave behind
less she betray him, he grabs Haley and attempts an escape.
While initially thinking this was a role playing game gone
a little too extreme, it slowly dawns on Haley that she is
no longer in Boston, but somehow had arrived not only in
the misty land of the Scots but in the middle of the bloody
feuds she had spend so much time studying. Despite being
stunned and disoriented, Haley soon decides who is the
lesser of the two evils and manages to show her feisty
spirit and self-defense training as rough and crude
Campbell men attempt to have their way with her.
While MacColla was not the focus of Haley's research on
historical arms and battles, she had read enough to know
that he was a cruel and bloodthirsty warrior and is leery
of him. As time passes and she gets to know him and his
strong willed family, so different, yet close like her own
much loved parents and her pack of five football mad
brothers, her feelings for him soon deepen. Knowing what
will happen when she hears where he wants to travel, can
she really stand to let this man, so loving and protective
of his clan, go to meet his deadly fate?
Inspired by the story of the real "MacColla", Veronica
Wolff has spun her incredible writing magic to wisk readers
from the happy sounds of Paddy's Pub and pigskin TV in
present day Boston to the bloody and brutal period of the
British Civil Wars during the reign of Charles I in the
1640s. Her work is solidly researched and she realistically
portrays the tensions and concerns during this unsettled
time with its shifting allegiances and stolen lands.
Haley and Alasdair are quite an intriguing and well-matched
pair as they strive to understand each other. Wolff has
done an outstanding job in developing their relationship in
a believable and suspenseful storyline while keeping their
characters true to who they are. MacColla's bravery
deserves the fame history remembers and he is totally
smitten by this bold woman with her funny Gaelic, strange
interest in Scottish history and who knows how to
fire "modern" weapons. Be warned! You'll want to stay up
all night reading this book! It's a keeper, so enjoy!
Thank goodness there will be a sequel coming!
A modern-day woman is wrenched through time by a brutal and
bloody ceremony—only to wind up in the arms of a Highland
warrior fated for a tragic destiny.
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