📚Recommended for those who enjoy a slow burn, believable #romance’. @CathyRy reviews Dark Highland Skies by @lizzie_lamb for Rosie’s #Bookreview Team #RBRT

Today’s team review is from Cathy.

Cathy blogs here https://betweenthelinesbookblog.wordpress.com/

Rosie’s Book Review Team

Cathy has been reading Dark Highland Skies by Lizzie Lamb

Halley Dunbar has returned to Lochaber in the Scottish Highlands from her home and job in Hawaii, after a long absence, to represent her family and organise her great uncle Tam’s funeral, as well taking on the emotional task of sorting out his belongings. She used to stay with Tam every summer when she was a teenager in his bothy by Loch Morar, which was part of Sir Montgomery Strachan’s estate. Tam had been the laird’s batman and he and Sir Monty had shared a special and long standing friendship. Sir Monty had gifted the bothy to Tam despite his wife’s strong objections.

Halley is devastated that she left it too late to see the great uncle she loved, and although they did keep in touch over the years, it wasn’t the same as in person. After her last visit and the resulting trauma, Halley found it impossible to return. Now she wished wholeheartedly she had tried to explain why she felt the need to stay away. There was nothing to keep here in Scotland now and she planned to leave straight after the funeral.

‘Luckily, the moment she set foot on the silver sands, the clouds parted, and the pale light of a gibbous moon showed the way to the old salmon bothy. Straightening, Halley looked across the loch towards the lights on the far shore and despite her earlier resolution, memories crowded in thick and fast. Voices. Laughter. The touch of a hand on her skin. A Judas kiss. Now she could finally admit that putting her uncle’s affairs in order wasn’t the only reason for making this trip.

She had ghosts to lay.’

Halley hoped she could avoid meeting any of the Strachan family but an unexpected encounter with the eldest of the laird’s children, Hector, put paid to that in a very unexpected way. Hector, or Tor as he is known, is trying to come to terms with his experiences and a severe injury in Afghanistan, also the resulting PTSD, by living alone in his converted Airstream. Halley and Tor both have issues to work through, and with questionable activity going on there’s never a dull moment.

Halley’s plans to steer clear of the Strachans took a further knock when she learned how devastated Sir Monty was by Tam’s death and that he wanted to do as much as he could with regard to the funeral. She found herself becoming involved with the family as her old friend Rowan, who had succeeded her father as undertaker, introduced her to Tor’s sister, Lexie. Her friendship with Tor blossomed and she couldn’t help but like Sir Monty. But her life and work were thousands of miles away and she wanted to get back to it.

I always enjoy Lizzie Lamb’s books for the beautiful settings and sense of place, also the wonderful, sometimes quirky, well developed characters and of course the writing. The characters are engaging, with a couple of exceptions, and realistic. I enjoyed the historical details also. Recommended for those who enjoy a slow burn, believable romance, great characters and stories set in Scotland.

Book description

Astrophysicist Halley Dunbar has spent her career peering into the space hoping to find the one-in-a-billion exoplanet outside our solar system capable of sustaining life. Such a find would be the climax of her scientific career and establish her as a force majeure in a male-dominated world. When her great-uncle dies, she travels to Lochaber in Scotland to arrange his funeral, reluctant to leave her research and her million-pound telescope behind in Hawaii. In Scotland, she encounters an assortment of characters who make her realise there’s more to life than searching for something that might not exist. The years are ticking by and Halley (35), starts to question the life she’s chosen. When the laird’s son, Tor Strachan, rocks up, he turns her world upside down and Halley discovers, not the new exoplanet she’s spent her academic life searching for, but the one-in-a-billion man who can make her happy. Forced to question her life choices, Halley wonders if she’ll be able to return to stargazing and leave behind a place and a man she’s come to love. However, Afghan veteran Tor has demons of his own to confront before he can be the man Halley deserves. And, as for Halley, she has secrets of her own; ones she can’t share with anyone, including Tor.

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