Today’s team review is from Sandra.
Sandra blogs here https://www.firthproof.co.uk/index.php/book-reviews
Sandra has been reading Dark Highland Skies by Lizzie Lamb.
Having enjoyed a few of Lizzie Lamb’s novels before, I was looking forward to reading Dark Highland Skies and was not disappointed. Halley Dunbar has come back to Scotland to arrange the funeral of her great-uncle Tam whom she had not seen for twenty years. She plans to clear out Tam’s bothy, and go back home to Hawaii straight after the funeral, but life is never that simple. She had not reckoned on the various members of the Strachan family she would have to deal with, and once again falling under the spell of this beautiful part of the world.
Lizzie Lamb obviously loves the highlands of Scotland as she visits every year to research her books, and this shows in the vivid descriptions of the Silver Sands of Morar. I spent many holidays there and can vouch that she does it justice. If you remember the 1983 film Local Hero, some of the beach scenes were filmed there. After reading Dark Highland Skies, I’m sure many readers will be keen to visit and see the silver sands and dark skies for themselves.
Tor Strachan is portrayed in a believable and sympathetic light, as an ex-Major in the army coming to terms with a life-changing injury and the ongoing effects of PTSD. Halley Dunbar is a highly intelligent woman with a promising career ahead of her, but needs to come to terms with what happened to her all those years ago before it colours the rest of her life. They are supported by a wonderfully drawn cast of characters who range from the quirky  to the downright nasty. The story is told from both Halley and Tor’s points of view so we get a more rounded picture. They both have issues to work through before there is room in their lives for a relationship, but they have a strong connection so hopefully it will all work out. I really enjoyed my trip back to Morar in Dark Highland Skies, and look forward to Lizzie Lamb’s next Highland adventure.
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.
Rosie Amber 