It is alway a refreshing change to read a story where both the hero and heroine are sweet, kind, caring people. Ollie was injured and scarred in the battle that killed his twin brother. Ever since then he has kept away from women, who all seemed disgusted by his face. He just wants a little R&R and to go fishing with his younger brother when they come upon a half-submerged ship’s mast with a woman tied to it. She is semi-conscious when they rescue her but she quickly passes out due to severe head trauma (my favorite common theme of this author) but not before getting a good gander at Ollie and calling him her “angel.”
Unfortunately upon awakening Jetta (assumed name) has no memory of herself or those around her but finds Ollie next to her and scantily clad leading her to assume he is her husband. Ollie likes the sound of that too much and thus begins a comedy of errors of sorts.
Ollie and Jetta are very attracted to each other, their honor, sweetness, and personalities as well as their exteriors. While Jetta is in recovery, the fake marriage allows for liberties that Ollie tries to fight honorably against. They both make erroneous assumptions about the others thoughts and feelings all the while there is an ominous presence causing problems and multiple additional head wounds (some day I am going to survey Lyndsay Sand’s historical head injuries).
As the investigation of this evil presence continues and Jetta continues to heal, many couples from the previous Highlander books appear and cause some laugh-out-loud moments.
This book was fairly predictable but in a cozy and comfortable way. It’s easy to know what to expect from a Lyndsay Sands novel: sweetheart MCs, some evil entity that is eventually outed, and many many many head injuries almost to the point of wondering how everyone in her books isn’t permanently concussed. In this case, the story that the evil entity tells is soooooo terrible that I almost sided with the evil entity… like yeah, I guess it makes sense you did all this evil stuff after what you’ve been though. But I won’t share more to avoid spoilers.
Finally I have to address the Joel Froomkin in the room. He did an AMAZING job!!! I love a real Scottish accent and Joel delivers! His accent reminded me at moments of Sean Connery so there is NOTHING wrong with that. He also did such a great job with the female voices (both Scottish and English) that I almost wondered if they brought in a separate female narrator. I was impressed by the emotion he brought to the book as well, especially Ollie’s character. My only complaint here is that the word “grimace” was pronounced in a way that I am not used to and made the author’s overuse of that word VERY apparent. Otherwise it was a fabulous narration!.
This is a nice, non-angsty Highlander read that I think will satisfy anyone but especially Lyndsay Sands fans. The heat and love between the MCs was palpable and the mystery element was worked well in to the story.