Laura Strickland

One to lead them, one to heal them…

Mists swirl around the MacBeith’s lands in Glen Bronach. Land they’d held for generations, raided and harried by the MacLeods who claimed the other end of the Glen across the river.
Over the years the groups had reived and harassed each other, but not escalating much beyond that. When both old chiefs died, Rory MacLeod decided to bring to fruition his plans of conquering the MacBeith’s, claiming their holdings.
Rory’s plans hit a roadblock when his best friend Farlan became MacBeith’s Chief, Moria’ MacBeith’s lieman. Despite being banished from his clan, and the fierce opposition and continuing denigration from her people, Farlan stayed by Moira’s side. Now it seems Rory’s other boyhood friend Leith has been wounded and captured. That Rory cannot allow.
Severely wounded, Leith opens his eyes in the aftermath of the battlefield and beholds an angel. Not an angel but the one of the MacBeith’s healers and sister to their chief, Rhian.
What starts out as caring for the wounded escalates into something rich and strong. Under dire circumstances the two find solace and magic in each others arms.
When Leith is taken back to his people, each feels the desolation. Theirs has been a magical and mystical union, founded in the reality of their love and desire.
What happens, what leads them to this place is a fascinating tale with an otherworldly overarching flavor.
Quite a story!

A Dragonblade ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.… (more)

Bess Mowatt has been raising her cousin’s son, Dexter, for the past ten years since she promised to keep the child safe from his father. She’s a warrior in her own right, having trained long hard in order to protect Dexter and the other boys in her charge. Then her dying uncle deeds the keep where she lives to a sworn enemy—Dexter’s father.
Aleck Maxwell has been searching for his long lost son for years while raiding enemy properties and maintaining his infamous reputation as a ruthless reiver. After he inherits the keep, he meets a woman who stirs a passion in him he’s never felt before, and a strong-willed lad he wishes he could call his own.
What an amazing book! I connected with Aleck and Bess right away. They’re strong, stubborn, intelligent characters, and they had great chemistry despite being so often at odds. The sexual tension between them sizzled.
I enjoyed the secondary characters, especially Dexter. He was the most adorable and determined boy, one any parent could be proud of. Bess’s friends, Callum and Anne, were a joy, and their relationship was an interesting subplot. Aleck’s right-hand man, Anald, was a hoot.
Ms. Strickland crafted a wonderful, well-plotted story, and her use of Scottish words and phrases kept the story grounded in the past. This is a terrific Scottish romance. I would love to read more of her books.
5 Stars
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This is a very short second chance romance story that takes place at Christmas time. I thought perhaps it was part of a series, but I don't think so. We are introduced to the two main characters and are informed quickly about their past relationship. They end up stuck in a cottage during a snowstorm and admit that they still have feelings for one another. Of course you know what happens next. Becca's grandfather, who is dying gives her some advice to ponder as an older relative often does and we have a happy ending. A bit too short and sweet for me.… (more)

Clara has a gift - she can raise the dead. It’s not a talent she uses often - but when she needs a husband to keep her home and protect the children she keeps safe she can think of no other way to get a man quickly

Though he turns out to be far less pliable than she imagined.

Steampunk! Sign me up

Steampunk with magic! Sign me up twice! I do so love a paranormal steampunk.

This is a moderately low-key steampunk and magical setting though. The central premise is that Clara does have the power to raise the dead. And I can see you looking at me now and questioning how “low key magic” and “resurrection and necromancy” can actually co-exist - but this, so far, seems to be the sum total of the magic of this book. Clara doesn’t have an army of zombies in the basement, but she can raise the recently dead so long as they’re not too beat up. And she uses this ability, for the first time, on Liam - because she needs a man. But after that she doesn’t use it much nor does she have other magic to fall back on to help her in her hour of need. The battle instead rests far more on the limited resources they have at their disposal with a lot of that limited by the prejudices and injustices of the world and time they live in

Clara has turned her house into a haven for the dispossessed. Most of them are children- abused by parents or employers, poor, injured and disabled from industrial accidents and generally desperate in a time when there’s no support and no care for the weakest and most vulnerable in society - including child labourers and the extremely lethal factories that were so common in the Industrial revolution. We also have Georgina, a Black woman and a former slave who has also joined the household - who is clever, honest, tough and deeply valued by Clara. She also has a whole side storyline of her romance with Clara’s lawyer and the whole scandal of that atr the time

Liam himself is Irish and is considered both inherently criminal and utterly disposable by many of the wealthy and powerful characters in this book.

The central conflict of the book - trying to fulfil the legal requirements to keep the house feels a little… odd. I mean the terms her grandfather set is that she has to be married by the age of 21 or she is evicted. Granddad clearly wants this and will maliciously pursue kicking her out… but… why? I mean, why set the condition in the first place? Why even stick to these conditions? I want to see these legal papers that the grandfather has signed that legally compel him to give a house AND annual income to his granddaughter which he doesn’t have the power to just tear up and declare “nah”. And if he was so against his daughter’s husband and his granddaughter, why even give them anything at all? If it’s social status and a fear of being seen kicking his family out onto the street, why doesn’t he fear this still? I mean, in these sexist times, a wealthy patriarchy kicking his unmarried 21 year old granddaughter into the street doesn’t exactly look good either.

Still running with it isn’t hard and it’s still fun if you don’t dwell on that which isn’t hard as it isn’t overly that central. The internal logic of the McGuffin doesn’t matter so much as the journey

An element I just can’t get past is the examination of Clara’s morality. It’s very good that we have this moral hand wringing from Clara about whether she is a terrible person in how she decided to use Liam for her own well being. Treating him as a blank slate because she needed him to keep her home rather than viewing him as a person or considering whether he has any kind of history at all. I mean this is all extremely good debate and we see Clara repeatedly make some really difficult decisions as she considers the easiest path that would save them all but be morally reprehensible. There’s one thing she doesn’t consider

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