THE HIGHLANDER'S PROMISE – Lynsay Sands
The Scottish Highlander Series , Book 6
Avon Books
ISBN: 978-0-06-246899-4
July 2018
Historical Romance

The Highlands of Scotland – the Past

As another anniversary of the battle that took his twin brother and left his own face with a large, ugly scar, Aulay, Laird of the Buchanans, is in the dumps. He travels to his hunting lodge near the ocean in hopes a little fishing will soothe him. Alick, the youngest of his many brothers tags along. As he rows the boat out, they spot something large floating in the water. It's a mast, with a woman bound around with rope securing her. Figuring it's flotsam left from a wreck after last night's storm, they look around and see nothing else . . . except that the woman is still breathing! She opens her eyes and mutters a few sentences about his being an angel sent by God to save her, but also including something about a man wanting to kill her. She soon loses consciousness again. At the lodge they see that her head took some serious battering tied to the mast while floating in the water. Aulay sends Alick back home to get Rory, another of his brothers, this one with extensive training as a healer.

After days of being cared for by Aulay, with the help of Rory and Mavis, an old family servant, the lady awakens with no memory of who she is or where she comes from. Aulay is astonished that she has no reaction to his face as do all the women he knows. Some even scream at first sight of him, his former fiancée for one. It's hard for him when she decides he must be her husband. How else would he be so often alone with her caring for her so intimately? It all makes it extremely hard for him not to take advantage of this beautiful and sweet little woman. He never knows when/if she'll get her memory back and is then revolted by his face.

THE HIGHLANDER'S PROMISE is more than a romance. It's also a mystery waiting to be solved, a tale with both an erotic element and a humorous one, sometimes at the same time. But for me, the characters and their relationships are uppermost. Because so many of the brothers and their loved ones and friends appear in THE HIGHLANDER'S PROMISE, I plan to look up some or all of Ms. Sands's Highlander Brides series even though this can stand alone. You will want to, too, if you haven't been lucky enough to have found them already.

Jane Bowers