What do you think?
Rate this book
The Cinderella Shepherd Sisters #2
One Forbidden Kiss with the Laird
The Cinderella Shepherd Sisters duet concludes with this forbidden love Regency romance
Can the Laird’s desire
Triumph over duty?
Marrying Sir William’s daughter is the only way Laird Callum can regain his ancestral Highland home and protect the estate’s tenants. But when Callum calls upon his intended, he’s struck by a lightning bolt in the form of Selina, Sir William’s other, illegitimate, unwanted daughter!
After her hopes of forging a relationship with her estranged father are dashed, Selina longs to return to London. Yet she’s thrown into Callum’s magnetic company at every turn. She must forget him—it’s her half-sister he needs—but their desire is not so easily put aside…
From Harlequin Historical: Your romantic escape to the past.
The Cinderella Shepherd Sisters
Book 1: One Waltz with the Viscount
Book 2: One Forbidden Kiss with the Laird
Can the Laird’s desire
Triumph over duty?
Marrying Sir William’s daughter is the only way Laird Callum can regain his ancestral Highland home and protect the estate’s tenants. But when Callum calls upon his intended, he’s struck by a lightning bolt in the form of Selina, Sir William’s other, illegitimate, unwanted daughter!
After her hopes of forging a relationship with her estranged father are dashed, Selina longs to return to London. Yet she’s thrown into Callum’s magnetic company at every turn. She must forget him—it’s her half-sister he needs—but their desire is not so easily put aside…
From Harlequin Historical: Your romantic escape to the past.
The Cinderella Shepherd Sisters
Book 1: One Waltz with the Viscount
Book 2: One Forbidden Kiss with the Laird
- GenresHistorical
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published August 26, 2025
1 person is currently reading
11 people want to read
About the author
Laura Martin
127 books31 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Laura Martin was born and bred on the South Coast of England into a family of two loving parents and a spirited older sister. Books were a feature of her life from early on. One of her earliest memories involves sitting with the family on a rainy Sunday afternoon, listening to the exploits of a clumsy but lovable stuffed bear and his assorted cuddly friends. Laura's first ambition was to be a doctor, and in 2006 she went off to Guy's, King's and St Thomas's Medical School in London to study medicine. It was whilst she was earning her degree that she discovered her love of writing. In between ward rounds and lectures Laura would scribble down ideas to work on later that evening and dream of being an author. In 2012 Laura married her high school sweetheart, and together they settled down in Cambridgeshire. It was around this time that Laura started focussing on the Romance genre, and found what she had always suspected to be true: she was a romantic at heart. Laura now spends her time writing Historical Romances when not working as a doctor. In her spare moments Laura loves to lose herself in a book, and has been known to read from cover to cover in a day when the story is particularly gripping. She also loves to travel with her husband, especially enjoying visiting historical sites and far-flung shores.
Laura Martin was born and bred on the South Coast of England into a family of two loving parents and a spirited older sister. Books were a feature of her life from early on. One of her earliest memories involves sitting with the family on a rainy Sunday afternoon, listening to the exploits of a clumsy but lovable stuffed bear and his assorted cuddly friends. Laura's first ambition was to be a doctor, and in 2006 she went off to Guy's, King's and St Thomas's Medical School in London to study medicine. It was whilst she was earning her degree that she discovered her love of writing. In between ward rounds and lectures Laura would scribble down ideas to work on later that evening and dream of being an author. In 2012 Laura married her high school sweetheart, and together they settled down in Cambridgeshire. It was around this time that Laura started focussing on the Romance genre, and found what she had always suspected to be true: she was a romantic at heart. Laura now spends her time writing Historical Romances when not working as a doctor. In her spare moments Laura loves to lose herself in a book, and has been known to read from cover to cover in a day when the story is particularly gripping. She also loves to travel with her husband, especially enjoying visiting historical sites and far-flung shores.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 6, 2026
This was my first HH title after the news dropped that Harlequin is discontinuing the historical line in 2027, so I had a lot of feelings going in. I actually purchased this one in hard copy because I was pretty sure I was going to have a good time reading it, and I did. One Forbidden Kiss with the Laird was a classic Scottish Regency romance with a darker twist on the story.
Selina Shepherd wanted nothing more than to form a relationship with her father. She and her twin sister were raised by their mother in the south of England, believing their father to be dead. But it turns out their father was very much alive and had abandoned their mother to marry another woman and raise his social status. After her mother’s death, Selina showed up on her father’s doorstep but was met with nothing but cruelty. She has been allowed to live with them and now travels to Scotland, where his legitimate daughter hopes to make a marriage to an impoverished Scottish earl. Selina can never reveal her true identity and faces degradation from her stepmother and half sister at every turn.
Callum, Lord Leven, was forced to sell his ancestral lands and estate to Sir William Kingsley to pay off his father’s debts when he inherited the title at 18. Now he has a chance to get it back by marrying Sir William’s daughter. He’ll get the lands and the money from her dowry to help his people; she will get his title and entry into high society. But when Callum meets the other young woman staying at the estate, he can’t stop thinking about her. He knows his duty is to marry to help his people, but he only wants Selina. And despite what his mother and community say, he can’t bring himself to abandon his quest to restore the lands just for his own happiness.
One Forbidden Kiss with the Laird is a twist on the class-differences trope. Callum is noble, Selina is illegitimate—which would normally be plenty to keep them apart—but then you add in that marriage to Selina’s half sister could restore Callum’s birthright, and you have a recipe for conflict. Selina’s family are terrible people. Her father is cold and cruel to the child he helped create, her stepmother constantly reminds Selina that she is less than simply because of her illegitimacy, and her half sister is truly awful to her, even in front of Callum. What I really enjoyed in this story was watching Selina figure out how to get back to herself after a year of being beaten down by her terrible family. She’d allowed them to chip away at her sense of self for so long that she almost believed she was unworthy, and over the course of this book she has to decide she deserves respect again.
Callum was the classic impoverished lord. I’m always here for a man who doesn’t want to marry for money but has to—it leads to great conflict. I was particularly drawn in by his relationship to his community. This book takes place only 72 years after Culloden devastated the Highlands, causing many people to emigrate and leaving behind economic devastation. Callum clearly feels shame at having sold his estate, and there is a particular flavor of tragedy to that shame in that he sold it to an Englishman.
The one issue I had with the book was Callum’s accent, and the accents of the villagers seemed to go in and out in the dialogue. It ended up being jarring when it crept back in because it was so sparingly included, even on words where he would have clearly had an accent different from Selina’s.
Yet another solid outing from Harlequin Historical and another example of why I am so upset about this line being discontinued. 4 stars.
Selina Shepherd wanted nothing more than to form a relationship with her father. She and her twin sister were raised by their mother in the south of England, believing their father to be dead. But it turns out their father was very much alive and had abandoned their mother to marry another woman and raise his social status. After her mother’s death, Selina showed up on her father’s doorstep but was met with nothing but cruelty. She has been allowed to live with them and now travels to Scotland, where his legitimate daughter hopes to make a marriage to an impoverished Scottish earl. Selina can never reveal her true identity and faces degradation from her stepmother and half sister at every turn.
Callum, Lord Leven, was forced to sell his ancestral lands and estate to Sir William Kingsley to pay off his father’s debts when he inherited the title at 18. Now he has a chance to get it back by marrying Sir William’s daughter. He’ll get the lands and the money from her dowry to help his people; she will get his title and entry into high society. But when Callum meets the other young woman staying at the estate, he can’t stop thinking about her. He knows his duty is to marry to help his people, but he only wants Selina. And despite what his mother and community say, he can’t bring himself to abandon his quest to restore the lands just for his own happiness.
One Forbidden Kiss with the Laird is a twist on the class-differences trope. Callum is noble, Selina is illegitimate—which would normally be plenty to keep them apart—but then you add in that marriage to Selina’s half sister could restore Callum’s birthright, and you have a recipe for conflict. Selina’s family are terrible people. Her father is cold and cruel to the child he helped create, her stepmother constantly reminds Selina that she is less than simply because of her illegitimacy, and her half sister is truly awful to her, even in front of Callum. What I really enjoyed in this story was watching Selina figure out how to get back to herself after a year of being beaten down by her terrible family. She’d allowed them to chip away at her sense of self for so long that she almost believed she was unworthy, and over the course of this book she has to decide she deserves respect again.
Callum was the classic impoverished lord. I’m always here for a man who doesn’t want to marry for money but has to—it leads to great conflict. I was particularly drawn in by his relationship to his community. This book takes place only 72 years after Culloden devastated the Highlands, causing many people to emigrate and leaving behind economic devastation. Callum clearly feels shame at having sold his estate, and there is a particular flavor of tragedy to that shame in that he sold it to an Englishman.
The one issue I had with the book was Callum’s accent, and the accents of the villagers seemed to go in and out in the dialogue. It ended up being jarring when it crept back in because it was so sparingly included, even on words where he would have clearly had an accent different from Selina’s.
Yet another solid outing from Harlequin Historical and another example of why I am so upset about this line being discontinued. 4 stars.
August 17, 2025
I loved this beautifully written novel with a Cinderella theme. Laird Callum needs to marry for money and agrees to marry Sir William's daughter. Once he sets eyes on Selina, who is Sir William's illegitimate daughter, he can't stop thinking about her. As you can guess, things go awry before anyone gets their HEA.
Read
August 1, 2025Historical Fiction, Sagas, Victorian Historical Fiction, Regency Romance
Miniseries
The Cinderella Shepherd Sisters (Book #2)
Miniseries
The Cinderella Shepherd Sisters (Book #2)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews