What do you think?
Rate this book
Highland #4
Highland Spirits
In the final volume of Amanda Scott’s engrossing Highland series, a Scottish heiress falls in love with a man who seems to have been plucked from her dreams
Penelope MacCrichton watches the tall, broad-shouldered figure walk toward her across the mist-shrouded loch. Is he a phantom, a restless, sensual spirit fated to live only in her secret fantasies? Or is he the seductive, brooding stranger she meets later in London . . . who may not be a stranger at all?
Michael Mingary, Earl of Kintyre, is enchanted by the reserved Highland heiress, even as he’s haunted by unsettling dreams of a ghostly Scottish castle. Desperate to save his family legacy, he strikes a bargain with the Campbells—a clan with whom he has an old score to settle. But when Penelope makes a bold counter-proposal, he’s tempted beyond all measure. Surrendering to passion, Michael and Penelope gamble on a love that holds the promise of the future—a love that could be the fulfillment of all their dreams.
Highland Spirits is the 4th book in the Highland Series, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
396 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 1999
20 people are currently reading
288 people want to read
About the author
Amanda Scott
172 books382 followersAmanda Scott, USA Today Bestselling Author and winner of Romance Writers of America’s RITA/Golden Medallion (LORD ABBERLEY'S NEMESIS) and Romantic Times’ Awards for Best Regency Author and Best Sensual Regency (RAVENWOOD'S LADY), Lifetime Achievement (2007) and Best Scottish Historical (BORDER MOONLIGHT, 2008), began writing on a dare from her husband. She has sold every manuscript she has written.
Amanda is a fourth-generation Californian, who was born and raised in Salinas and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in history from Mills College in Oakland. She did graduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializing in British History, before obtaining her Master’s in History from California State University at San Jose. She now lives with her husband and son in northern California.
As a child, Amanda Scott was a model for O’Connor Moffatt in San Francisco (now Macy’s). She was also a Sputnik child, one of those selected after the satellite went up for one of California’s first programs for gifted children. She remained in that program through high school. After graduate school, she taught for the Salinas City School District for three years before marrying her husband, who was then a captain in the Air Force. They lived in Honolulu for a year, then in Papillion, Nebraska, for seven. Their son was born in Nebraska. They have lived in northern California since 1980.
Scott grew up in a family of lawyers, and is descended from a long line of them. Her father was a three-term District Attorney of Monterey County before his death in 1955 at age 36. Her grandfather was City Attorney of Salinas for 36 years after serving two terms as District Attorney, and two of her ancestors were State Supreme Court Justices (one in Missouri, the other the first Supreme Court Justice for the State of Arkansas). One brother, having carried on the Scott tradition in the Monterey County DA’s office, is now a judge. The other is an electrician in Knoxville, TN, and her sister is a teacher in the Sacramento area.
The women of Amanda Scott’s family have been no less successful than the men. Her mother was a child actress known as Baby Lowell, who performed all over the west coast and in Hollywood movies, and then was a dancer with the San Francisco Opera Ballet until her marriage. Her mother’s sister, Loretta Lowell, was also a child actress. She performed in the Our Gang comedies and in several Loretta Young movies before becoming one of the first women in the US Air Force. Scott's paternal grandmother was active in local and State politics and served as president of the California State PTA, and her maternal grandmother was a teacher (and stage mother) before working for Monterey County. The place of women in Scott’s family has always been a strong one. Though they married strong men, the women have, for generations, been well educated and encouraged to succeed at whatever they chose to do.
Amanda Scott’s first book was OMAHA CITY ARCHITECTURE, a coffee-table photo essay on the historical architecture of Omaha, written for Landmarks, Inc. under her married name as a Junior League project. Others took the photos; she did the research and wrote the text on an old Smith-Corona portable electric. She sold her first novel, THE FUGITIVE HEIRESS - likewise written on the battered Smith-Corona in 1980. Since then, she has sold many more books, but since the second one she has used a word processor and computer. Twenty-five of her novels are set in the English Regency period (1810-1820). Others are set in 15th-century England and 14th- through 18th-century Scotland, and three are contemporary romances. Many of her titles are currently available at bookstores and online.
Amanda is a fourth-generation Californian, who was born and raised in Salinas and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in history from Mills College in Oakland. She did graduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializing in British History, before obtaining her Master’s in History from California State University at San Jose. She now lives with her husband and son in northern California.
As a child, Amanda Scott was a model for O’Connor Moffatt in San Francisco (now Macy’s). She was also a Sputnik child, one of those selected after the satellite went up for one of California’s first programs for gifted children. She remained in that program through high school. After graduate school, she taught for the Salinas City School District for three years before marrying her husband, who was then a captain in the Air Force. They lived in Honolulu for a year, then in Papillion, Nebraska, for seven. Their son was born in Nebraska. They have lived in northern California since 1980.
Scott grew up in a family of lawyers, and is descended from a long line of them. Her father was a three-term District Attorney of Monterey County before his death in 1955 at age 36. Her grandfather was City Attorney of Salinas for 36 years after serving two terms as District Attorney, and two of her ancestors were State Supreme Court Justices (one in Missouri, the other the first Supreme Court Justice for the State of Arkansas). One brother, having carried on the Scott tradition in the Monterey County DA’s office, is now a judge. The other is an electrician in Knoxville, TN, and her sister is a teacher in the Sacramento area.
The women of Amanda Scott’s family have been no less successful than the men. Her mother was a child actress known as Baby Lowell, who performed all over the west coast and in Hollywood movies, and then was a dancer with the San Francisco Opera Ballet until her marriage. Her mother’s sister, Loretta Lowell, was also a child actress. She performed in the Our Gang comedies and in several Loretta Young movies before becoming one of the first women in the US Air Force. Scott's paternal grandmother was active in local and State politics and served as president of the California State PTA, and her maternal grandmother was a teacher (and stage mother) before working for Monterey County. The place of women in Scott’s family has always been a strong one. Though they married strong men, the women have, for generations, been well educated and encouraged to succeed at whatever they chose to do.
Amanda Scott’s first book was OMAHA CITY ARCHITECTURE, a coffee-table photo essay on the historical architecture of Omaha, written for Landmarks, Inc. under her married name as a Junior League project. Others took the photos; she did the research and wrote the text on an old Smith-Corona portable electric. She sold her first novel, THE FUGITIVE HEIRESS - likewise written on the battered Smith-Corona in 1980. Since then, she has sold many more books, but since the second one she has used a word processor and computer. Twenty-five of her novels are set in the English Regency period (1810-1820). Others are set in 15th-century England and 14th- through 18th-century Scotland, and three are contemporary romances. Many of her titles are currently available at bookstores and online.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 8, 2012
This is a book that was written to combine 2 stories. The deer hound blood line and a folk tale/myth. Amanda is very good at giving you visuals and the feeling that you are riding in the carriage along slide the conversation or also eating the meal and discussing a topic. She is the master at allowing you to feel a part of the setting naturally. I felt the book was forced, it never created the romance of the "original tale". It was page 90 something that the main characters danced a dance and spoke probably for 2 minutes. It was then pge 240's they were married to save him from loosing his families land. It was the practical thing to do for such a strong honorable name. It then goes on as if updating you on the growth of a plant till his sister runs off and the main character feels its her responsibility to go get her. It was a nice story but lacked in pazazz big time! Unless a chase kiss is over the top scandalous for you, pass on it. I want to see heart strings pulled and emotions run deep. I dont enjoy tea rooms and fashion descriptions to eat up the pages and add nothing to the story.
Read
April 20, 2010the Author shows a good knowledge of Scotland and England and the mod 18th century, customs, and dress... I Really enjoyed being transported into time.
June 15, 2014
Very good. I liked the part where Roddy was rescued by the deerhound.
March 30, 2015
I really like her series of books. This one has a ghost that helps to unite and save the main character.
November 2, 2020
Found a new author, good book, worth reading.
Want to read
March 18, 2025Spring pile
April 14, 2012
Highland Spirits by Amanda Scott
I didn’t like this story.
The description of the book I am listing below is from the back jacket of the book. I'm adding it because I believe the one on the Goodreads page does not depict this story.
In the stormy wilderness of 18th Century Scotland, a young beauty meets the man of her dreams.
HIGHLAND SPIRITS
He was the darkly handsome man who haunted Pinkie MacCrighton's dreams since childhood, a ghost who wandered the woods with his deerhound near her brother's Highland castle. Over the years Pinkie's imagination had endowed her apparition with many virtues, so that he had become the perfect man against whom she judged all others. But then Pinkie traveled to England for her London Season—and encountered a brooding stranger she felt a compelling attraction to.
Michael Mingary, Earl of Kintyre, was disturbed by the shy Campbell heiress, and bedeviled by his own troubling dreams of a ghostly Scottish castle. But he couldn't afford to be distracted from his family's crushing debt to the Campbells. An arranged marriage between his sister and Pinkie's wealthy brother seemed the only way out, until Pinkie made an outrageous proposal of her own to this man she barely knew—gambling everything on a magnificent dream of love.
I didn’t like this story.
The description of the book I am listing below is from the back jacket of the book. I'm adding it because I believe the one on the Goodreads page does not depict this story.
In the stormy wilderness of 18th Century Scotland, a young beauty meets the man of her dreams.
HIGHLAND SPIRITS
He was the darkly handsome man who haunted Pinkie MacCrighton's dreams since childhood, a ghost who wandered the woods with his deerhound near her brother's Highland castle. Over the years Pinkie's imagination had endowed her apparition with many virtues, so that he had become the perfect man against whom she judged all others. But then Pinkie traveled to England for her London Season—and encountered a brooding stranger she felt a compelling attraction to.
Michael Mingary, Earl of Kintyre, was disturbed by the shy Campbell heiress, and bedeviled by his own troubling dreams of a ghostly Scottish castle. But he couldn't afford to be distracted from his family's crushing debt to the Campbells. An arranged marriage between his sister and Pinkie's wealthy brother seemed the only way out, until Pinkie made an outrageous proposal of her own to this man she barely knew—gambling everything on a magnificent dream of love.
February 25, 2012
Before reading: How can one go wrong with a heroine named Pinkie?
After reading: The story wasn't about the romance between the two main characters as much as it was about everything that's going on in each of their lives. Not very romantic.
After reading: The story wasn't about the romance between the two main characters as much as it was about everything that's going on in each of their lives. Not very romantic.
December 12, 2018
I loved the ghost......and the deer hound more than the characters...so different from other historical romances.,where the hero tries to seduce the heroine in all possible ways and situations.... the hero had control.
June 14, 2011
Amanda Scott knows a lot about scotland, and her books are well writen and often hilarious in the descriptions of events. I definitely recommend her books is you like a good read and love Scotland.
May 8, 2015
I have listen to all 4 stories and liked them all. This is my favorite because of the ghost.
Read
January 25, 2016Not my favorite
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews