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A Season in the Highlands: Unfinished Business/ Fall From Grace/ Cold Feet/ The Matchmaker/ The Christmas Captive
Love that grows among the heather is enchanted indeed...blessed with the misty magic and timeless passion of fair Scotland!
New York Times bestselling author Jude Deveraux unravels a ghostly murder mystery in an ancient Scottish castle.
National bestselling author Jill Barnett decrees all is fair in love -- when a rollicking Highland clan war leads an impetuous lass to kidnap the wrong man!
Geralyn Dawson puts a rough-hewn Texas cowboy under the spell of a charming herbalist with some curious powers of attraction.
Patricia Cabot leads a beautiful runaway to her kindred spirit -- a Scottish lord who sweeps her away to the rugged shores of the Isle of Skye.
Pam Binder flings a pretty Edinburgh baker and a computer-games designer into an adventure of passion and intrigue -- inside the sixteenth-century palace of Mary, Queen of Scots.
New York Times bestselling author Jude Deveraux unravels a ghostly murder mystery in an ancient Scottish castle.
National bestselling author Jill Barnett decrees all is fair in love -- when a rollicking Highland clan war leads an impetuous lass to kidnap the wrong man!
Geralyn Dawson puts a rough-hewn Texas cowboy under the spell of a charming herbalist with some curious powers of attraction.
Patricia Cabot leads a beautiful runaway to her kindred spirit -- a Scottish lord who sweeps her away to the rugged shores of the Isle of Skye.
Pam Binder flings a pretty Edinburgh baker and a computer-games designer into an adventure of passion and intrigue -- inside the sixteenth-century palace of Mary, Queen of Scots.
533 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 2000
6 people are currently reading
1103 people want to read
About the author
Jude Deveraux
199 books7,066 followersJude Gilliam was born September 20, 1947 in Fairdale, Kentucky. She has a large extended family and is the elder sister of four brothers. She attended Murray State University and received a degree in Art. In 1967, Jude married and took her husband's surname of White, but four years later they divorced. For years, she worked as 5th-grade teacher.
She began writing in 1976, and published her first book, The Enchanted Land (1977) under the name Jude Deveraux. Following the publication of her first novel, she resigned her teaching position. Now, she is the author of 31 New York Times bestsellers.
Jude won readers' hearts with the epic Velvet series, which revolves around the lives of the Montgomery family's irresistible men. Jude's early books are set largely in 15th- and 16th-century England; in them her fierce, impassioned protagonists find themselves in the midst of blood feuds and wars. Her heroines are equally scrappy -- medieval Scarlett O'Haras who often have a low regard for the men who eventually win them over. They're fighters, certainly, but they're also beauties who are preoccupied with survival and family preservation.
Jude has also stepped outside her milieu, with mixed results. Her James River trilogy (River Lady, Lost Lady, and Counterfeit Lady) is set mostly in post-Revolution America; the popular, softer-edged Twin of Fire/Twin of Ice moves to 19th-century Colorado and introduces another hunky-man clan, the Taggerts.
Deveraux manages to evoke a strong and convincing atmosphere for each of her books, but her dialogue and characters are as familiar as a modern-day soap opera's. "Historicals seem to be all I'm capable of," Jude once said in an interview, referring to a now out-of-print attempt at contemporary fiction, 1982's Casa Grande. "I don't want to write family sagas or occult books, and I have no intention of again trying to ruin the contemporary market." Still, Jude did later attempt modern-day romances, such as the lighthearted High Tide (her first murder caper), the contemporary female friendship story The Summerhouse, and the time-traveling Knight in Shining Armor. In fact, with 2002's The Mulberry Tree, Deveraux seems to be getting more comfortable setting stories in the present, which is a good thing, since the fans she won with her historical books are eager to follow her into the future.
Jude married Claude White, who she later divorced in 1993. Around the same time she met Mohammed Montassir with whom she had a son, Sam Alexander Montassir, in 1997. On Oct. 6th, 2005, Sam died at the age of eight in a motorcycle accident.
Jude has lived in several countries and all over the United States. She currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina and has an additional home in the medieval city of Badolato, Italy.
She began writing in 1976, and published her first book, The Enchanted Land (1977) under the name Jude Deveraux. Following the publication of her first novel, she resigned her teaching position. Now, she is the author of 31 New York Times bestsellers.
Jude won readers' hearts with the epic Velvet series, which revolves around the lives of the Montgomery family's irresistible men. Jude's early books are set largely in 15th- and 16th-century England; in them her fierce, impassioned protagonists find themselves in the midst of blood feuds and wars. Her heroines are equally scrappy -- medieval Scarlett O'Haras who often have a low regard for the men who eventually win them over. They're fighters, certainly, but they're also beauties who are preoccupied with survival and family preservation.
Jude has also stepped outside her milieu, with mixed results. Her James River trilogy (River Lady, Lost Lady, and Counterfeit Lady) is set mostly in post-Revolution America; the popular, softer-edged Twin of Fire/Twin of Ice moves to 19th-century Colorado and introduces another hunky-man clan, the Taggerts.
Deveraux manages to evoke a strong and convincing atmosphere for each of her books, but her dialogue and characters are as familiar as a modern-day soap opera's. "Historicals seem to be all I'm capable of," Jude once said in an interview, referring to a now out-of-print attempt at contemporary fiction, 1982's Casa Grande. "I don't want to write family sagas or occult books, and I have no intention of again trying to ruin the contemporary market." Still, Jude did later attempt modern-day romances, such as the lighthearted High Tide (her first murder caper), the contemporary female friendship story The Summerhouse, and the time-traveling Knight in Shining Armor. In fact, with 2002's The Mulberry Tree, Deveraux seems to be getting more comfortable setting stories in the present, which is a good thing, since the fans she won with her historical books are eager to follow her into the future.
Jude married Claude White, who she later divorced in 1993. Around the same time she met Mohammed Montassir with whom she had a son, Sam Alexander Montassir, in 1997. On Oct. 6th, 2005, Sam died at the age of eight in a motorcycle accident.
Jude has lived in several countries and all over the United States. She currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina and has an additional home in the medieval city of Badolato, Italy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
February 10, 2018
I read two of the stories in this anthology:
Unfinished Business - Jude Deveraux: Attorney Tyler Stevens will do anything for her cousin Krissy. When Krissy gets sick, she begs Tyler to take her place as an assistant to her boss on a business trip to Scotland. Tyler drops everything and flies to Scotland to meet up with Joel Kingsley at an ancient Scottish castle where they stumble onto a ghostly murder mystery.
I really had to suspend belief for this story. An attorney drops her caseload to fly to Scotland to work for a guy who doesn't seem to notice that his assistant is a totally different person. It did get a little better when they stumbled upon a ghost in the ruins of the castle. My rating: 2 Stars.
Cold Feet - Geralyn Dawson: Texan Rand Jenkins is escorting a wayward wife to her husband in the Scottish Highlands. They are lost when they stumble across Annie Monro's cottage. Annie offers them hospitality and give them directions to the castle. But when Rand leaves to continue to the castle, a herd of cats follows him. Believing that Annie has put a spell on him, he returns to her cottage to make her remove the spell.
What can I say? That is the plot. People believe Annie is a witch. Rand doesn't actually believe that; but thinks that she put something in his drink that attracts cats. My rating: 1.5 Stars.
Unfinished Business - Jude Deveraux: Attorney Tyler Stevens will do anything for her cousin Krissy. When Krissy gets sick, she begs Tyler to take her place as an assistant to her boss on a business trip to Scotland. Tyler drops everything and flies to Scotland to meet up with Joel Kingsley at an ancient Scottish castle where they stumble onto a ghostly murder mystery.
I really had to suspend belief for this story. An attorney drops her caseload to fly to Scotland to work for a guy who doesn't seem to notice that his assistant is a totally different person. It did get a little better when they stumbled upon a ghost in the ruins of the castle. My rating: 2 Stars.
Cold Feet - Geralyn Dawson: Texan Rand Jenkins is escorting a wayward wife to her husband in the Scottish Highlands. They are lost when they stumble across Annie Monro's cottage. Annie offers them hospitality and give them directions to the castle. But when Rand leaves to continue to the castle, a herd of cats follows him. Believing that Annie has put a spell on him, he returns to her cottage to make her remove the spell.
What can I say? That is the plot. People believe Annie is a witch. Rand doesn't actually believe that; but thinks that she put something in his drink that attracts cats. My rating: 1.5 Stars.
August 22, 2012
The 3 stars is what I think was the overall average rating of the book but each story was different.
Jude Deveraux – Unfinished Business
2 out of 5 stars
I knew I’d get fed up with this story from the first paragraph. Jude Deveraux over-described everything. Seriously, most of the time I was sat there like ‘Just get on with it already!’.
When I read the description about this story I thought that it would be alright. And it would have been.
If it weren’t for the main characters.
Tyler was described as a shy character and then, pretty much the minute she meets Joel, she turns into a tempting temptress. (Can’t believe I just wrote the words ‘tempting temptress’ but that’s the best way to describe it.)
Joel was described as an arrogant man who didn’t care about anyone but himself but the minute he meets Tyler he turns into a big kid.
I would have understood if their personalities changed gradually but this was just like someone had flicked a switch and made them do complete 180’s.
Also, as a quick aside, she calls Edinburgh Castle ‘Holyrood Castle’. It’s Edinburgh Castle – at the top of the Royal Mile – and Holyrood Palace – at the bottom of the Royal Mile. Not much but it bugged me.
Jill Barnett – Fall from Grace
2 out of 5 stars
Grace has to be one of the most annoying heroines ever. Everything she did was over-the-top and dramatic. And it seemed as if the author deliberately made her really bad at combat for comic relief.
It wasn’t. It was cringy.
Colin was okay – not the best hero. Everything just seemed to fall into place for him. It was all just too easy and at times I was thinking that the author could have at least made an effort for him to do something.
Grace’s friend Fiona was a very bad comic-relief character. She was deaf in her right ear, so it was a running ‘joke’ that she misheard everything (example: ‘bring the rope’, she heard ‘bring the soap’). Also, her very bad playing of the bagpipes was overused.
There was an over-usage of the words ‘och’ and ‘mon’. Let me tell you. Scottish people do not say ‘och’. Not as much as Grace did, anyway. And Doric for ‘man’ is not ‘mon’, it’s ‘min’. I kept giggling when the romantic parts came up and Grace would suddenly go ‘Och, Colin.’
Sexy.
Geralyn Dawson – Cold Feet
3 out of 5 stars
I was beginning to despair of this book, so this story was a nice relief. For starters, it’s probably one of the only books where the author actually knows how to write Doric and not overuse anything.
The main characters were really sweet in this book. And the story was cute.
Can’t really think of anything else to say about this story except that I wish the author had told us why Sarah (one of the side characters) didn’t like her husband. The story started with Rand (the hero) escorting her to Scotland and she kept saying stuff about how she wished she could change things. But it never got explained why.
Pat Binder – The Matchmaker
1 out of 5 stars
This has to be one of the most annoying stories I have ever read.
Not so much anything to do with the plot – I actually quite liked the whole time-travelling thing- but everything else (the characters, the dialogue, etc) was very, very bad.
To be fair, though, it was only little things but it ruined the story for me.
Let’s begin, shall we? (This will probably be more of a list than anything)
As far as I know, Scotland has never had a tradition with matchmaker’s – this story kept going on about this.
Not everyone in Scotland has a surname starting with ‘Mac’! Barely anyone does!
Seattle is 8 hours behind Britain – not ahead.
The dialect sounded like a Scottish person reciting a Shakespearean play (I’m on about the 21st century characters – the 16th century characters are excused). Who says ‘’tis’ nowadays?! Also, we do say words like ‘don’t’, ‘can’t’ and ‘no’. We barely ever spread them out to ‘do not’, ‘cannot’ or ‘nay’. Again, who says ‘nay’ in this day and age, unless they’re being sarcastic or acting? The author never once made Kathleen say ‘don’t’, ‘can’t’, ‘no’, etc. We do say ‘no’. It’s quite a common word.
Also, Kathleen told Duncan about her life. While doing so, she mentioned that she went to the University of Edinburgh but then, every single time after that she would say ‘When I was at the University of Edinburgh’, or ‘When I graduated from University of Edinburgh’. She could have just as easily (if no easily-er – not a word, I know) said ‘When I was at university’, or ‘When I graduated from university.
I’m almost finished my rant. I’ll write one more thing, otherwise I’ll be here forever.
She kept referring to the bakery she owned as the ‘bakery shop’. No one calls bakeries ‘bakery shops’!
Okay, okay, I’m done now.
Patricia Cabot – The Christmas Captive
4 out of 5 stars
I didn’t realise that this was the prequel to Lady of Skye until I’d finished and thought ‘Wait a minute. I recognise those names.’ Then I checked and was all ‘Woah’.
Because you needed to know that.
As you all probably guessed, this story was the main reason I bought this book. I’m working my way through Meg Cabot’s works and I had to read this.
I’m glad I did.
The characters in this were so sweet. Except for Alistair MacLean (who, by the way, share’s the same name as my techy teacher at school. Only my teacher was way cooler than the Earl of Sutherland).
Also, as soon as I heard Mairi’s description I instantly thought of Merida from Brave. I saw it last week and loved it! Definitely recommend it.
Anywho, so…yeah. She reminded me of Merida. Which is a good thing.
I’m so useless at writing nice reviews (in case you hadn’t noticed). I’m better at pointing out all the bad things. Which makes me sound like a right bitch.
I would recommend this book as, even though bits of it did annoy me, it does paint a nice picture of Scotland.
Jude Deveraux – Unfinished Business
2 out of 5 stars
I knew I’d get fed up with this story from the first paragraph. Jude Deveraux over-described everything. Seriously, most of the time I was sat there like ‘Just get on with it already!’.
When I read the description about this story I thought that it would be alright. And it would have been.
If it weren’t for the main characters.
Tyler was described as a shy character and then, pretty much the minute she meets Joel, she turns into a tempting temptress. (Can’t believe I just wrote the words ‘tempting temptress’ but that’s the best way to describe it.)
Joel was described as an arrogant man who didn’t care about anyone but himself but the minute he meets Tyler he turns into a big kid.
I would have understood if their personalities changed gradually but this was just like someone had flicked a switch and made them do complete 180’s.
Also, as a quick aside, she calls Edinburgh Castle ‘Holyrood Castle’. It’s Edinburgh Castle – at the top of the Royal Mile – and Holyrood Palace – at the bottom of the Royal Mile. Not much but it bugged me.
Jill Barnett – Fall from Grace
2 out of 5 stars
Grace has to be one of the most annoying heroines ever. Everything she did was over-the-top and dramatic. And it seemed as if the author deliberately made her really bad at combat for comic relief.
It wasn’t. It was cringy.
Colin was okay – not the best hero. Everything just seemed to fall into place for him. It was all just too easy and at times I was thinking that the author could have at least made an effort for him to do something.
Grace’s friend Fiona was a very bad comic-relief character. She was deaf in her right ear, so it was a running ‘joke’ that she misheard everything (example: ‘bring the rope’, she heard ‘bring the soap’). Also, her very bad playing of the bagpipes was overused.
There was an over-usage of the words ‘och’ and ‘mon’. Let me tell you. Scottish people do not say ‘och’. Not as much as Grace did, anyway. And Doric for ‘man’ is not ‘mon’, it’s ‘min’. I kept giggling when the romantic parts came up and Grace would suddenly go ‘Och, Colin.’
Sexy.
Geralyn Dawson – Cold Feet
3 out of 5 stars
I was beginning to despair of this book, so this story was a nice relief. For starters, it’s probably one of the only books where the author actually knows how to write Doric and not overuse anything.
The main characters were really sweet in this book. And the story was cute.
Can’t really think of anything else to say about this story except that I wish the author had told us why Sarah (one of the side characters) didn’t like her husband. The story started with Rand (the hero) escorting her to Scotland and she kept saying stuff about how she wished she could change things. But it never got explained why.
Pat Binder – The Matchmaker
1 out of 5 stars
This has to be one of the most annoying stories I have ever read.
Not so much anything to do with the plot – I actually quite liked the whole time-travelling thing- but everything else (the characters, the dialogue, etc) was very, very bad.
To be fair, though, it was only little things but it ruined the story for me.
Let’s begin, shall we? (This will probably be more of a list than anything)
As far as I know, Scotland has never had a tradition with matchmaker’s – this story kept going on about this.
Not everyone in Scotland has a surname starting with ‘Mac’! Barely anyone does!
Seattle is 8 hours behind Britain – not ahead.
The dialect sounded like a Scottish person reciting a Shakespearean play (I’m on about the 21st century characters – the 16th century characters are excused). Who says ‘’tis’ nowadays?! Also, we do say words like ‘don’t’, ‘can’t’ and ‘no’. We barely ever spread them out to ‘do not’, ‘cannot’ or ‘nay’. Again, who says ‘nay’ in this day and age, unless they’re being sarcastic or acting? The author never once made Kathleen say ‘don’t’, ‘can’t’, ‘no’, etc. We do say ‘no’. It’s quite a common word.
Also, Kathleen told Duncan about her life. While doing so, she mentioned that she went to the University of Edinburgh but then, every single time after that she would say ‘When I was at the University of Edinburgh’, or ‘When I graduated from University of Edinburgh’. She could have just as easily (if no easily-er – not a word, I know) said ‘When I was at university’, or ‘When I graduated from university.
I’m almost finished my rant. I’ll write one more thing, otherwise I’ll be here forever.
She kept referring to the bakery she owned as the ‘bakery shop’. No one calls bakeries ‘bakery shops’!
Okay, okay, I’m done now.
Patricia Cabot – The Christmas Captive
4 out of 5 stars
I didn’t realise that this was the prequel to Lady of Skye until I’d finished and thought ‘Wait a minute. I recognise those names.’ Then I checked and was all ‘Woah’.
Because you needed to know that.
As you all probably guessed, this story was the main reason I bought this book. I’m working my way through Meg Cabot’s works and I had to read this.
I’m glad I did.
The characters in this were so sweet. Except for Alistair MacLean (who, by the way, share’s the same name as my techy teacher at school. Only my teacher was way cooler than the Earl of Sutherland).
Also, as soon as I heard Mairi’s description I instantly thought of Merida from Brave. I saw it last week and loved it! Definitely recommend it.
Anywho, so…yeah. She reminded me of Merida. Which is a good thing.
I’m so useless at writing nice reviews (in case you hadn’t noticed). I’m better at pointing out all the bad things. Which makes me sound like a right bitch.
I would recommend this book as, even though bits of it did annoy me, it does paint a nice picture of Scotland.
January 21, 2022
Confess that I'm a sucker for things Scottish. Enjoyed this collection of stories set in various locations, New York to Scottish Castle in Jude Deveraux's Unfinished Business, or Edinburgh and dual time periods in Scotland (Pam Binder's The Matchmaker) . There were moments of smiles and giggles when picturing all the cats in Geralyn Dawson's Cold Feet, sympathy, & yes, a fairly constant self imposed background of the pipes played properly unlike the one in Jill Barnett's story Fall from Grace. Patricia Cabot's The Christmas Cabot captures both the reality of Kilcairn in 1827 and the many & varied Germanic traditions in celebrating Christmas v Hogmanay.
Read
September 3, 2018Well, the first story was OK. There was some really silly parts in it but there was also one one-liner which really made me chuckle. But most of it was beyond belief.
The second story was just plain silly. The actions of the young woman made me initially think she was a very young teenager, not an older woman acting silly.
The others? With these two filed in the silly category, do I really need to spend more time with this book? A did not finish for me.
The second story was just plain silly. The actions of the young woman made me initially think she was a very young teenager, not an older woman acting silly.
The others? With these two filed in the silly category, do I really need to spend more time with this book? A did not finish for me.
September 29, 2018
Neither short stories nor anthologies are my favorites. The first lacks full development, and the second tends to unevenness. Still, I enjoyed A Willing Murder by Deveraux, so when the library sent me A Season in the Highlands, I read it. Of the five stories, none particularly interested me, and several were simply silly.
October 15, 2011
I have a hard time getting into short stories and for some reason Scottish ones are even harder for me. But I really wanted to read the Bad Luck Bride story that was a part of this collection.
May 7, 2015
Unfinished Business / Jude Deveraux : 4.25 Stars
Fall From Grace / Jill Barnett : 3 Stars
Fall From Grace / Jill Barnett : 3 Stars
September 20, 2018
This was a fun collection of stories. There are five stories in the book and some, of course, are better than others. I picked it up because I have read most of the "Bad Luck Brides" series and one of the stories is only available in this collection. "Cold Feet" by Geralyn Dawson, "Fall From Grace" by Jill Barnett and "The Matchmaker" by Pam Binder were my favorites. I also enjoyed "The Christmas Captive" by Pam Cabot.
May 29, 2018
They were fun reads. Each story had a different style, which was nice to be introduced to other others I hadn’t known. They weren’t page turners and you had to have a strong suspension of disbelief but otherwise they were cute.
July 11, 2025
The book has 5 short stories in it. All about the Irish and the Highlands. I love stories about the Highlands and or the Irish. The stories were all love stories. All very different. All in all I found it to be a enjoyable read.
January 1, 2020
I love this book so much.
July 9, 2021
Fun fluff - a perfect bedtime read!
December 29, 2022
3.5 stars
August 7, 2023
A fun read with multiple storie- time travel, contemporary, historical.
All had people falling in love within minutes to days.
All had people falling in love within minutes to days.
June 14, 2019
The reason I picked up this anthology was because COLD FEET was listed as third in a series of books I’m reading (see list below). Let’s start with …
COLD FEET (Geralyn Dawson). Compared to the first two books in this series, this one didn’t speak to me at all. If you like magic in your stories, you will probably enjoy this.
Rand Jenkins is traveling from Texas to Scotland to deliver an errant wife to her husband. Along the way, he stops to ask directions from Annie Munro (possibly a witch) and suddenly he becomes catnip for all of the local cats/kittens/feral felines.
Can Annie help Rand get the cats off his back? Will she?
UNFINISHED BUSINESS (Jude Deveraux) Attorney Tyler Stevens adores her younger cousin, Krissy. When Krissy is down with the flu, she begs Tyler to take her place in Scotland as her boss’s administrative assistant. The ill Krissy pulls out all the stops to get Tyler to go.
Before long, Tyler and Joel Kingsley are caught up in a murder mystery in an old Scottish castle. This story (once you accept the incongruity of a busy attorney dropping her cases to play secretary to her cousin’s boss) is entertaining and kept me reading.
THE CHRISTMAS CAPTIVE (Patricia Cabot) While out scouting for a Christmas tree, Niall Donnegal and his brother, Euan, come upon a woman hiding and in terrible fear. They take her to their home -- over her protests. Niall and Mairi are very interested in each other but Mairi does not trust him enough to tell of her plight.
A few hours later, Alistair MacLean arrives, demanding his ward and fiancée, Mairi. Niall takes a stand against the pompous Lord Sutherland. This story takes the cake for speed-of-romance; Niall asks Mairi to marry him within 6 hours of meeting her. The whole story is over in less than 12 hours (of its opening).
THE MATCHMAKER (Pam Binder). OK, I don’t understand the charm of Time Travel stories. After finishing this short story, I still don’t understand it as a genre. I don’t think I can review this story adequately.
FALL FROM GRACE (Jill Barnett) vies with UNFINISHED BUSINESS for best story in the book. Grace McNish and the clan she belongs to are tired of starving and losing everything to the McNab Clan. She decides to steal one of the McNab men and hold him for ransom.
This is a time of beggars, thieves, and unhappy clansmen roaming about freely. Grace nabs one and starts on her plan; selling him to the McNabs for ‘his weight in gold.’ But she gets something more than she planned on with her captured man.
Bad Luck Brides
1. The Bad Luck Wedding Dress (1996)
2. The Bad Luck Wedding Cake (1998)
3. Cold Feet (2000) (in A Season in the Highlands)
4. The Bad Luck Wedding Night (2001)
5. Her Bodyguard (2005)
6. Her Scoundrel (2005)
7. Her Outlaw (2007)
COLD FEET (Geralyn Dawson). Compared to the first two books in this series, this one didn’t speak to me at all. If you like magic in your stories, you will probably enjoy this.
Rand Jenkins is traveling from Texas to Scotland to deliver an errant wife to her husband. Along the way, he stops to ask directions from Annie Munro (possibly a witch) and suddenly he becomes catnip for all of the local cats/kittens/feral felines.
Can Annie help Rand get the cats off his back? Will she?
UNFINISHED BUSINESS (Jude Deveraux) Attorney Tyler Stevens adores her younger cousin, Krissy. When Krissy is down with the flu, she begs Tyler to take her place in Scotland as her boss’s administrative assistant. The ill Krissy pulls out all the stops to get Tyler to go.
Before long, Tyler and Joel Kingsley are caught up in a murder mystery in an old Scottish castle. This story (once you accept the incongruity of a busy attorney dropping her cases to play secretary to her cousin’s boss) is entertaining and kept me reading.
THE CHRISTMAS CAPTIVE (Patricia Cabot) While out scouting for a Christmas tree, Niall Donnegal and his brother, Euan, come upon a woman hiding and in terrible fear. They take her to their home -- over her protests. Niall and Mairi are very interested in each other but Mairi does not trust him enough to tell of her plight.
A few hours later, Alistair MacLean arrives, demanding his ward and fiancée, Mairi. Niall takes a stand against the pompous Lord Sutherland. This story takes the cake for speed-of-romance; Niall asks Mairi to marry him within 6 hours of meeting her. The whole story is over in less than 12 hours (of its opening).
THE MATCHMAKER (Pam Binder). OK, I don’t understand the charm of Time Travel stories. After finishing this short story, I still don’t understand it as a genre. I don’t think I can review this story adequately.
FALL FROM GRACE (Jill Barnett) vies with UNFINISHED BUSINESS for best story in the book. Grace McNish and the clan she belongs to are tired of starving and losing everything to the McNab Clan. She decides to steal one of the McNab men and hold him for ransom.
This is a time of beggars, thieves, and unhappy clansmen roaming about freely. Grace nabs one and starts on her plan; selling him to the McNabs for ‘his weight in gold.’ But she gets something more than she planned on with her captured man.
Bad Luck Brides
1. The Bad Luck Wedding Dress (1996)
2. The Bad Luck Wedding Cake (1998)
3. Cold Feet (2000) (in A Season in the Highlands)
4. The Bad Luck Wedding Night (2001)
5. Her Bodyguard (2005)
6. Her Scoundrel (2005)
7. Her Outlaw (2007)
March 27, 2015
This was a fun, fluffy anthology of five romance novellas set in Scotland. With each one between 100 and 130 pages, they were all a bit long to be just short stories. I was expecting all five to be historical romances, but "Unfinished Business" (Jude Deveraux's story, the first in the volume) was actually a contemporary romance and "The Matchmaker" by Pam Binder was a time-travel romance that crisscrossed both contemporary and 16th-century Scotland. The other three were historical romances. I enjoyed all five, but I think "The Matchmaker" was my favorite one (if only because I have a weak spot for time-travel romance after getting hooked on Outlander).
Oh, and the last story in the volume-- "The Christmas Captive" by Patricia Cabot (aka Meg Cabot)--was actually a prequel to Cabot's historical romance novel Lady of Skye. "The Christmas Captive" is the story of Brenna Donnegal's parents. Since I enjoyed Lady of Skye, I found this short prequel a pleasant surprise.
Oh, and the last story in the volume-- "The Christmas Captive" by Patricia Cabot (aka Meg Cabot)--was actually a prequel to Cabot's historical romance novel Lady of Skye. "The Christmas Captive" is the story of Brenna Donnegal's parents. Since I enjoyed Lady of Skye, I found this short prequel a pleasant surprise.
January 17, 2010
This was a surprising book that picked up because I like Jude Deveraux. It is one of the books that have 5 short stories by different authors and most have a theme of some sort. This one is the highlands of Scotland. The first story was Jude Deveraux’s and was well done. I eagerly started on the other stories in the book, because I never had read the authors and the blurbs made them promising. They were all great short stories! In these combination books there are maybe one really good one, two-three decent, and at least one that is hard to read because it is so bad. All of the stories in this one were great and well written! I may have to try some of the other authors to see if they continue this path. I wondered how a 19th century Texas cowboy worked into the Highlands, but she pulled it off. The good thing is that yes there is romance, but has the fade to black scenes which is preferable. This is a great read and I highly recommend it to any that might like to read some Highland romance.
August 30, 2010
Another series with Deveraux and some new authors to get to know. "Fall From Grace" by Jill Barnett was the standout in this book. This story made me laugh out loud! Grace McNish is a fun character who leads a inept band of highland outlaws to fight against the evil McNab tribe. McNabs the sworn enemy who have stolen lives, food and security from Grace's tribe must pay. Grace a spirited girl with a big heart captures Colin who she believes is the enemy she can't resist but is actually an ally sent to protect this crazy gang from themselves.
June 4, 2015
I bought this book for the Jude Deveraux story, and it was everything I expected, although It ended so quickly since I'm used to her full novels. The second story, by Jill Barnett, was pretty good too, I would consider reading some of her other works. The third story I couldn't get into at all...it was by far the worst. The fourth story was okay, but not something I would read had it not been included.
June 3, 2016
I learned a few things about my literary tastes from this book. 1) I prefer stories set in present day and 2) stories set in Scotland are not of much interest to me. Oh well, I gave it a try. I enjoyed Jude Deveraux and Patricia Cabot's stories from this book. The other 3 stories were just OK to me.
currently-reading-anthcoll
October 3, 2017re-read "Home for the Holidays" 2/20/2001
February 8, 2009
I loved Jude Deveraux's and Geralyn Dawson's stories best. Very nice collection of Highland stores.
March 29, 2009
All great stories, some made me laugh out loud.
July 29, 2009
Each story in this book was very good. I loved reading this book.
August 26, 2009
I read these books mostly in highschool but they were fun with spunky heroines and handsome rogues.
September 25, 2009
Stories
October 4, 2010
Bored so bored. It took me days to read this short story and I almost quit on the last 30 pages and I think it is only 100 to begin with. I only read the Patricia Cabot story.
February 28, 2011
Jude Deveraux - * * * *
Jill Barnett - * * * * * I loved this one!
Geralyn Dawson - * * *
Patricia Cabot - * * * *
Pam Binder - * * * and 1/2*
Jill Barnett - * * * * * I loved this one!
Geralyn Dawson - * * *
Patricia Cabot - * * * *
Pam Binder - * * * and 1/2*
April 16, 2011
This was a fun read. Oh, I do love Scotish tales.
July 27, 2011
This book is 5 short stories that I really enjoyed. They're spicy and romantic and just all around entertaining. A very good quick read.
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