Book review: Highland Storms by Christina Courtenay

Who can you trust? Betrayed by his brother and his childhood love, Brice Kinross needs a fresh start. So he welcomes the opportunity to leave Sweden for the Scottish Highlands to take over the family estate.

But there’s trouble afoot at Rosyth in 1754 and Brice finds himself unwelcome. The estate’s in ruin and money is disappearing. He discovers an ally in Marsaili Buchanan, the beautiful redheaded housekeeper, but can he trust her?

Marsaili is determined to build a good life. She works hard at being a housekeeper and harder still at avoiding men who want to take advantage of her. But she’s irresistibly drawn to the new clan chief, even though he’s made it plain he doesn’t want to be shackled to anyone.

And the young laird has more than romance on his mind. His investigations are stirring up an enemy. Someone who will stop at nothing to get what he wants including Marsaili even if that means destroying Brice’s life forever …

Last week I reviewed the excellent Trade Winds and having enjoyed it so much I went straight on to read the sequel; Highland Storms which was released today. I can safely say that if you enjoyed Trade Winds, you will certainly enjoy its successor. Highland Storms picks up the story of the Kinross family some twenty years after Trade Winds and focuses on Killian and Jess’s first son Brice as he returns to the Scottish Highlands to claim his place as Laird of the family estate, Rosyth.

In Brice, the apple certainly hasn’t fallen too far from the tree and readers will be pleased to find out that Killian’s son is as charming, mischievous and adventurous as his father. I was slightly disappointed that Killian and Jess barely feature in this book but I was soon caught up in the events at Rosyth and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know a new set of characters. Whilst I’d highly recommend Trade Winds to anyone, I don’t think you need to have read it first to enjoy this book – it would make a great standalone read as any background information is filled in as the story progresses.

Christina Courtenay has created another feisty and independent heroine in Marsaili and I love that her leading ladies get to have just as many adventures as the leading men. Courtenay is also adept at creating truly nasty characters to thwart her hero and heroine and I was gripped by the lengths Estate Manger Colin Seton would go to to achieve his goals. For good measure, a second particularly evil character; Captain Sherringham is thrown into the mix and the latter half of the novel is full of drama as the the two men try to cross and double cross each other in their plans for Brice and Marsaili, making this a real page turner.

The historical detail and location descriptions in Highland Storms are excellent and Christina Courtenay really captures the sense of time and place in her novels. Set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Scottish Highlands, I also enjoyed the romance side to the story which is quite a slow burner but fun as Brice and Marsaili try to deny their attraction for each other despite the chemistry between them being obvious!

As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed this novel and I’m already hoping there might be more Kinross adventures from Christina in future. Highly recommended!

5/5

Many thanks to publisher Choc Lit for sending me a copy of Highland Storms for review.

If you’d like a taste of this novel you can read the first two chapters on the Choc Lit website at: http://www.choc-lit.co.uk/html/highland_storms.html

You can find out more about Christina Courtenay and her novels on her website at: http://christinacourtenay.com/