#Review: Dark Highland Skies by Lizzie Lamb @lizzie_lamb #newrelease #ScottishHighlands #romance #RespectRomFic #DarkHighlandSkies

I’m delighted today to share my review of Dark Highland Skies, the latest Scottish romance by Lizzie Lamb, independently published on 3rd February, and now available for kindle (free via Kindle Unlimited) and in paperback. Lizzie was my guest earlier this month telling me more about the inspiration for her writing – you’ll find that post again here – but I was frustrated not to be able to read the book rather sooner. And I just knew it would be well worth waiting for…

Astrophysicist Halley Dunbar has spent her career searching for the one-in-a-billion exoplanet outside our solar system capable of sustaining life. Required to travel to Lochaber, Scotland to arrange her great-uncle’s funeral, she leaves the world she knows behind and encounters people who make her realise there’s more to life than searching for something that might not exist.

 

Laird’s son, Tor Strachan rocks up, and she discovers the one man capable of making her happy. However, there are obstacles in the way, and it becomes clear that Afghan veteran Tor must confront his demons before he can be the man Halley deserves. As for Halley, she has secrets of her own; ones she can’t share with anyone – not even Tor.

 

A good man is hard to find.

After a long absence, Halley is back at Lochaber in the Highlands, sad and feeling guilty that she didn’t spend more time with her great-uncle Tam when he was alive – she’s now there for his funeral, representing the family, and clearing out his home in the salmon bothy on the shores of Loch Morar. She really just wants it over and done with, so she can return to Hawaii and her career as an astrophysicist – her memories of Scotland were badly tainted by a traumatic incident before her departure. And she particularly hopes to avoid the laird and his family at Creag na h-lolaire (Eagle’s Crag) – only to find that Sir Monty is stricken with grief at the death of his friend and former batman, and is determined to take on the organisation (and cost) of a fitting funeral. The full extent of their relationship becomes evident, and Halley allows him to take precedence – but it brings her into far closer contact with the family than she’d hoped for.

There is one member of the family, their oldest son Hector (Tor) that she grows not to mind at all having closer contact with – after a rather inauspicious start when they encounter each other in the dark, and she batters him with a tree branch. His support becomes important to her – along with that of his scatty sister Lexie (and her husband who makes sporrans from roadkill – who knew!) and her renewed friendship with Rowan, now Mallaig’s undertaker. But there are other members of the family whose closeness is less welcome – Lady Strachan really doesn’t want anything to do with her, and the more distance she can keep between herself and the threatening presence of their other son Lysander the better.

I must say, I rather fell for Tor – not only because he looked like my kind of guy, but because of his infinite patience and gentleness too. The story is told from the perspectives of both Halley and Tor, which works particularly well to build sympathy for them both – and we find out more about the darkness in his past, the severe injuries he suffered in Afghanistan, and his continuing struggles with PTSD. Theirs is a love story, a slow burn one that I entirely believed in, and that really engaged me at an emotional level.

As well as the romance, the other element of this well written story that was superbly done was its Scottish and historical content. The setting is quite wonderfully drawn – the castle particularly vividly described, but also the wild countryside and dark skies that surround it – and some of the historical detail (the staircase – how fascinating!) was excellent too. And that converted airstream caravan where Tor lives – as an AirBnB aficionado, I knew exactly what it was based on with its dragonfly windows, and its inclusion only made me even keener to try for a booking (any chance of a visit from an attractive man in a kilt while I’m there, do you think?).

This was a romance that had everything I enjoy – and, in case I haven’t mentioned it, beautifully written too, with a totally perfect ending. Highly recommended by me!

About the author

Hi, I’m Lizzie and I like writing about the ‘moment’ when the hero and the heroine fall in love. That, and trying to track down the all-elusive hero-in-a-kilt, is what gets me in front of the computer each morning. Since 2012 I’ve published six novels: Tall, Dark and Kilted, Boot Camp Bride, Scotch on the Rocks, Girl in the Castle, Take Me, I’m Yours and Harper’s Highland Fling. My latest novel, Dark Highland Skies was published in February 2023 and I’ve loved writing it. I organise the Leicester Chapter of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and present workshops on indie publishing to new writers. My feel good/uplit novels would be very happy to sit alongside Jilly Cooper, Jenny Colgan, Jill Mansell and Carole Matthews on your bookshelf.

I love writing because it’s given me the chance to celebrate everything I love about my homeland – Scotland, and to share those feelings with my readers. When I’m not writing, I spend summer with my husband touring Scotland in our caravan researching my next novel and avoiding the midges.

Slainte Mhath.

Facebook  | Twitter | Website |  Pinterest | Email | Linked in | Goodreads | Newsletter