Have been devouring these Romantasy books from KMM. They quite simply DELIVER. Hot men, intelligent women, and passion that makes the storyline race along.
Enjoyed the Scottish castle setting for this volume.
The world-building spans multiple series (battle between good and evil in the world of the Fae) and I'm here for it.
He would defy the boundaries of time for one night in her arms . . .
He was a mighty Scottish warrior who lived in a world bound by ancient laws and timeless magic. But no immortal powers could prepare the laird of Castle Brodie for the lovely accursed lass who stood before him. A terrible trick of fate had sent her 700 years back in time and into his private chamber to tempt him with her beauty—and seduce him with a desire he could never fulfill. For this woman he burned to possess was also the woman he had…
I love a good chilling tale where the reader can never be certain the supernatural is real or just an interpretation of the protagonist's state of mind. And this is exactly what Toon gives us with this tale of hidden secrets and unhealed trauma set in the isolated forests of the Scottish Highlands.
Lauren is too young to remember a mother who disappeared over a decade ago. Her father drinks to forget, and her neighbours know more than they let on. But then two things happen. Lauren and her father pick up a strange woman from the side of the road who disappears the following morning, and a local teenage girl goes missing, and Lauren finds herself in the middle of a village forced to remember the past.
WINNER of the McIlvanney Prize 2020 Shortlisted for Bloody Scotland's Scottish Crime Debut of the Year 2020 Longlisted for the Highland Book Prize 2020
'Hugely atmospheric, exquisitely written and utterly gripping' LUCY FOLEY, author of The Hunting Party 'It's both eerie and thrilling at once, and had me under its spell until the end' SOPHIE MACKINTOSH, author of Blue Ticket and The Water Cure ______________
They are driving home from the search party when they see her. The trees are coarse and tall in the winter light, standing like men.
Lauren and her father Niall live alone in the Highlands,…
As a child growing up in a rural community in the isle of Lewis, there were very few books I read which had any real connection with my local environment. This changed in my late teenage years when I encountered some of the books I mentioned here, together with some works about rural communities and islands in Ireland. I loved the way these books – including poetry, drama, non-fiction, short stories, and novels – opened my eyes and enabled me to see familiar surroundings in new and enlightening ways. The legacy of this still persists within me today.
As someone who spent much of his teenage years in the port of Stornoway, I was also acutely aware of the power and impact of the fishing industry on the community.
Neil M. Gunn’s novel is a celebration of this, telling the story of a young fisherman in a powerfully dramatic and poetic way. It is also a fantastic introduction to the rest of his work.
The Silver Darlings is a tale of lives hard won from a cruel sea and crueller landlords. It tells of strong young men and stronger women whose loves, fears and sorrows are set deep in a landscape of raw beauty and bleak reward. The dawning of the Herring Fisheries brought with it the hope of escape from the brutality of the Highland Clearances, and Neil Gunn's story paints a vivid picture of a community fighting against nature and history and refusing to be crushed.
I’ve been writing poems since an inspirational period of study in Stirling in my twenties, when I did a lot of hill walking in the Scottish Highlands. For me, poetry that doesn’t move you, that doesn’t make you feel, is just words on a page. I love poems that make you shiver as they incongruously bear the full load of life’s mystery. I like all kinds of poetry but have a special place reserved for nature poems, poems that find the heart and soul in the landscape, rivers, and wildlife.
What makes Scottish poet Barbara Lennox so special is her ability to draw on her scientific background, striking an exquisite balance between a mechanistic view of nature and a more mysterious, creative approach. I love poems about birds and flight and her poems about an owl ("ears inhale every sound"), hawk ("she’s light/ ready for the off/ half-poised for flight"), and the extinct Archaeopteryx, "smeared to a layer of limestone" are some of the finest written. On top of that, Lennox writes astonishing poems about the Scottish Highlands, where I’ve spent some of my happiest times.
Poems of Love, Loss, Life and Death The poetry of Barbara Lennox has been inspired by the natural world, history and mythology, scientific ideas and the many facets of the human condition, from love to loss, and from life to death and everything in between. The poems are thoughtful, quirky, questioning and lyrical. A skilful use of metaphor and language throws a fresh light on topics as diverse as a fossil bird, a mythical tree, the inheritance pattern of comb shape in chickens, and the final journey we all have to make.
Growing up in a snowy, rural mountain town of less than 500 people, I became fascinated with humanity's will to survive the elements at an early age because I often had to do so myself. Add in a mysterious force or an escaped killer wandering through the hills outside a secluded cabin, and you've got my favorite thriller subgenre: Trapped and secluded. It wasn't until my third novel, The Excursion, that I realized my longtime dream of writing a survival thriller influenced by dozens of books and movies. Today, I live in a suburb of Denver, Colorado, but the mountains are close. And so are the secluded cabins.
Many of my favorite secluded thriller novels have a high degree of complexity—multiple point-of-view chapters, complex subplots, and morally ambiguous characters. This book had all these elements and a super plus: An immersive and authentic setting in the Scottish Highlands.
I disappeared into the snowbound setting and felt like a part of the group of old friends, caught up in their personal dramas and driven to finish the book to see who did what, when, and why. It was a great escape for me, but not so much for them.
EVERYONE'S INVITED.
EVERYONE'S A SUSPECT.
AND EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT IT.
'Ripping, riveting' A. J. Finn 'Clever, twisty and sleek' Daily Mail 'Unputdownable' John Boyne 'Foley is superb' The Times 'Chilling' Adele Parks 'Terrific, riveting' Dinah Jefferies
In a remote hunting lodge, deep in the Scottish wilderness, old friends gather for New Year.
The beautiful one The golden couple The volatile one The new parents The quiet one The city boy The outsider
There’s nothing I love more than a good thriller, especially one with a locked room setting. I’m fascinated by how people react to psychological pressure, and what it would take for any of us to behave in extreme ways. With The Elevator, I wanted to push that locked room scenario to its limits: two characters, trapped together in a tiny space. This might also be the book that’s been gestating inside me for longest – my mum was trapped in a lift when she was pregnant with me! I hope some of the books on this list appeal to you, and that you enjoy them as much as I did.
This is another chiller thriller, set in a remote hotel in the Scottish Highlands. (Note to self: only holiday in Scotland in the summer!)
The hotel is closed to guests, and Rennie Yorke is working what should be her final shift when a storm blows in and seals off her exit. But she’s not alone for long – an injured man arrives at the door, claiming to be a police officer who was transporting a dangerous prisoner when his car crashed, and the prisoner escaped. Rennie lets him in – but shortly afterward another man arrives, making the same claim.
It’s a brilliant hook, and I was completely immersed in trying to work out who was telling the truth and who was lying.
Remie Yorke has one shift left at the Mackinnon Hotel in the remote Scottish Highlands before she leaves for good. Then Storm Ezra hits.
As temperatures plummet and phone lines go down, an injured man stumbles inside. PC Don Gaines was in a terrible accident on the mountain road. The only other survivor: the prisoner his team was transporting.
When a second stranger arrives, Remie reluctantly lets him in from the blizzard. He, too, is hurt. He claims to be a police officer. His name is also Don Gaines.
I am a retired history teacher with 36 years of teaching experience in high school and college. I am also a passionate world traveler and for over four decades led students on overseas tours. In 2012 (the year I retired from teaching) I released my first novel, Widder’s Landing set in Kentucky in the early 1800s. One of my main characters came from a family of Irish Catholics—and he is featured in Rebels Abroad. Ireland has always fascinated me and in my nine trips to the country, I smelled the peat fires, tasted the whiskey, listened to the music and the lyrical tales told by the tour leaders—and came to love the people.
A Place Called Freedom attracted me instantly because of its multiple settings (Scotland, London, and Virginia) and the theme of ordinary people struggling against adversity.
The novel provides vivid insight into governmental repression of religion and the denial of basic human rights. As a historian, I enjoy reading historical fiction. Follett is a master of his craft, blending human interest stories with accurate history. Through his characters, he shows how people lived and reacted to historical events.
A Place Called Freedom transports the reader into the years prior to the American Revolution, and his vivid geographical descriptions made me feel like “I was there!”
Set in an era of turbulent social changes on both sides of the Atlantic, A Place Called Freedom is a magnificent historical fiction novel from the undisputed master of suspense and drama, Ken Follett.
A Life of Poverty Scotland, 1767. Mack McAsh is a slave by birth, destined for a cruel and harsh life as a miner. But as a man of principles and courage, he has the strength to stand up for what he believes in, only to be labelled as a rebel and enemy of the state.
A Life of Wealth Life feels just as constrained for rebellious…
I am the Agatha-winning author of the Rare Books Cozy Mystery series. My first in the series, below, won the Agatha Award for Best First Mystery Novel. I’ve worked for more than twenty years in museums and symphonies and have the great fortune of being married to a librarian. When not writing, I’m drawing and painting. I live in Maryland with her family. Although I’m not much of a baker, I won’t ever turn down a sweet lokshen kugel.
Gigi Pandian has gone on to write several series I adore, including the Secret Staircase and Accidental Alchemist mysteries, but her first series about history professor Jaya Jones remains my favorite.
A bejeweled and mysterious artifact sends her globe-trotting, and I, for one, enjoyed the ride every step of the way. Jaya is smart and confident, and I would want to hang out with her and her friends any day of the week—especially that roguish possible art thief she encounters.
A Scottish legend that hides a secret. A treasure from India that vanished long ago. An unexpected package that ignites an adventure.
History professor Jaya Jones is reeling from the news of a former flame's untimely death when she receives a mysterious parcel he’d sent from abroad. Inside is a cryptic plea for help, along with a jewel-encrusted artifact hinting at a treasure from India shrouded in a Scottish legend. As she starts to unravel the mystery, the unsettling discovery of her ransacked apartment makes it clear she's not the only one on the trail.
I love everything Scottish. My grandfather was Scottish. I never met him, but mom passed the pride of her heritage and culture to me. Mom used to throw out an occasional phrase or poem that I thought was Gaelic. (I later learned it was Scotts but that’s another story.) I decided I wanted to learn the language and found a short course at a small college on the Isle of Skye and it changed my life. After that short course I committed to learning the language and enrolled in the distance learning program. I travel to Skye for the short courses between my semesters and have made lifelong friends.
This is the first in the Whisky Business Mystery series. I loved this series and was sad to see it end. I swear I know at least two of the characters personally. There is enough romance to make this romance reader happy but there was also a great murder mystery sprinkled—or should I say—splattered with humor. I loved it.
Abigail Logan never expected to inherit a whisky distillery in the Scottish Highlands. But in the first novel of an engaging new series blending fine spirits with chilling mystery, Abi finds that there are secrets lurking in the misty glens that some will go to any lengths to protect...even murder.
When Abi inherits her uncle's quaint and storied single malt distillery, she finds herself immersed in a competitive high-stakes business that elicits deep passions and prejudices. An award-winning photojournalist, Abi has no trouble capturing the perfect shot - but making the perfect shot is another matter. When she starts to…
Historical romance author Emmanuelle lives on the bonny banks of Loch Fyne with her husband and beloved haggis pudding Archie McFloof—connoisseur of bacon treats and squeaky toys. She’ll never tire of dreaming up brooding, kilted heroes.
All sorts of fun tropes are rolled into this fabulously fast-paced ‘runaway bride’ Yuletide novelette, featuring another heroine hiding her identity. Escaping an arranged marriage, it so happens that the very man our girl falls for while in disguise is the groom scheduled to walk her down the aisle. And, Brude the Brutal is a virgin. Happy sigh!
From USA Today bestselling author Glynnis Campbell...A half-Viking shieldmaiden has until Yuletide to choose a bridegroom…or one will be chosen for her.
Half-Viking shieldmaiden Kimbery of Rivenloch has until Yuletide to choose a bridegroom…or one will be chosen for her. But when the barbarian Brude the Brutal travels to claim his betrothed, he finds himself bewitched instead by a runaway bride.
A YULETIDE KISS A Warrior Maids of Rivenloch short story Damsels in shining armor...riding to the rescue! Deirdre, Helena, and Miriel, three kick-arse Scots wenches known as The Warrior Maids of…
