This is going to be a short post today. I am getting ready to attend the Emerald City RWA conference in Seattle. A wonderful get away weekend for my husband and I. A week for him to golf with our son who lives out there and a week for me to catch up on old friendships and do a little business.
The authors I have listed today have been my favorite authors for a long time and are auto-buys for me, even when their books are not set in Scotland or have Scottish heroes. Though they may not be familiar to you they are worth checking out their offerings and have been mainstays in the industry. I hope if you haven’t tried one of their books you will pick one up soon. The books listed for each are only a sample of their backlist but are my favorites. Click on their names for a site that lists their backlist.
AMANDA SCOTT
Amanda has been one of my favorite Scottish/Historical romances from way back when I returned to reading romances in 1994. I had a wonderful backlist of books to choose from whether it was a book set in the Highlands, Lowlands of the Borders, she has created yummy heroes and fiesty heroines.
Though her current trilogy was set in the borders I find my favorite recent books of hers are the stories of the MacLeod sisters of Glenelg, Scotland. What makes this series so great is she starts the story in the Highlands or better yet the Islands of the Macleods and the Lord of the Isles and but over the course of five sisters and their friend Mary Macdonald the story ends in the Lowlands of Scotland as well as the Northeast. The books are set in an around 1370 during the reign of Robert III whose brother, the Duke of Albany had far too strong of control of the throne of Scotland.
The titles include:
LORD OF THE ISLES – Cristina’s story
PRINCE OF DANGER- Isobel’s story
LADY’S CHOICE – Sorcha’s story (my favorite heroine
KNIGHTS TREASUER – Adela’s story
KING FO STORMS- Sidony’s story (my favorite couple)
HIGHLAND PRINCESS Mary MacDonald (though not a Macleod sister, similar period and location).
Her current title
TEMPTED BY THE WARRIOR- completes her current trilogy and is set in the Scottish Borders.
One of Susan’s first books THE RAVEN’S WISH was one of the very first books I was asked to review and I have been a fan of her work ever since. I especially like her nouvella THE SNOW ROSE which appeared in THE STOCKINGFUL OF JOY anthology. Her books are set in many different periods of Scottish history and some are from actual events where others are more mystical. She stepped away from the romance genre and wrote a wonderful fictional account of one of Scotland’s most misunderstood Scottish Queens LADY MACBETH. Though historical evidence no longer survives about this Queen, she like her husband Macbeth has been a victim of malicious character assassination by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare has done to Macbeth and his Queen in MACBETH, as Randall Wallace has done to William Wallace in BRAVEHEART- all bleather little substance. Of all of her recent books I would highly recommend this book because one gets a real sense of what the final years of the last Celtic Kingdom in Scotland were like. She currently has a new book out on Queen Margaret of Scotland- wife of Malcolm Canmore.
Susan is no longer writing romances under the aka Susan King and you can find her new offerings under the aka Sarah Gabriel
JEANETTE BAKER
The last author I would like to recommend wrote a number of Scottish romances but her real talent lies in setting her characters in Ireland, especially the Northern Irelands and the Troubles.
Jeannette Baker packs more book in 100 pages than many authors do in 300 pages. Her stories are well researched and her characters get under your skin that you can't forget them when the last page is turned. The three books that are favorites of mine include LEGACY, set in contemporary Scotland complete with mysterious Celtic traditions where our heroine learns of three of ghostly ancestors and a hero who helps her along the journey, CATRIONA the heroine returns to contemporary Shetland Islands to learn about her heritage and finds out she is a reincarnated soul who has lived through five lifetimes through some of Scotland and England’s most turbulent times. And this next title is from her aka of Jeanette Ramirez- LADY OF LOCHABAR- set to the backdrop of one of Scotland’s worst tragedies the massacre at Glen Coe. For those who want
a compelling story set in Ireland I would highly recommend her Rita winning book NELL – is the story of childhood friends who were torn apart not only by social standing of their parents but also by the hero’s movement toward the Irish Nationalist cause and the heroine’s path that leads to her becoming a lawyer and fitting in with the establishment in Northern Ireland but when their lives are intertwined with Nell a woman from the past who was torn from her lover, will our m
odern couple achieve what Nell could not?
PS: I will be away from the computer next week so if I post other than Fiction Friday the posts will be short and sweet. Have a great week everyone!!
