Title: The Highland Duke
Author: Amy Jarecki
Series: Lords of the Highland #1
Publication date: March 28th, 2017
Pages: 384
Synopsis (according to Goodreads):
RT Reviewers' Choice Award winner
She'll put her life on the line for him...
When Akira Ayres finds the brawny Scot with a musket ball in his thigh, the healer has no qualms about doing whatever it takes to save his life. Even if it means fleeing with him across the Highlands to tend to his wounds while English redcoats are closing in. Though Akira is as fierce and brave as any of her clansmen, even she's intimidated by the fearsome, brutally handsome Highlander who refuses to reveal his name.
Yet she can never learn his true identity.
Geordie knows if Akira ever discovers he's the Duke of Gordon, both her life and his will be forfeit in a heartbeat. The only way to keep the lass safe is to ensure she's by his side day and night. But the longer he's with her, the harder it becomes to think of letting her go. Despite all their differences, despite the danger--he will face death itself to make her his...
Available at:
Review:
Men in kilts have quickly become an unusual fascination of mine. Maybe it's the fact I used to date a guy from Scotland and know exactly how swoonworthy that accent can be, or it could be just the rugged manly time that makes a girl swoon. Either way, I have really enjoyed my dip into historical fiction, especially when it comes to SCOTTISH historical fiction. When I stumbled across one of Amy Jarecki's novels on NetGalley I was curious to see how much history was added to the romance to make the stories so delectible by so many readers. My journey within Ms. Jarecki's pages had begun.
Akira has known struggles. She has known what it was like to question the source of her next meal and the struggle to survive with the gypsy stigma attached to her name. The only way to eck out an existance in her world is as a healer to the fallen soldiers and Highlanders. It was there that she met Geordie. He was wounded from a musketball to the leg and the odds of him surviving were dwendling before Akira's eyes. She was determined not to lose him and so she set about ensuring his health and well-being on his voyage home. She had no idea who he was and only assumed that he was a Jackobite who found himself in the line of fire at the wrong time. Little did she know that the man hiding his identity was the Duke of Gordon. Facing a bloodhound of a soldier following their every move, the elements, and the wildlife were nothing compared to the mounting desire she found with every adventure her and Geordie faced. An attraction bloomed that Akira struggled to dampen as she and her patient became closer and closer.
Geordie aka the Duke of Gordon knew it was wrong to have secrets from the healer who had tended his wounds, risked her life for his, and kept him warm when the fever chills set in, but for her safety he had to keep his lips sealed. If ever the soldiers who tracked them caught her, he wanted her to not have a true name to attach to the man she helped. The last thing he wanted was the spunky lass with the dark locks to be hung for providing assistance to a Jackobite traitor. Eventually the option of silence disappated and all that was left was the growing admiration and warmth for the gypsy rose. But how can a man of his station even think about being with a woman of her status without making both their lives harder? Can love be enough to overcome one's station?
This book was the best balance of romance, history, and action. Between the historical references to the Jackobite uprising in Scotland to the blossoming love between a Duke and a commoner the pages would not stop turning for me. I devoured the book in only a few days time. Akira was the perfect mix of innocent chastity and smoldering temptress (without even trying to be). I loved her even more than I loved the male lead. While Geordie was dreamy, he kept sticking his foot in his mouth which made my fingers itch to smack him upside the head. His missteps with Akira would have cost him if she wasn't so devoted and loyal a woman. The two complimented themselves immensely.
The Highlander Duke will curl your toes and make you ponder the wonders of history while drooling for an unusually beguiling romance between two star-crossed lovers.
