THE SCOT WHO LOVED ME

Seeking to recover Jacobite gold from the English and return it to Scotland, a tenacious woman knows her best bet is to acquire the assistance of her former lover.

Highlander Will MacDonald is chained up in Marshalsea Prison in England for donning a kilt when a woman negotiates his freedom. He’s stunned to learn that his rescuer is Anne Fletcher, now Mrs. Neville, the woman he loved who abandoned him. She’s since been married and widowed twice. Now she’s the leader of a league sent to England to reclaim treasures. To complicate matters, the gold is currently in the possession of Lady Denton. Will previously served as her private footman for a year. While that provides him with helpful information, it also makes their task more dangerous. As they work on their treasure retrieval plans with the rest of Anne’s all-women league, sparks from their past are reignited and truths are revealed. But with differing plans for the future, they’ll have to figure out if love can continue after the treasure is regained. For a novel whose plot revolves around a heist, the pace is frustratingly slow. The narrative is often beautiful and poetic, but it's overwritten to the extent that it bogs down the story. There is little sense of urgency. The leads have nice chemistry, but their slow-burn romance doesn’t add the tension the story needs. Charming side characters add some appeal, as does the well-crafted historical setting.

Flowery writing tells a disappointingly bland tale.