Laird of the Black Isle
Quinn returns to the world of the MacGregors of Skye with the story of Mailie MacGregor, who longs for a knight from Sir Thomas Malory’s stories. Instead she gets Lachlan MacKenzie, Laird of the Black Isle, who kidnaps her for a scorned suitor who promises news of his daughter, whom he thought dead in the fire that killed his wife and left him scarred and vengeful. Mailie softens toward her captor when she learns of his tortured past, and speedily domesticates the fearsome warrior by persuading him to adopt two young orphans, thus healing his broken heart with family dinners, picnics, and story time in their cozy castle. A few MacGregors occasionally enliven the scene—including Adam, hero of the next book. The rugged setting of 18th-century Scotland, with its warring clans and Jacobite intrigue is colorful background to the suburban domesticity. Blended families, and scripted love scenes are designed to appeal to modern heartstrings. Mailie’s fearless, loving nature, her spirited initiative in the bedroom, and her romantic modern fairy tale of turning her physically fit dragon-beast-kidnapper into an ideal devoted husband will endear her to Quinn’s fans and Outlander devotees who can’t get enough of all things Scottish.
