Highland Storms

Christina here. Tomorrow (on 6^th February) the second book in my Kinross trilogy, HIGHLAND STORMS, will be republished with a lovely new cover – what do you think? I really like the colours and the beautiful castle on the other side of the loch. It captures the setting for my story perfectly!

When I wrote the first book in the series, TRADE WINDS, I hadn’t originally intended it to have any sequels. However, as we might have mentioned before, it’s sometimes very difficult for an author to let go of the characters once you’ve finished a story. The temptation to continue with a secondary character, another family member or the next generation is really hard to resist, and that proved to be the case for me.

I love books set in Scotland and anything to do with the Jacobite rebellion, so when I realised that Killian and Jess’s (the hero/heroine of TRADE WINDS) older son would become an adult only eight years after the battle of Culloden, I knew I just had to write about him going back to his Scottish father’s home country. Highlanders were very badly treated after their defeat and this created the perfect scenario for a hero to come to the rescue – enter Brice Kinross. He comes to take over his father’s estate and help the inhabitants, but to begin with he’s greeted with mistrust and as an outsider and potential enemy, even though he’s actually a good guy. He has to work hard to gain everyone’s trust and prove himself worthy of being their laird.

I know all the Wenches love Scotland and with good reason – is there anything more romantic than the Scottish Highlands? In a post some years ago I enthused about this romantic setting (see here), and I visit as often as I can. I love the scenery, the lochs, the castles and even the weather! There’s definitely something special about this place that is quite irresistible.

I’ve also loved romance novels with “men in kilts” since I first discovered there was such a thing, so I was very excited to have a Scottish main male character. There was only one drawback – I found out that my hero couldn’t wear a kilt because the victorious English had banned them! My story is set in 1754 and the New Disarming Act of 12^th August 1746 banned any type of Highland dress as well as possessing weapons. So no tartans/plaids of any kind – devastating! And it must have been so difficult for people who had always relied on these garments to keep them warm. They are eminently practical after all as they are made of thick wool. Still, the Highlanders had to adapt as they had no choice.

As with the first book in the series, I had to do a lot of research to get my facts right. One of my favourite things to do is to visit reconstructed historical buildings and fortunately for me, there was a Highland Folk Museum at Newtonmore. They have old Highland dwellings and you can go inside to see what it was like to sit by a peat fire (really made my hair smell afterwards!). They also had a shieling hut – used during summer pasture up on the hills – which came in very handy for my story.

Like most authors, I always hope to create an irresistible hero and I thought I’d done that with Brice. He’s half Scottish, big, blond and gorgeous, and with a great sense of humour, plus he’s kind and treats everyone with fairness. However, there was another character in the story who gave him some competition when it came to grabbing readers’ attention – a dog! I love dogs and often include them in my novels, but obviously they are not intended to be one of the main characters. Liath, the deerhound belonging to the heroine Marsaili, was important to the plot, but he was supposed to stay in the background. He had other ideas and ended up with more of a starring role. When you’re writing, sometimes these things happen without you even noticing, and that was the case here. But I love him, so I don’t really mind, and readers seemed to like him too.

Here’s the blurb for HIGHLAND STORMS:-

Who can you trust?

Betrayed by his brother and his childhood love, Brice Kinross needs a fresh start. So he welcomes the opportunity to leave Sweden for the Scottish Highlands to take over the family estate.

But there’s trouble afoot at Rosyth in 1754 and Brice finds himself unwelcome. The estate is in ruin and money is disappearing.  He discovers an ally in Marsaili Buchanan, the beautiful redheaded housekeeper, but can he trust her?

Marsaili is determined to build a good life. She works hard at being housekeeper and harder still at avoiding men who want to take advantage of her.  But she’s irresistibly drawn to the new clan chief, even though he’s made it plain he doesn’t want to be shackled to anyone.

And the young laird has more than romance on his mind. His investigations are stirring up an enemy.  Someone who will stop at nothing to get what he wants – including Marsaili – even if that means destroying Brice’s life forever …

(If you’d like to read Brice and Marsaili’s story, you can find it here. Although it’s part of a trilogy, it can be read as a standalone.)

What do you think about having animals in stories – do they enhance the reading experience for you or do you prefer characters without pets?