Dark Highland Skies by Lizzie Lamb #BookReview for #RBRT #ScottishFiction #Contemporary @lizzie_lamb #BookTwitter #TuesdayBookBlog

Author: Lizzie Lamb

Independently Published May 2023

Category: Contemporary Fiction, Romance, Scottish Fiction

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Astrophysicist Halley Dunbar has spent her career peering into the space hoping to find the one-in-a-billion exoplanet outside our solar system capable of sustaining life. Such a find would be the climax of her scientific career and establish her as a force majeure in a male-dominated world. When her great-uncle dies, she travels to Lochaber in Scotland to arrange his funeral, reluctant to leave her research and her million-pound telescope behind in Hawaii. In Scotland, she encounters an assortment of characters who make her realise there’s more to life than searching for something that might not exist.

Halley Dunbar has returned to Lochaber in the Scottish Highlands from her home and job in Hawaii, after a long absence, to represent her family and organise her great uncle Tam’s funeral, as well taking on the emotional task of sorting out his belongings. She used to stay with Tam every summer when she was a teenager in his bothy by Loch Morar, which was part of Sir Montgomery Strachan’s estate. Tam had been the laird’s batman and he and Sir Monty had shared a special and long standing friendship. Sir Monty had gifted the bothy to Tam despite his wife’s strong objections.

Halley is devastated that she left it too late to see the great uncle she loved, and although they did keep in touch over the years, it wasn’t the same as in person. After her last visit and the resulting trauma, Halley found it impossible to return. Now she wished wholeheartedly she had tried to explain why she felt the need to stay away. There was nothing to keep here in Scotland now and she planned to leave straight after the funeral.

Luckily, the moment she set foot on the silver sands, the clouds parted, and the pale light of a gibbous moon showed the way to the old salmon bothy. Straightening, Halley looked across the loch towards the lights on the far shore and despite her earlier resolution, memories crowded in thick and fast. Voices. Laughter. The touch of a hand on her skin. A Judas kiss. Now she could finally admit that putting her uncle’s affairs in order wasn’t the only reason for making this trip.

She had ghosts to lay.

Halley hoped she could avoid meeting any of the Strachan family but an unexpected encounter with the eldest of the laird’s children, Hector, put paid to that in a very unexpected way. Hector, or Tor as he is known, is trying to come to terms with his experiences and a severe injury in Afghanistan, also the resulting PTSD, by living alone in his converted Airstream. Halley and Tor both have issues to work through, and with questionable activity going on there’s never a dull moment.

Halley’s plans to steer clear of the Strachans took a further knock when she learned  how devastated Sir Monty was by Tam’s death and that he wanted to do as much as he could with regard to the funeral. She found herself becoming involved with the family as her old friend Rowan, who had succeeded her father as undertaker, introduced her to Tor’s sister, Lexie. Her friendship with Tor blossomed and she couldn’t help but like Sir Monty. But her life and work were thousands of miles away and she wanted to get back to it.

I always enjoy Lizzie Lamb’s books for the beautiful settings and sense of place, also the wonderful, sometimes quirky, well developed characters and of course the writing. The characters are engaging, with a couple of exceptions, and realistic. I enjoyed the historical details also. Recommended for those who enjoy a slow burn, believable romance, great characters and stories set in Scotland.

I chose to read and review  for Rosie Amber’s book review team, based on my own copy.

Hi, I’m Lizzie and I like writing about the ‘moment’ when the hero and the heroine fall in love. That, and trying to track down the all-elusive hero-in-a-kilt, is what gets me in front of the computer each morning. Since 2012 I’ve published six novels: Tall, Dark and Kilted, Boot Camp Bride, Scotch on the Rocks, Girl in the Castle, Take Me, I’m Yours and Harper’s Highland Fling. My latest novel, Dark Highland Skies is due to publish February 2023 and I’ve loved writing it. I organise the Leicester Chapter of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and present workshops on indie publishing to new writers. My feel good/uplit novels would be very happy to sit alongside Jilly Cooper, Jenny Colgan, Jill Mansell and Carole Matthews on your bookshelf.
I love writing because it’s given me the chance to celebrate everything I love about my homeland – Scotland, and to share those feelings with my readers. When I’m not writing, I spend summer with my husband touring Scotland in our caravan researching my next novel and avoiding the midges.