To Scotland, With Love, by Karen Hawkins

Karen Hawkins has written another story in her MacLean Family series--this one's called To Scotland, With Love, and it's about a thousand times better than her previous effort. Like How To Abduct a Highland Lord, To Scotland, With Love is light on the agonized dramatics (the hero and heroine are life-long friends), but unlike How To Abduct a Highland Lord, this book is smart enough to replace the missing angst with an alternate plot thread.

When Lord Gregor MacLean learns his childhood friend, Venetia Oglivie, has been abducted by a fortune hunter, he promptly goes in search of her. Venetia is the only sensible member of her family, but she has a soft spot for people in need, and he's (justifiably) worried that she'll be a little too understanding about her kidnapper's point of view. Unfortunately for Gregor, his family is under a curse: when they loose their tempers, the weather goes out of control--and when he discovers that Venetia isn't particularly grateful for his high-handed rescue, the entire group finds themselves stranded in a remote inn by a freak snowstorm.

It's tough to swallow that these characters have been completely unaware of one another's attractiveness for twenty-nine years, but the book is entertaining enough justify a little suspension of disbelief. To Scotland, With Love has all of How To Abduct a Highland Lord's strengths (likeable characters, a plausible friendship between hero and heroine) and none of its weaknesses--this time around, the conflict between Venetia's misguided but good-hearted attempts to help people and Gregor's selfish nature create enough drama to propel the plot. Ms. Hawkins is a fun writer, and this book is well worth your hard-earned $6.99.