Feature Review: "A Highlander Christmas," By Janet Chapman

By Gannon Carr and PJ Ausdenmore, RBTB Correspondents

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PJ and I are big fans of Christmas romances and Janet Chapman’s “A Highlander Christmas” is a perfect “curl up by the fire” holiday read. Camry MacKeage has quit her job as a NASA physicist to tend bar and dog sit in Go Back Cove, Maine. Her family has no idea that she’s no longer working for NASA and she has no intention of letting them know why. Little does she know that her rival, hunky scientist Luke Pascal, has come to the States to talk to her, and he’s let the cat out of the bag about her leaving her job.

PJ: Talk about three strikes! Luke (using his real name Lucien Renoir) has been driving Camry crazy via email for the past year. Now he’s revealed her closely guarded secret to her parents and, if that isn’t bad enough, her mother’s decided Luke should be the person to travel to Go Back Cove and convince Camry to come home for the family birthday celebration. Did I mention that Camry and her six sisters were all born on the Winter Solstice and not one of them has ever missed their joint party? Poor Luke has some huge hurdles to overcome if he has any hope of getting close to Camry. Then there’s the fact that what we have here are two hopelessly analytical scientists who are so tuned in to their minds that their worlds are ruled by facts and figures. It’s going to take some mighty powerful magic to get them to listen to their hearts.

Gannon: Well the MacKeage family is certainly full of magic, but Camry’s spent the last few years running from it. What she doesn’t realize is that she can’t avoid what’s in her blood, in her heart, her destiny. Little does she know that her destiny is the tall, dark and handsome man she’s serving at the Go Back Grill while she’s wearing an embarrassingly revealing pirate wench uniform. When Luke comes face to face, or rather face to cleavage with Camry, he has no idea that it’s her. But when he realizes that Camry, the woman who he’s battling via the internet, is his beautiful, if somewhat surly pirate waitress, he thinks that maybe his luck has taken a turn for the better.

PJ: That’s what I thought too, Gannon! But, instead of the hot seduction of his dreams, they both end up injured, on pain killers and at the tender mercy of a well-meaning, teenaged matchmaker. Talk about your well-laid plans gone awry! The first half of this story is so much fun but it’s the second half that really touched my heart. Camry’s always believed in the magic but that same magic that she’s grown up with is at the root of deep fears she has to overcome if she’s to have any hope of opening her heart to love. Luke, on the other hand, believes only what he can see and touch. His scientist’s brain scoffs at the idea of “magic”, of an unseen power beyond his control. Will his inability to believe cost him the love of his life? Or worse, will it cause Camry to lose her life?

For a fun and emotional journey this holiday season, Gannon and I recommend you put a little Highlander magic in your life and --

Buy the Book!

Are you the logical type, believing in only what you can see? Or do you follow your instinct, that little voice inside you, even if it doesn't seem like the most logical path?