Highland Dream by Tess Mallory is a time travel novel set in the popular setting of the Highlands of Scotland.  However in this particular tale there is not one but three time travellers trying to find their way about in a long past century.

Jix Ferguson has just kidnapped her best friend, Samantha and taken her to Scotland on the eve of her wedding to a man whom Jix is convinced is all wrong for her.   Understandably Sam is not particularly happy about the change of plan and is not prepared to listen to anything that Jix has to say.
 

Jix has prophetic dreams and in it she has seen Sam marrying a Highlander.  So she takes her to Scotland in the hope that she will find her true love and forgive her for ruining her wedding day.

The man in question is the unsuspecting Jamie MacGregor who Jix finds herself falling for too.  Mesmerised from their first meeting Jix cannot let herself fall for the man she is sure Sam will marry.  However her matchmaking schemes are doomed to failure for as long as Sam is furious with her.  Jamie meanwhile cannot understand why Jix is determined to push him and Sam together.

However Jix’s plan is put on hold entirely when the three of them hold a magical sword and Jamie repeats his family moto.  No sooner have the words been spoken than the three of them are sent back in time to the year 1605 where Sam is unfortunately separated from Jix and Jamie.

Searching for their way home and for Sam Jix and Jamie are drawn closer together even as they find themselves mixed up in Highland politics.  Jamie and Jix are mistaken for James and Maigrey MacGregor and rather than try to argue the easiest course of action to ensure they return home appears to be to assume the identities until they can escape the past.

But time is running out and Jix knows that the longer she and Jamie are thrown together the more likely she will be to betray Sam.  So she decides to keep Jamie at arms length by telling him that she is planning on remarrying her brutal ex-husband.

But things are never as they appear and Jix soon finds herself really betrothed to Griffin Campbell whose reputation as a womaniser is legendary in the area.  Deciding to seduce out of him the location of Jamie’s sword brings about some surprising and amusing results.

Jix’s struggles to keep up her fake Scottish Brogue and her quirky outlook on life in general are what keeps the story going and is the main focus for much of the humour.

The search for both Sam and the sword continues to the dramatic climax at Jix and Griffin’s wedding.

A humorous and lively novel that has just enough surprises to keep the reader from putting the book down at all.  With a fast-pace it is a book you will want to pull an all-nighter to read.  My one problem with the book is that I would like to know more about Sam and what happened to her when she found herself back in time.  Although the reader is told what happened I must admit I thought that perhaps a little more could have been said.
 

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Also by Tess Mallory: Circles in Time, Highland Fling, Jewels of Time and To Touch the Stars

Read an Interview with Tess Mallory

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