Highland Fling by Tess Mallory is a sequel to Highland Dream.

Highland Fling picks up a year after the conclusion of its predecessor and we return once more to Scotland. 

The story begins with Griffin Campbell, who readers will no doubt recall from the first book, fleeing from his betrothed and the forthcoming marriage.  Remembering a cave told to him by his cousin Duncan, who mysteriously vanished, Griffin decides to hide out there until it is safe for him to return.  Ideally he would like to remain there until his father has been made Chieftain and he no longer has to marry his intended bride.

Griffin did not count on fleeing the century though and when he finds green crystals in the cave that resemble the stone in Jamie's sword he is drawn through time to the twenty first century.

Meanwhile back in the modern world Jix and Jamie are happily married and about to celebrate their first anniversary.  Invited to the celebrations are Sam and Chelsea. 

Chelsea is the shy member of the trio and feels inadequate, plain and boring compared to her two vivacious friends.  Not only that Chelsea also feels excluded from the group and feels that they are keeping things from her.  After a disastrous date, set up by Jix, Chelsea returns early and flees from Meadbrooke Manor to avoid seeing her friends and finds herself running into the newly arrived Griffin.

On their return to the Manor it becomes clear to Chelsea that Jix, Sam and Jamie all know Griffin and that they are all in on some secret that she is not included in.

When she finds out the truth about her friends' travels through time Chelsea accepts their story with ease, having spent some time looking into the scientific possibility of travelling through time herself. However, being excluded from even being told about the adventure is not so easy to accept and it is clear that the friendship between the three of them is strained.

Meanwhile there is instant attraction between Chelsea and Griffin but all is far from smooth sailing. 

Those who have read Highland Dream will recall Griffin's little problem with women.  Whilst in Highland Dream that particular aspect of the novel was pretty comical and merely a sideline to the main story, in Highland Fling Griffin not only still can't approach a woman without becoming ill but now that he has found Chelsea, the woman of his dreams, the problem becomes less amusing and more sympathy is generated on behalf of Griffin as he contemplates giving up Chelsea forever because he cannot be the man that she deserves.

Chelsea meanwhile has very low self esteem and it is not helped by Griffin repeatedly coming closer to her and then becoming violently ill.  Like any woman with little self confidence she has no trouble in believing that she is so repugnant that she is actually capable of making a man physically ill by being near to him.

The problem is not yet resolved when Chelsea and Griffin find themselves on another trip through time, this time to the year 1882 in Texas where they find themselves trying to help Griffin's cousin Duncan before he is hung for murder.

The story builds to a page turning climax in Old West style and leaves the way wide open for Sam, the last of the trio of friends to have her own story. (This book is in fact in the works - word from Ms Mallory herself.)

This novel has got to be my favourite novel from the pen of Ms Mallory.  Partly because the two lead characters are so likeable and partly because Chelsea is one of those shy and quiet characters who I have no problem at all relating to.  As she faced every new challenge, including dancing on the stage in a saloon, I had no problem in believing her reactions to each and every situation.

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

Read an Interview with Tess Mallory

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