My Heart Stood Still
My Heart
Stood Still by Lynn Kurland is a combination of a ghost story and a time travel
romance. Since it begins as a romance with a ghost that is the background
it gets here on my site. It is however listed in both sections of the site
due to its unique storyline covering both sub-genres.
My Heart Stood Still reintroduces the Boar's Head Trio that first appeared in The Three Wise Ghosts (Christmas Spirits anthology) and also the McKinnon siblings of Megan MacLeod McKinnon de Piaget.
Thomas McKinnon is the brother of Megan and the one who had sent her to look over his newly purchased castle in the aforementioned novella. He had brought the castle sight unseen on the spur of the moment but had not visited it, having been distracted by his latest adventure...climbing Mount Everest.
However he is now of a mind to visit the castle and see about turning it into something that could once again be inhabitable. Of course there are always problems with such an undertaking and Thomas has two major ones.
Firstly there is the trio of people who believe that the castle should be preserved exactly as it is and are prepared to inflict all kinds of misery on anyone who tries to alter it.
And secondly there is the problem of the residents of the castle...a garrison full of ghosts and their mistress Iolanthe MacLeod, a young woman murdered in the castle when she refused to reveal the secret(s) of MacLeod castle. Hmmm....wonder what secrets those could be? Seriously, this book is what I would consider the start of the series not only all tying in together but also taking the series to a whole other standard that brings it on par with the Outlander series.
Anyway, back to the story. Add into the mixture the Boar's Head Trio in the ghostly forms of Ambrose MacLeod, Hugh McKinnon and Fulbert de Piaget, an amorous Innkeeper in the form of the second Mrs Pruitt and an angry Scottish Laird called Connor MacDougal and you have a recipe for a great novel.
The matchmakers are in fine form and have decided that Thomas and Iolanthe are perfect for each other, it is just a pity that they are on different planes as it were. Thomas manages to persuade Iolanthe to let him work on one of the towers in the castle and they slowly get to know each other and, of course, fall in love. Iolanthe won't tell Thomas the secret of the MacLeod castle but does tell Thomas a lot about the family history...Thomas being a MacLeod on his mother's side of course. Being a pretty intelligent sort of guy Thomas is quick to notice that there is something going on that he isn't privy to...little things like Iolanthe's great-great grandfather James not having a death date for example.
Unfortunately their time together is cut short when Thomas is forced to return to the USA to sort out a problem with his company. But even then fate has a hand in things and Thomas finds himself becoming acquainted with one Alexander Smith and his wife Margaret (hero and heroine of The Very Thought of You). He tells them his story which they readily accept and tell him quite clearly that the secret of the keep is time travel, thus giving him the option to go back in time and prevent Iolanthe's murder.
Of course nothing is ever quite that simple for if Thomas brings Iolanthe forward in time after saving her life there is a very realistic possibility that she will have no knowledge of who he is or of her life as a ghost.
That is assuming that Thomas can learn enough in Jamie's medieval boot camp in the present day before he goes back in time.
All in all this is a truly wonderful novel with a whole host of characters just begging for stories of their own. Thankfully some of those (Connor MacDougal and the rest of Thomas's sisters for instance) have now got their own stories. Roderick St Claire is one who doesn't but that I hope does...there are just a few things that he has said and done during the course of this book that make me wonder if there is more to the fashionable fop than first meets the eye.
This novel also lets us see again Jamie and the rest of the brood that live in and around his castle and find out what they have been up to.
A great addition to the series and the one that I picked up a couple of weeks ago that prompted me to read all her other outstanding novels that have been sitting unattended on my shelves for some considerable time.
RATING : 
(if you need an explanation of the hearts ratings see
my homepage)
Also by Lynn Kurland:
Another Chance to Dream (Historical)
If I Had You (Historical) This is All
I Ask (Mostly Historical) From this
Moment On (Mostly Historical) To Kiss
in the Shadows (Mostly Historical) - Available separately or as part of the
Tapestry Anthology The Icing on the
Cake (Contemporary) - part of the Opposites Attract Anthology and the Love Came
Just in Time Anthology The Nine
Kingdom's series (Fantasy) Visit Ms Kurland's
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