Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours Presents: Highland Fling

Highland Fling (Highland, #1) Title:  Highland Fling
(Highland #1)
Author:  Amanda Scott
Format:  ERC
Length:  512 pages
Publisher:  Open Road Media
Rating:  4 stars

The Scottish Highlands in 1750 endure grievous hardships under the rule of an English king. Beautiful, golden-haired Maggie Macdrumin is determined to help liberate her fellow Scotsmen, but upon arriving in London, she's arrested and brought to court, falsely accused of stealing a man's purse. In a bid to save herself, she impulsively lays claim to a family connection with well-known Edward Carsley, the powerful Earl of Rothwell--and her family's worst enemy.
The handsome earl is adamantly opposed to the cause of the Jacobites, and when Maggie is turned over to him, he sternly forbids her to continue her journey. Maggie, passionately dedicated to her cause, constantly crosses swords with the powerful earl. How the two will remain faithful to their kinsmen and still find a way to resolve the growing desire between them is anyone's guess.  -Goodreads
My Thoughts
This book proved quite the surprise in that it contained a considerable amount of history in proportion to romance.  If one picks up this book in search of sappy drivel and bodice ripping, this is clearly not the book for you.
If however, what you seek is a book full of intelligent historically relevant characters possessed of spirit, passion, and a hearty dose of realism.  You have found your read.

The struggle for freedom from tyrannical English rule serves as the perfect setting for this book's fiery and fierce heroine, Maggie Macdrumin.  She is a woman determined not to hide behind the "man rules all" conventions of her time.  A woman determined to do all she can to aide the cause of freedom for Scotland.
It is only when her actions land her in a most dire sort of predicament, that she is forced to seek the help of a man.
Leave it to her to choose the one man who changes her world in ways that are not always for the better.
Lord Edward Carsley, or should I say Maggie's rather lateral movement "from frying pan to fire"; does all he can to thwart our Maggie's missions.  This is one "secret agent woman" who is not going down without a fight.
As if all of this is not enough, readers get the special treat of seeing what happens when matters of state turn to matters of the heart.
Watching Edward and Maggie try to reconcile their love for "home and country" with the growing desire that they have for each other, is like watching a tightrope walker without a net.
This is a wonderfully engaging slice of historically romantic pie with a fresh new taste like none other.
To make matters better...it's the first of a series!
   


About The Author

Image of Amanda ScottAmanda Scott, USA Today Bestselling Author and winner of Romance Writers of America’s RITA/Golden Medallion (LORD ABBERLEY'S NEMESIS) and Romantic Times’ Awards for Best Regency Author and Best Sensual Regency (RAVENWOOD'S LADY), Lifetime Achievement (2007) and Best Scottish Historical (Border Moonlight, 2008), began writing on a dare from her husband. She has sold every manuscript she has written.

Amanda is a fourth-generation Californian, who was born and raised in Salinas and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in history from Mills College in Oakland. She did graduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializing in British History, before obtaining her Master’s in History from California State University at San Jose. She now lives with her husband and son in northern California.

As a child, Amanda Scott was a model for O’Connor Moffatt in San Francisco (now Macy’s). She was also a Sputnik child, one of those selected after the satellite went up for one of California’s first programs for gifted children. She remained in that program through high school. After graduate school, she taught for the Salinas City School District for three years before marrying her husband, who was then a captain in the Air Force. They lived in Honolulu for a year, then in Papillion, Nebraska, for seven. Their son was born in Nebraska. They have lived in northern California since 1980.

Scott grew up in a family of lawyers, and is descended from a long line of them. Her father was a three-term District Attorney of Monterey County before his death in 1955 at age 36. Her grandfather was City Attorney of Salinas for 36 years after serving two terms as District Attorney, and two of her ancestors were State Supreme Court Justices (one in Missouri, the other the first Supreme Court Justice for the State of Arkansas). One brother, having carried on the Scott tradition in the Monterey County DA’s office, is now a judge. The other is an electrician in Knoxville, TN, and her sister is a teacher in the Sacramento area.

The women of Amanda Scott’s family have been no less successful than the men. Her mother was a child actress known as Baby Lowell, who performed all over the west coast and in Hollywood movies, and then was a dancer with the San Francisco Opera Ballet until her marriage. Her mother’s sister, Loretta Lowell, was also a child actress. She performed in the Our Gang comedies and in several Loretta Young movies before becoming one of the first women in the US Air Force. Scott's paternal grandmother was active in local and State politics and served as president of the California State PTA, and her maternal grandmother was a teacher (and stage mother) before working for Monterey County. The place of women in Scott’s family has always been a strong one. Though they married strong men, the women have, for generations, been well educated and encouraged to succeed at whatever they chose to do.

Amanda Scott’s first book was OMAHA CITY ARCHITECTURE, a coffee-table photo essay on the historical architecture of Omaha, written for Landmarks, Inc. under her married name as a Junior League project. Others took the photos; she did the research and wrote the text on an old Smith-Corona portable electric. She sold her first novel, THE FUGITIVE HEIRESS—likewise written on the battered Smith-Corona in 1980. Since then, she has sold many more books, but since the second one she has used a word processor and computer. Twenty-five of her novels are set in the English Regency period (1810-1820). Others are set in 15th-century England and 14th- through 18th-century Scotland, and three are contemporary romances. Many of her titles are currently available at bookstores and online.

 Where To Find Amanda Scott

official website

Link to Tour Schedule: http://hfvirtualbooktours.com/amandascottvirtualbooktour/
Twitter Hashtag: #AmandaScottVirtualTour
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