cover image The Laird’s Choice

The Laird’s Choice

Amanda Scott. Grand Central/Forever, $7.99 mass market (400p) ISBN 978-1-455-51435-9

Fans of Scottish lore and love will enjoy this series launch from bestseller Scott (Highland Lover). In 1425, Magnus Gilbraith has just escaped from the prisons of evil Parlan Pharlain, who has illegally taken control of the MacFarlan clan. Taking refuge on Tùr Meiloach, the land of the MacFarlan clan, Magnus encounters Lady Andrena “Dree” MacFarlan and is instantly taken with her. Dree has the special ability to sense what others are feeling and thinking, but she cannot breech the emotions of taciturn and stoic Magnus. He agrees to marry Dree and take the MacFarlan name in return for Dree’s father’s support in thwarting a plan to kill King James. Scott has a deft hand with dialect, and while the plot is a bit slow—the action doesn’t happen until the end, and Andrena and Magnus’s romance has hardly a hiccup—it sets up the rest of the series nicely. (Dec.)