J'Nell Ciesielski has populated her latest offering with a variety of personalities and situations. Lily is an American heiress whose exploits truly confound her parents to the point they send her to cousins who live in Great Britain. Alec is the owner of a castle that has been turned into a convalescent home for soldiers who have been wounded in the trenches of World War I. Richard Wright is a man bent on destroying Alec because Alec's mother jilted him years ago. Esther is a "nouveau riche" heiress wanting a title--specifically the title of Lord Alec's wife. Matron Strom is the head nurse watching over the nurses who were tending the soldiers. Bertie is Lily's cousin, and the two of them go through nurse's training to be able to go to the castle and help with nursing the soldiers.
Lily is a self-proclaimed flibbertigibbet, who gets lost in the castle more times than she'd care to count, ends up on the matron's bad side before she even walked in the door, and worms her way into Alec's life without even giving it much thought. What Lily did best was to cheer up the soldiers and boost their morale. And she brought Alec's sister, Viola, out of an invalid's life into living in the real world.
Alec is a recluse, who would like to have gone to serve his country, but due to a badly set broken leg is not fit enough to serve. He is trying save his home from foreclosure, from decay, and from being plundered by Richard Wright.
The way J'Nell describes seeing the Scottish Lowlands through Lily's eyes, makes the scenery come alive in the reader's mind. The intrigue she brought to the book keeps the reader involved all the way through to the last page. Her research into the laws and circumstances surrounding debts is woven into the book seamlessly without seeming like a text book recitation.
This is a five star book, with two thumbs up, and ceilidh with haggis included to celebrate life.
Thomas Nelson and NetGalley.com provided the copy I read for this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
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