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Nicola Cornick – The Lady And The Laird

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A little more conversation.

Publisher: Mira (Harlequin)
Pages: 370
Type: Fiction
Age: Adult
ISBN: 978-1-472-01628-7 (ebook; paperback out of print)
First Published: 30th July 2013
Date Reviewed: 22nd June 2018
Rating: 4.5/5

Lucy’s twin died in love and now Lucy is afraid to fall herself; happy as a near spinster, she writes erotic letters for her brother’s friends to give to the ladies they wish to woo, donating the money she makes to those in poverty. But her last letter hits the mark a bit too close to home – in helping her brother, she unwittingly ruins the upcoming marriage of Robert, the man she kissed some years ago. Robert needed to wed the lady in order to gain his inheritance and Lucy may be the only possible bride left.

The Lady And The Laird is a very well-written regency romance that includes conflict but never at the cost of a good story.

It is the defining feature of this work that allows the rest to flow so well. The Lady And The Laird sports a good handful of problems that keep the story going without ever going too far. This is to say that the main conflict that prevents the romance moving forward – as you would expect such a thing in romance – carries on only until a very realistic point wherein the characters open up to each other and communicate their problems. Communication is a big element of this book. The characters have trouble at first but they give it their all; there is no situation where a lack of communication is used as a device.

That said, there is one area that could have been tied up a bit quicker, and that is the story behind Alice’s death. It’s not a conflict in itself – the conflict is the result it causes for Lucy as explained above – it’s that it’s one of those times when the reader can tell very quickly what’s gone on but the narrative takes a while to fully inform.

The romance is well done; with the characters given a lot of time to progress and with the realism included (away from the obvious fantastical perfection and coincidences that create a story) it’s steamy not just in the scenes themselves but otherwise. The characters are on a par with each other and whilst there are times when Lucy is undermined by others, Cornick quickly flips the tables and puts her in a position of strength.

There is plenty of history to be had both in terms of the Scottish Highlands and a Scottish version of the Bluestocking society, both of which this reviewer can’t determine the reality of but whether fact or fiction provides a good representation of the real life. (Cornick refers to the ‘Golden Isles’, which may be a nickname for a real place.)

For all of the above then, the book is a fun, quick read. The world-building is often such that you find yourself immersed in the scene, with the running and repairing of inherited land written with aplomb. There are some editing errors but these are mostly confined to the opening chapters. The only thing missing is one possible thread – there is some dialogue and a long-term quarrel between two secondary characters that is presented in a way that suggests the two will discover a romantic connection, but which is not ‘completed’; it could be that it was just a quarrel, it’s simply that it’s referred to a good few times but doesn’t get an ending besides the characters returning to their respective homes.

This book is pretty damn good. It brings refreshment to the staid idea that a romance must have a continual conflict, shows the importance and positive result of communication. The characters themselves may not be the most memorable – because the novel itself is so good.

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