Review - One Night in Scotland by Karen Hawkins

TITLE:    One Night in Scotland (Hurst Amulet)
AUTHOR/EDITOR:    Karen Hawkins
INFO:    Paperback, Fiction, 245 pages
PUBLISHED:   Pocket Star, 2010
ISBN#:   978-1-4391-1758-7 
HOW'D I GET IT:   Received from Publisher for Review

FROM GOODREADS:  I New York Times bestselling author Karen Hawkins begins a sparkling new series with this thrilling tale of a desperate beauty on an urgent quest, a dark earl scarred by his beastly past—and the ancient treasure that binds their fates.

A mysterious abductor . . . Someone is holding her brother prisoner in exchange for a gold-and-onyx box covered in mysterious runes, so Mary Hurst boldly sets out from the family vicarage to find the priceless artifact. But the man who possesses it, Angus Hay, the Earl of Erroll, is less than sympathetic to her plight.


A forbidding stranger . . . Himself a prisoner of his dark past, Angus refuses to yield the box—or allow Mary to leave! Suspicious of the alluring lass’s mission, he vows to wrest a confession from her, but unearths a fiery temper and a will as strong as his own.


An unbreakable curse . . . Passion flares between them, but now there is more at stake: an unknown enemy is hunting down the precious box, and will stop at nothing. Risking all for love, Angus must solve the mystery behind the runes . . . and trust the only woman who can awaken his forgotten heart.

MY TAKE:  When I read and reviewed Karen Hawkins' Much Ado About Marriage earlier this year, I knew I'd found an author who I'd be reading a lot more of.  She has continued to entertain with this latest offering, the first in the new series about the mystery of the Hurst Amulet.

One Night in Scotland is one of those reads that I stopped everything else I was doing to complete.  I was hooked from the very start with the humor and adventure that was jumping off the first few pages.  I love it when a book pulls me in immediately and doesn't let go, even when it's over (although it's not really over when there's an exciting new book in the works...anticipation...is making me wait...)

Mary Hurst is an unusual woman of her time as she is extremely well-read and longs for adventure and travel.  She lives vicariously (in a vicarage...) following the expeditions of her brother, an Egyptologist.  That is until her brother is in danger and Mary is forced to go out on an adventure of her own to try to save him.  She's accompanied by a very colorful and mostly inappropriate maid who is good for several laughs.

Angus Hay is a scarred man, both literally and figuratively.  He is a reclusive Earl who is also an esteemed expert on antiquities, including those of Egypt.  He doesn't trust Mary, thinking that she is an impostor and a thief.  He decides to lock her up in his castle until he can decide what to do with her.  What follows is plenty of laughs and lots of intrigue.

I highly recommend this to lovers of romantic fiction, mystery and fun adventure.

Learn more about Karen Hawkins at her website.
   
MY RATING:    4.5/5

WHERE TO BUY IT:  Amazon, The Book Depository, Powell's Books, IndieBound

 

~~~~~ Disclaimer:  All opinions expressed on this blog are 100% my own.  I do not receive monetary compensation for my reviews but do utilize affiliate links.  I may receive books in  order to facilitate a review, but this does not guarantee a good review - only a completely honest one.  Each review post denotes how I obtained the book.