A romance novel without a happy ending is like an angel without wings. The challenge romance authors face is to create tension until the expected conclusion arrives; but Roberson's latest, because of numerous flash-forwards, offers only a smidgen of suspense. From the outset, we know that the MacDonalds, a clan of Highland Jacobite Scots, are going to be slaughtered by order of King William. The laird of the rival Campbell clan is a pawn of King William's royalist henchman, creating the perfect backdrop for a Romeo and Juliet romance. Disaster is inevitable, but Roberson's lovers, Alasdair "Dair" MacDonald and Catriona "Cat" Campbell, survive. Cat is feisty and virtuous, while Dair is masculine and sensitive. Roberson's world of 17th-century Scotland is atmospherically real, which comes as no surprise from an author who writes acclaimed fantasies (the Sword-Dancer saga, etc.) as well as romances. Readers who enjoyed the author's most recent novel, Lady of the Forest, will find this one a pleasure, albeit a predictable one.

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