Reviewed for queuemyreview.com

My, my, my. Sexy highlanders in kilts! “Beware a Scot’s Revenge” is another winner in Sabrina Jeffries ‘School for Heiresses’ series. Ms Jeffries provides another enticing glimpse into the late Regency period in Scotland--with a braw and rowdy highland laird, a Scottish ‘princess’ who yearns to return to her beloved homeland, and a 16-year-old tragedy that almost derails true love!

Venetia Campbell is thrilled to be back in Scotland. It took all her wiles to convince her papa that she would be safe, especially since the dreaded Scottish Scourge is now dead. Then she’s kidnapped by Lachlan, her childhood friend, who turns out to be the outlaw himself! Suddenly, she’s discovering that her dreams of home aren’t quite as she imagined. With Lachlan accusing her father of horrible crimes, her childhood estate being bled dry by an evil overseer, and to top things off, she’s more in love with Lachlan now than she was as just a child. But she’ll be neither widow nor grieving daughter if she has anything to say about it!

Lachlan has come up with a desperate plan to get the money Venetia’s father owes he and his clan…he’ll kidnap Venetia and demand her father’s presence with the money. And if the man tries to cheat him again after having him beaten nigh to death…then he’ll kill him, after all this is a matter of honor and clan! But Lachlan didn’t take a few things into consideration. First, he didn’t realize Venetia was smart. Second, he didn’t know what a brave beauty she’d become. Third, he didn’t understand the nature of the debt. And last, he didn’t see how quickly he would fall in love with Venetia. Now he’s trapped by his own plan and can’t see a happy ending. Good thing Venetia has plans of her own.

I enjoyed the interplay between these two strong-willed characters as they sparred their way across Scotland. Ms James’ pacing was fabulous and there weren’t any drags in the story or the action. Her depiction of the highlands and the troubles from this time period were perfect for this type of novel. The time of the ‘clearances’ was an absolutely wretched time for the Scottish and I appreciated that she didn’t try to ram this down my throat, but rather illustrated the hardships via characters and actions in the plot. I was pretty impressed with this, as I’ve read many a romance that focused so much on the difficulties of this period that I ended up depressed after I finished the book! She portrayed the hardships without belittling them, but still kept the tone of the book light.

“Beware a Scot’s Revenge” was also pretty hot on the sensuality scale. I felt the attraction and the confusion and the indecision of both characters. Each of them had tough choices to make and did so while staying true to the natures she had drawn for each. I’ve enjoyed all of the ‘School for Heiresses’ books I’ve read can’t wait to read the rest. ( )