In Your Wildest Scottish Dreams

After several years in America, Glynis MacIain returns to Scotland to reinvigorate her life in her homeland. But she can’t start over with the shadow of her past behind her, in the form of the sinister Matthew Baumann, who holds Glynis’ secrets over her head.

Karen Ranney’s multi-faceted bodice-ripper is a page-turning delight. The story is set at the start of the American Civil War but in Scotland, where some shipbuilders are making ships for the Confederacy. Spies from the union attempt to sabotage their efforts. In addition, Glynis’s brother runs a cotton mill that has fallen on hard times. Glynis chooses to marry again to get the money to give her brother’s mill the financial boost it needs. These additional story arcs make In Your Wildest Scottish Dreams much more intriguing than the average romance.

Glynis’ romance with Lennox, her childhood friend and longtime crush, is a dominant, but not overpowering, part of the story. Halfway through the novel, the pair set aside their pride and confess their long-held attraction to one another. Given Glynis’s bleak past, the happy ending is a relief. Ranney makes Glynis an intriguing and mysterious character from beginning to end.