Avon Impulse, $4.99, ISBN 978-0-06-233746-7
Historical Romance, 2014
Return to Clan Sinclair is a short entry into Karen Ranney’s series featuring the Scottish clan in question. It is quite disconcerting to realize that this story, which reminds me much of why I enjoy this author’s works, is one of the shortest works from her in recent times while her more recent full-length books were disappointing reads. I don’t know what this says about the author and about me, heh.
Widow Ceana Sinclair Mead has had enough of her overbearing brothers-in-law who still coddle her to a suffocating degree. She has been a widow for three years now, so it is probably time to leave everything behind – for a while – to visit Drumvagen, the home built by her brother. There, she meets Bruce Preston, an American PI hired by her brother as a means to protect his wife, and finds time to fall in love. Bruce is here for a reason, of course, and Ceana is briefly caught in the mess later in the story for the obligatory dramatic moment.
This is a short story, so it’s probably to be expected that the romance is a bit on the half-baked side. However, the characters have plenty of time to talk, bare their souls, and indulge in quiet and sensitive introspection. All these remind me of how well the author can turn her characters’ thoughts and conversations into exquisite poetry. The romance feels right, the characters feel like pretty well-drawn and real people despite the short length of this story, and I’ve had a good time.
My only complaint is the rushed climactic moment. I would have preferred if this short story is all about falling in love with the external conflict removed, come to think of it.
Still, Return to Clan Sinclair is a pretty decent romantic story, and it’s also a nice reminder that the author still has it on a good day.
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