This book contains:
- References to drug use
- Set up of illicit drugs with the intent to distribute
- Attempted and committed murder
- Attempted rape
- Various forms of theft.
Skye lives in a remote part of Scotland where she’s easily gone months without seeing another human. While part of this comes down to the success of her self-sufficient property, some of this comes down to an unwillingness to be go into town unless strictly necessary.
Rafe on the other hand has been living on the road for a couple of years and is looking for something, not that he knows what that is just yet. When he hears about Skye potentially needing an extra set of hands for the summer, he offers his services in exchange for a place to park his camper van and food. He’s a fairly simple man, just wants to live a happy life, but he’s found that difficult in recent years for reasons you’ll discover as you read.
Skye’s been trying to do everything herself after her husband left, and money is fast running out. Trying to make her slice of Scottish heaven profitable so she can remain on the land is difficult to say the least. Especially after everything her husband has done to her and the village locals.
Cue Rafe coming into town and needing some seasonal work, who just also happens to have the skillset Skye needs to make a difference.
As they work together they come to grips with their own pasts and what they want from the future, while also facing down the history of the area (in a very time-slip kinda way) and their own pasts that keep wanting to be a part of their present.
While this Viking era-esque novel is quite different to the previous books I’ve read from Christina Courtenay, it keeps the hallmarks of her style. Romance, danger, time travel, a mystery and forces beyond their knowledge and comprehension pushing the main characters in a certain direction.
The best part about this was actually the little nugget of info I got from reading the Author’s Acknowledgements (I never read these and I think I accidentally started accidentally) which gave me an insight I wouldn’t have otherwise known. In this case, that Christina has actually never been to the part of Scotland this story is set in and she normally likes to travel to the locations she writes about to ensure it’s authenticity.
I was following along some of the locations on Google Maps, and as an Aussie who’s never been to Europe let alone Scotland, I would never have known she’d never been! Instead, she enlisted the help of some friends who lived in the area and made sure she stuck to that area to ensure it stayed authentic. That’s the kind of dedication you don’t expect from an author when they write a book while stuck in lockdown!
This dedication is also part of why Christina’s books feel so real. You can imagine the trees, the smell, the feel of the earth and all the sights wherever she set’s her books. That’s the kind of immersion into a book not all authors are capable of achieving, especially about a location they don’t live in themselves.
Continue to read further down to find out about the author and any extra giveaways available.
Author Bio
Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings. Christina is a former chairman of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014) and the RNA Fantasy Romantic Novel of the year 2021 with Echoes of the Runes. Hidden in the Mists (timeslip/dual time romance published by Headline Review 18th August 2022) is her latest novel. Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).
Giveaway – Win a signed copy of Hidden in the Mists Viking tea-towel and Viking carved butter knife (open internationally)
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