Title: Reason To Believe

Author: Leslie Ann Dennis

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Line: Contemporary Champagne Rose

Length: 176 pages Hot

Release 8/1/2008

1-60154-277-1

Blurb:

Lane Douglas is a die-hard realist, so when her superstitious grandfather tells her he will die if the tree planted long ago in his honor in Scotland is chopped down, she doesn't buy it for a second.  But when her grandfather's health starts a downward slide, Lane hops on a plane and flies across the ocean to convince the landowner to spare the old, diseased oak. To her surprise the landowner is a devilishly handsome man named Conlan MacGregor. Practical Lane came prepared for a fight to save a silly tree, but she soon finds herself fighting to save her heart from falling under the magical charms of the hunky laird of Wolfscrag castle.

REVIEW:

Magic and superstition clash with twenty-first century concerns in Leslie Ann Dennis’s romantic tale of love in the Scottish Highlands

Lane Douglas’s grandfather is dying.  He believes his fate is tied to that of an oak tree, planted by his father when he was born in far-away Scotland.  An oak tree that is now diseased and dying.  Lane leaves her home in Dallas and crosses the Atlantic to plead with the landowner to try and save the tree, more to please her grandfather than anything.  She has no time for such mumbo-jumbo, but finds herself swept away by Conlan McGregor, the sexy young laird of Wolfscrag Castle.  With his belief in mysticism and strict adherence to tradition, his ways at first clash with those of practical Lane, but the pair find themselves irresistibly drawn to each other as they battle to save her grandfather’s tree.

Conlan is an engaging character, with enough complexities and contradictions to him to keep the reader intrigued.  Lane, unfortunately, is less convincing.  It’s hard to believe a practical modern businesswoman would be so willingly buffeted by the whims of fate and destiny.  And some of the minor characters, such as the staff at Wolfscrag, are so thinly drawn they’re almost caricatures.  But the story belongs to Lane and Conlon, and their mutual attraction sparkles off the page, leading via some cunning plot twists to a happy-ever-after ending with plenty of “aaah” factor.

“Reason to Believe” is a light, easy read that will leave you with a deliciously warm glow.

Reviewed by Joanne Hall

WRDF Review