A Highland Folly

Rating:
Summary: not my kind of romance hero
Review: I really found it difficult to lose myself in "A Highland Folly." And that is because I personally did not take to the hero of the piece, Lucais MacFarlane, and not because this novel is badly written or conceived. It's just a private bias of mine to dislike manipulative men, and I found Lucais's behaviour to be just too machinating to take.

After having spent nearly her entire life traveling around the world with her mother and various stepfathers, Lady Anice Kinloch is happy to have a place to call home, for she has inherited the leadership of the clan Kinloch, and the family castle, Ardkinloch. So what if her new found family is driving her nuts with their never ending demands for attention? Trouble however comes in the shape of Lucais MacFarlane, an engineer who has been commissioned to build a bridge across the river Abhainn an Urusig, much to the anger of the people of Kinloch, who believe that such a project would destroy the beauty of the countryside. Lady Anice would like to be able to hear from everyone before she decides whether or not to support the building of the bridge, but her attraction to Lucais is only too evident to everyone in the valley. And soon even her own family does not trust her to be impartial in the matter.

Lucais MacFarlane is determined to be build the bridge no matter the cost. Because he grew up in the region -- he is the second son of Lord Chesterton, but he is keeping that bit of information under wraps -- and because the Kinlochs and the Chestertons have been feuding since the English Civil War, he was prepared for all kinds of crazed opposition from the Kinlochs. What he did not expect was to feel so strongly drawn to Lady Anice. She is unlike any woman he has ever met, but bitter experience has made Lucais wary of trusting any woman completely; and Anice's need to put her family obligations before all else grates on his nerves, esp as he has turned his back on his own family obligations. And then someone starts sabotaging the project. Lucais suspects Anice's family, but Anice demands more tangible proof before she will act. Their relationship seems doomed unless Anice and Lucais can find a way to trust each other. But will they?

Part of the problem with this novel was in how it unfolded. The reader is able to glean from the bits of information strewn all over the book why Lucais feels so bitterly towards women who are after a titled husband, and why he has decided to keep his real identity secret. But the entire picture only comes to light halfway through the book, and by that time, I for one had lost interest, for Lucais MacFarlane had already crystallized as a rather mercurial and manipulative individual. He frequently blows hot and cold towards Anice because of all his hangups (distrust of women, anger at her need to put her family first, etc) and yet he keeps putting off being honest with her about his own past and secrets! And then there is the manner in which he keeps compromising Anice, thus causing her to loose the confidence of her family and the people of the valley. This seemed to me to be a rather foolish thing for Lucais to do esp since Anice was his best hope for getting the people of the valley to accept his bridge. It seemed as if what he really wanted was for Anice to choose him over her family, rather than for Anice to help him garner support for his project. And then there was the whole feud between the Chestertons and the Kinlochs. This is referred to again and again but is only resolved as an afterthought in the epilogue. Which of course brings us to the falling out between Lucais and his father, and the rather haphazard resolution of that subplot. Does Lucais finally accept his family obligations or not?

The characters in this novel are all very well portrayed, from the rather ruthless Lucais to Anice's Kinloch kin. And the story itself is promising; I just found myself resenting Lucais MacFarlane for the manner in which he used Anice -- just because he was not mature enough to handle his heritage and responsibilities was no reason for him to keep compromising Anice's position with her own kin. No doubt Lucais's kin were probably every bit as trying as Anice's, but she found a way to deal with her family and accept her familial responsibilities. Lucais MacFarlane desperately needed to grow up, in my view; and Jo Ann Ferguson tries to add some maturity to her hero in the epilogue, but it was a little too late for me by then.