Laughter, tears and feeling of love is what I felt throughout this book. Great plot, pace, character's and dialogue. I will be reading more of Tara Kingston's novels and I recommend to everyone who enjoys a heartfelt novel!

I LOVED Johanna and Connor's story!!  

Johanna was a strong heroine just trying to save the only thing left of her sister, her niece. Connor was trying to duty his duty for his country, but his heart kept getting in the way!

A strong start to a new series and I can't wait to see what Kingston has in store for us!

This is an amazing book! Full of romance and adventure!! Love the characters and the msytery to solve!!

My favorite read is one that is fast paced with lots of action, has danger, intrigue, villains, and likeable characters especially when one is a Highlander. His book as all that and more. Throw in an ancient artifact that gives off evil vibes and you have a great reading adventure. And this book is a reading adventure starting with first chapter and continuing all the way through the book. Johanna is an American, in London caring for her niece after her sister dies. Her brother-in-law lives a secret life, one Johanna is not aware of. Unfortunately when under the pretense of spending vacation time with his young daughter, both are kidnapped. Now it is up to Johanna to ransom her niece by delivering a valuable manuscript to very evil man. Enter Connor MacMasters, an operative for a secret group that tracks ancient artifacts. His mission is to keep this particular artifact away from the villain. He adds to this, keeping Johann safe and finding her niece. Along the way, they find mutual attraction and their own adventure. This is one of those books you would like to read from beginning to end without stopping. It is the first book by Tara Kingston that I have read, it will not be the last. I would love to read more about the MacMasters clan and the ancient guild try belong to. I do hope she has more stories along this vein in mind. Loved it.

Johanna Templeton came from England to America to look after her sick sister and niece Laurel. Johanna’s sister passes away and Johanna stays to take care of Laurel while her brother in law continued to disappear from business trips. When he decided to take Laurel to Scotland Johanna didn’t know anything was wrong until her brother in law was killed and Laurel kidnapped. Johanna had received a ransom letter for Laurel Johanna has to take a certain book to the kidnappers.When Johanna brings the book to the kidnappers they don’t have Laurel.  The ransom was actually about finding  the map to the demon’s heart- a rare ruby linked to the MacMasters family.Johanna is rescued by a Highlander Connor and he is determined to protect Johanna. Johanna and Connor are attracted to each other but armed assassins are determined to get Johanna to their boss Connor does not stay in one place long because of being a spy. That leaves little if any time for a relationship.. Connor is on a mission as a spy for Queen Victoria. When meeting Connor tries to keep her troubles to herself. . 
I enjoyed this story. I enjoyed the intrigue and suspense.This is fast paced. The plot was good and I definitely enjoyed reading this. But I did feel this book was a little long and could have been shorter. I did find it hard to put down as I wanted to know what what was going to happen next. But I thought Johanna was overly distrustful of Connor when he had rescued her and felt maybe she had an issue with trusting men or maybe just trusting. This story had a lot in it: adventure, suspense, mystery, romance, a demon’s heart jem, action, murder, thieves, kidnappers, artifacts, passion, betrayal, greed, and so much more. I really liked the characters and the ins and outs of this story and I recommend.

I'm sorry to say this book didn't hold my attention.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really wanted to enjoy this book with a female author in a time when woman should stay home and mind the children. A woman who was willing to throw caution to the wind to rescue a beloved niece and do anything it took to save the girl.

Instead we were given a mishmash of random characters who all seemed pulled from different plot points of different stories and thrown all together to try and continue in a plot they weren't fully aware of.

The entire novel we have Connor rationalizing why he can't possibly have a future with Johanna; and arguably, his reasons as a spy for Queen Victoria, are rather sound. Than, in the final words, we are supposed to believe that he has magically and wonderfully found a solution but it is never revealed precisely what the solution is.

Johanna who refuses to accept help to save her niece and is just plain frigging -stupid-!

Than the motley crew of villains that have been assembled, including the villainous poisoner, all serve to illuminate the point that a woman is only empowered if she has beauty. We have Countess Ella, a ruthless murderess whom is known far and wide as one to not cross. Even the other villains cower in fear of her. Yet as soon as her face is cut, her beauty marred, she is suddenly weak and Cranston is able to stand against her and even murder her.