Catriona by Jeanette Baker

I received a review copy of this novel from Sourcebooks. This in no way affected my opinions.

Catriona is the story of Kate Sutherland, a young woman who is having 'visions' of a woman from five centuries earlier, a woman named Catriona. When Kate's mother dies, she travels to Scotland to spread her ashes, only to come face to face with the past – literally.

Catriona was a decent enough historical romance novel, but unfortunately, it never grabbed me. I felt that certain parts moved way too fast for me. So fast that the scene was over before I really grasped what happened. The modern romance between Kate and a man name Niall also moved wicked fast to the point where I wasn't buying it.

One thing happened at the beginning of the story that bugged me, and I never let it go through to the end. I won't give it away, but at the beginning of the story Kate received some rather life altering news, the kind of news that would send anyone's life into a tailspin. The way Kate received it was like she went to the grocery story and someone told her they were out of bagels!

The historical part of the story was filled with a lot of Scottish history, set around the time of the James IV of Scotland. And that's really all I got out of this novel – I learned some stuff about Scotland I didn't know before.

Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for this or what, but I wish I enjoyed it more. Folks who like historic romances set in Scotland will most likely dig this.

Legacy by Jeanette Baker

I received a review copy of this novel from Sourcebooks. This in no way affected my opinions.

A decent time travel book about an American named Christina Murray who inherits her family's ancestral home in Scotland.

Christina feels connected to three different female ancestors from three different time periods: 13^th century; 16^th century; and 18^th century. Besides a bloodline, what connects all these women is an ancient family curse, and Christina fears she may be next if she doesn't crack a centuries' old family mystery.

Christina was able to see the events happening in her ancestors' lives in her dreams, and one time she changed places with one, but that was only for a short time. I thought that was kind of random.

One thing that caught me off guard: children in the 13^th century singing Ring Around the Rosie. I'm pretty sure that song didn't exist back then.

I must admit the modern day romance of Christina and her hunky neighbor didn't do a whole lot for me. And seeing how there were basically four different storylines going in this book, we didn't spend a whole lot of time with them, especially the three historical ones. However, the historical stories had more depth, it seemed. Each story of Christina's ancestors ended heartbreakingly.

A good, fast read.