A Tartan Love (it just sounds intriguing, right?) by Nichole Van. As you may remember, my post from earlier this year about a series titled “The Penn-Leiths of Thistle Muir” was also by Nichole Van. I may be slightly obsessed with her writing style, characters, and how she breathes life into historical romances set in the Scottish countryside that worm their way into your heart.
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A Tartan Love
Author: Nichole Van
Genre: Historical, Romance, Scotland
Series: The Earls of Cairnfell Book 1
Spice Rating: Closed Door ❤️
Two ancient rivers, twin brothers, and a Scottish king who divided them. Welcome to life in the shadow of Cairnfell.
Lady Isla Kinsey knows that the animosity between her family, the Dukedom of Grayburn, and their distant kinsmen, the Earldom of Northcairn, is the stuff of legends—six generations of duels fought, ladies ruined, and gentlemen betrayed. Therefore, falling in love with a son of the enemy house would be, in a word, apocalyptic. So when Captain Tavish Balfour, second son of the Earl of Northcairn, returns home after Waterloo—distressingly handsome with eyes that see straight into her soul—Lady Isla is determined to resist his allure. She will not fall in love with the rogue . . . uh-hum, again.
Granted, the not-falling-in-love part would be a tad bit easier if Isla and Tavish weren’t already married.
Captain Tavish Balfour has cashed out of his military commission and is ready to start a new life far away from the Scottish Highlands of his birth. But before he sets sail into his future, there is the pesky matter of his marriage to Lady Isla Kinsey to resolve. As teenagers, in the sun-drenched warmth of a Highland summer, they tied the knot of their handfasting—an ill-advised decision he has regretted ever since. Thankfully, unlike their English neighbors, Scottish law allows for divorce in situations such as theirs.
Unfortunately for Tavish, Isla is every whit as captivating and lovely as his memories recall. As for Isla, she fears Tavish will reawaken the unconventional woman she was becoming all those years ago.
Yet even if they were to fall in love again, what could come of it? The history of acrimony between their families still casts a long shadow, and the forces that shredded their love in the past have not miraculously changed since. Can Isla and Tavish find a way to claim one another without betraying everyone and everything they love?
Find it on Goodreads, Amazon, Bookbub, and Barnes & Noble.
Review of A Tartan Love by Nichole Van
A Tartan Love by Nichole Van sweeps you into a love story so touching you’ll have trouble coming back to reality.
Nichole Van introduced us to this new series by thrusting us into craggy moors, old Scottish castles, and a generational feud between families—with two people caught in the middle.
Tavish and Isla were some remarkable characters, and their love story will tug on your heart like timeless love stories do. I enjoyed getting to see their story unfold with a few flashbacks done with remarkable precision. The tug and pull between their sweet moments, their gentle moments, and their strife was profound, and I LOVED Tavish’s heart.
Ross winced. “Och, but you love her.”
“Aye. More than life. But when ye truly love someone, ye want their happiness. And if that happiness doesn’t involve yourself, then ye give them the happiness they do want. I love Isla enough to grant her freedom. I want her to find the sort of love I feel for her.”
Isla is a character I’d like to say women should want to be as they grow up. She showed maturity, vulnerability, and a willingness to forgive that takes inner strength. She’s a character I wish I were friends with in real life.
“You say you l- love me enough to set me free.” She dashed a hand across her eyes. “But I want you to f- fight to keep me, Tavish Balfour! I want you to wage battles and vanquish enemies and destroy every last wall that will ever keep us apart.”
A Tartan Love is yet another reason to add Nichole Van’s stories to the top of your To-Be-Read list. This reader is so looking forward to the next book in the series. A Tartan Love is a Closed Door Historical Romance. You can see a “spice rating scale” in my article What is a Spice Rating Scale?
About A Tartan Love’s Author Nichole Van
Nichole Van is an artist who feels life is too short to only have one obsession. In former lives, she has been a contemporary dancer, pianist, art historian, choreographer, culinary artist and English professor. Though Nichole still prefers the label ‘adaptable’ more than ‘A.D.D.’
Most notably, however, Nichole is an acclaimed photographer, winning over thirty international accolades for her work, including Portrait of the Year from WPPI in 2007. (Think Oscars for wedding and portrait photographers.) Her unique photography style has been featured in many magazines, including Rangefinder and Professional Photographer. She is also the creative mind behind the popular websites Flourish Emporium and {life as art} Workshops, which provide resources for photographers.
All that said, Nichole has always been a writer at heart. With an MA in English, she taught technical writing at Brigham Young University for ten years and has written more technical manuals than she can quickly count. She decided in late 2013 to start writing fiction and has loved exploring a new creative process. Nichole currently lives in Utah with her husband and three crazy children. Though continuing in her career as a photographer, Nichole is also now writing historical romance on the side. She is known as NicholeVan all over the web.
Check out her stuff: http://photography.nicholeV.com and http://www.nicholeV.com.
