The Last MacKlenna - Celtic Brooch 2
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback
A fiercely independent winemaker facing her darkest fear. A broken Scottish horse breeder hiding behind a charming smile. Two workaholics about to discover that healing is the ultimate risk.
Meredith Montgomery is the president of Montgomery Winery—the award-winning Napa Valley estate founded by her time-traveling ancestors, Kit and Cullen, in 1853. As the winery prepares to celebrate its 160th anniversary, Meredith’s world shatters when she discovers a lump in her breast, threatening a terrifying second battle with cancer. Desperate for a distraction while waiting for her holiday test results, she escapes to Edinburgh to finish the family genealogy project.
Across the ocean, Elliott Fraser is drowning in a grief he refuses to face. Devastated by the sudden loss of his closest friends and facing yet another painful surgery on a leg that never properly healed, the wealthy Thoroughbred breeder has spent years masking his misery with a womanizing reputation, pills, and alcohol.
When the two cross paths by a warm fire in a small Edinburgh bed-and-breakfast, the connection is immediate, unexpected, and completely inconvenient.
Both are stubborn workaholics accustomed to managing life entirely on their own terms. But as they seek solace in each other’s company, tragedy strikes home when Elliott’s prized breeding stallion is murdered, putting the future of his world-renowned farm in jeopardy.
Bound by mutual loss, hidden scars, and a fierce attraction, they must decide if they are strong enough to let someone close enough to matter—or if their separate battles will tear them apart before they can truly begin.
The Last MacKlenna introduces the ultimate patriarch and matriarch of the series. It can be read as a complete, standalone contemporary romance.
Reviews
KIRKUS REVIEW The worlds of thoroughbred racing and high-end wine-making provide a backdrop to this novel that mixes international romance with a mysterious death. Meredith Montgomery is always racing to something, whether it's a meeting to talk about her new wine that's about to launch or to hit the trails in preparation for another marathon. She's the kind of woman who seems to have it all--but that description also includes breast cancer. A second bout with the disease has Meredith running scared. Before she undergoes surgery, she takes what she hopes will be a quick trip to Edinburgh to do some research on her family's winery. There, she runs into an intriguing character, thoroughbred breeder Elliott Fraser. The two are immediately attracted to one another, but their ties to their work and their smartphones threaten their budding romance. The second novel in the MacKlenna family story proves that author Logan (The Ruby Brooch, 2012) has a smooth, sincere storytelling style that turns what could be an ordinary romance into much more. The heroes, Meredith and Elliott, are extremely human despite their wealth and power. Meredith is wounded from a bad marriage and her cancer trauma, and Elliott is recovering from a past attack on his life and reeling from a current attack on his horses, which could cost him his family business. When the two ultimately get together, their volatile love is strained by their inability to relinquish control--which is part of the reason the story works, since every time it looks like the couple is going to succeed, a realistic problem gets in their way. A human and humorous look at two headstrong characters battling the challenges that come with falling in love.
I really enjoyed the Author's first novel, The Ruby Brooch. Now reading the sequel, The Last MacKlenna, I am even more in awe of Katherine Lowry Logan's talent and skill. In The Last MacKlenna we move forward in time but continue connected to the past through the characters. Logan Lowry firmly plants us in the modern day world of wineries and Thoroughbred horse racing but cleverly creates layers of time and the past woven through her characters and their circumstances. Her main characters capture our minds and hearts as they struggle with life's hard challenges and their own misjudgments. They are very real, very appealing, people I would want to know in my life. As I watch the story unfold I also find myself appreciating Lowry Logan's depth of detail and history. She creates a spellbinding reality and even gives you real history to support her story and characters. In the end you wish it would go on for more chapters, its just that good! Can't wait for the next one!
