What appeals to me about Lana and the Laird is that Lana is not a damsel in distress. She isn't in need of rescue but ultimately proved to be the saving grace for Lachlan. I received an ARC of Lana and the Laird in exchange for an honest review. Hard to believe that Sabrina York is a fairly new author to me. In such a short time I have become enamored of her hypnotic stories. With a smidge of mystical, Ms. York has spun her web of sultriness and gained a fan in me. ( )

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Ever since Lana almost died as a child, she has had the ability to see ghosts and learn things about people and future events. It's a blessing and a curse as it keeps her isolated from others because of their fear of her. Lachlan grew up without his parents because of an ancient curse that claims all men of the Sinclair line will die before their thirtieth birthday, unless an old family heirloom necklace broken apart can be found and brought back together. His curse has kept him isolated from others as they don't want to be attached to the "Doomed Duke". When Lana and Lachlan meet, they recognize each other from their dreams and begin to wonder if they don't have to be so alone anymore.

The third book in the Untamed Highlanders series, I had no big problems reading this as a standalone. There were obvious characters and couples from the previous books but other than missing out on the nostalgia feel of seeing them again, I didn't feel I was missing anything. I don't know about those stories but the title of this one felt a wee bit like a misnomer; our highlander was born in Scotland and is a Scottish Duke but he was raised and grew up in London and through speech and actions, acts very much like a London lord. He tries to find his warrior soul through saying "verra" and wearing a kilt later on, however.

I wasn't expecting it because the synopsis didn't give a hint to it, but this had a paranormal bent to it. Our heroine sees ghosts and can communicate with them through visions and thoughts. This was initially an interesting aspect but after it is introduced, Lana walking through the castle seeing ghosts everywhere, for the rest of the majority of the story, it is ignored. She sees the hero's dead mother and learns just enough about her story to throw a wrench into the hero's previous beliefs but of course not quite enough to solve the mystery of who the bad guy is. Her abilities are then revisited in the end when they come in handy again to save the day. The convenience and ignoring of this side of the heroine made it lack credibility and stemmed the interestingness of it and made it more tagged on.

I was not the biggest fan of the hero, he seemed almost simple. I understand he was taught and grew up with a certain narrative spoon fed to him but at twenty-nine years old, he still couldn't see the writing on the wall. I would have been ok with it for the most part but when Lana explains how ghosts don't need to open and close doors and other pertinent facts (I seriously thought she was going to have to draw him a picture), which then unravel a lot of issues and bring certain facts to light, he still blindly believes the bad guy narrative. A narrative that as it gets fully explained how it came about, to the reader, ends up with a lot of holes to it. His family has been cursed for decades, his parent's killed themselves, all men of his line die by thirty, and only finding a necklace will help but apparently the bad guy(s) made it all up? I wasn't quite sure as the ending became very convoluted as to who all the participants were in his family's demise.

Our couple had a bit of insta-lust/love going on, they dreamed about each other so they automatically thought they were each other’s "one". Lana had many contemporary views; thought having sex and having a baby out of wedlock would be no problem and an overly plucky attitude. This seemed to be a common personality trait as all the women characters were overly full of gumption. Together they interacted well but there seemed to be some depth missing. This story had the innocent tone of a Garwood but lacked the strength of story and characters.

Overall, I felt the hero needed to mature (holy cow was his belief in his family's curse, even after all was revealed, at the end annoying), the heroine's sight mentioned only when needed after the beginning introduction, and the general tangled and splotchy storyline made this an ok read.
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Ghosts, hauntings and curses are part and parcel of this story.

Lana Dounreay, sister of Hannah and Susannah from books one and two, is considered a bit “off” since she claims to interact with ghosts. She wants a husband and family but fears she may never find a man willing to be with her because of what others consider her affliction.

Lachlan Sinclair, Duke of Caithness, lost his parents when a baby and was raised in England by a relative. His main companion has been his cousin Dougal. Having been told his entire life that he is cursed and will die before he is thirty he returns home to rebuild the family home. He wants a wife, family and future but has vowed not to bring another Sinclair into the world to suffer the curse of his family line.

When Lana and Lachlan meet they are immediately aware of and attracted to one another. Whether or not they will act on this attraction and have a future together is a big question.

In addition to the love story there are plots, liars, scoundrels, ghosts, and other issues to deal with. The people of books one and two of the trilogy are included in this novel and play significant roles in giving Lachlan a clearer view of what it means to be Laird of the lands he is responsible for.

An aside…Isobel though only a child is fierce and adds a great deal to the story. I would love to see her in a future book with a love story of her own. Perhaps Fiona, John Robin and others could be included.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’ Press for the complimentary copy given to me in exchange for my honest review. ( )

So either I was too distracted by the fact that there is a hunky Scottish guy in the book while I was reading the description or there was something pretty big left out of it. I did not know that there would be a big paranormal chunk to this book and that really threw me off as that is not what I was expecting from this book. It didn't ruin the book for me but just threw me for a loop.

I came in to reading this book not having read any of the previous books of the series and I felt like I was able to follow along pretty well. Clearly some of the supporting characters had previously been featured in the other books but I still felt like they were introduced nicely in this book. I spent most of this book more interested in the supporting characters than the main ones so I would be a little curious to go back and read the previous books of the series.

I didn't altogether like either Lachlan or Lana. I felt like Lachlan was pretty blind and stupid throughout the whole book because it was pretty obvious what was going on. Lana was a tad annoying to me at times but out of the two I liked her more than Lachlan.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the galley. ( )

Lady Lana Dounreay is a feisty lass, and if any one can teach an English Duke to be a Scottish Laird she can. This was a fun book. Lana believes she has seen Lachlan in her dreams dressed as a wild highlander, but in reality Lachlan has lived his lived as an English gentleman in fancy clothes and starched cravats and also a curse that threaten to shorten his life, Lachlan believes he will die when he reaches the age of thirty so he has decided not to marry or have children.
Lachlan finds his life pushed to the limits when he meets Lana, and change is hard. But when they fall in love things get complicated, and also intriguing.
A very entertaining story full of love, romance and a little drama. A great read. 5/5 ( )