New and out now! - A Strange Scottish Shore by Juliana Gray

Description: Scotland, 1906. A mysterious object discovered inside an ancient castle calls Maximilian Haywood, the new Duke of Olympia, and his fellow researcher Emmeline Truelove north to the remote Orkney Islands. No stranger to the study of anachronisms in archeological digs, Haywood is nevertheless puzzled by the artifact: a suit of clothing that, according to family legend, once belonged to a selkie who rose from the sea and married the castle’s first laird. But Haywood and Truelove soon realize they’re not the only ones interested in the selkie’s strange hide. When their mutual friend Lord Silverton vanishes in the night from an Edinburgh street, their quest takes a dangerous turn through time, which puts Haywood’s extraordinary talents—and Truelove’s courage—to their most breathtaking test yet.

Publication Date: September 19th, 2017
Imprint: Berkley
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
Genre: Romance, Historical Fiction
Received From: Netgalley in exchange for honest feedback
My Rating: 4/5


I am a sucker for anything Scottish, so obviously this title hooked me right away! I do like the cover, though it puts me more in mind of a cozy mystery, and other readers on Goodreads have shelved it in mystery, so I spent most of the book thinking it was a mystery, and I'm pretty sure that it showed up in that genre to me on Netgalley, even though they considered it Historical Fiction and Romance in the write up. Be that as it may, there IS a mystery to be solved, and a very interesting one at that!

First off, this is the second in a series, but that didn't give me too much trouble, other than making me want to go back and read the first one!  It has several of my favorite touchstones, time travel, archaeology, mysterious artifacts and Scotland, and it didn't disappoint!  I found Truelove to be a bit like Amelia Peabody in my favorite Egyptian mystery series by Elizabeth Peters, which is to say, she must be in the middle of everything and she will satisfy her curiosity, even at great danger to herself! I'd like to see the development of her friendly/working relationship with Max which I believe happens in the first book, as we don't see much of him here.  It seems like a very close friendship, which causes more than a few misunderstandings for them,   The main focus of the story is on Truelove and Silverton (also an enigma as we get to see two very different versions of his personality).

There are many twists and plenty of action!  I expected the ending to work out differently than it did, and I'm interested to see where the series goes from here, because the premise can't just end there!  I definitely recommend this one to the Scotland/Ancient Scotland romance and time traveling fans, this wasn't your typical historical romance in my opinion, as my notion that it was a mystery really never ended.  I felt there was just as much focus on that, as on the romance, and I'm interested in more!

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

Passage, n. i. A brief section of music composed of a series of notes and flourishes. ii. A journey by water; a voyage. iii. The transition from one place to another, across space and time. In one devastating night, violin prodigy Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda, Etta is certain of only one thing: she has traveled not just miles but years from home. And she’s inherited a legacy she knows nothing about from a family whose existence she’s never heard of. Until now. Nicholas Carter is content with his life at sea, free from the Ironwoods—a powerful family in the colonies—and the servitude he’s known at their hands. But with the arrival of an unusual passenger on his ship comes the insistent pull of the past that he can’t escape and the family that won’t let him go so easily. Now the Ironwoods are searching for a stolen object of untold value, one they believe only Etta, Nicholas’ passenger, can find. In order to protect her, he must ensure she brings it back to them—whether she wants to or not. Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by the traveler who will do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwoods’ grasp. But as they get closer to the truth of their search, and the deadly game the Ironwoods are playing, treacherous forces threaten to separate Etta not only from Nicholas but from her path home... forever.

It was the cover of this one that caught my eye first, with the city in a bottle and the reflection of a ship under the water, such neat artwork! It was suggested as a possible group read in a Goodreads group that I admin, and while it didn't win that round, I was intrigued enough to still give it a try.  I will definitely keep it in the running for the group read! Adventure, time travel to exotic locations, some romance, an artifact hunt, roller coaster feelings, there is a lot here!

The main draw after the cover caught me was time travel, I'm a sucker for the ability to pack history in with that nifty mechanism, and I enjoyed looking up images of the places they traveled to online.  I won't say where they went, that's part of the fun!  Also, you need a good hunt through time with a puzzle, and a handsome and conflicted pirate (ahem, legal thank you very much), while being chased by who knows how many different factions.  For not knowing anything like this was possible, Etta really took the whole thing very well! 

I enjoyed the characters, except for Sophia, you aren't supposed to like her though, and every time you almost feel sorry for her, yep, she says something that just makes you want to strangle her.  Papa Ironwood is of course super evil, though even he you can feel a smidge of empathy for when you know what he's up to, although it's still all for his own gain.  Nicholas and Etta fit together almost immediately, in fact so well that he is afraid to believe it.  Etta meanwhile is just bulling through the whole adventure like a bat out of hell that will not be stopped! She's got moxy for sure!

On the whole this was a great YA adventure with a lot of my favorite elements included which I would definitely recommend to you if you're looking for some treasure hunting, time skipping fun!