A Garden in the Rain

Title: A Garden in the Rain
Author: Lynn Kurland
Series: MacLeod (Book 8)
Genre: Time Travel, Historical Romance



Madelyn Phillips just arrived in Scotland. She gets to her first hotel to find that her ex-fiance has "stolen" her reservations. The ex-fiance, Bentley, is a rude dislikable guy. When he is done taking what she's brought with her and her home life, she is left with nothing. No clothes (at home nor in Scotland), no car, no money, no job and she will have to go home to live with her parents. He has also stolen her violin, her purse (with ID and plane ticket) and pretty much her self confidence and worth. Then she stumbles into Patrick.

Patrick MacLeod is not your average guy. He grew up in the 1200s and managed to walk through a time gate and was transported to present day, where he has been for almost the past decade. He lives in a crumbling castle, which he doesn't repair because he really doesn't see why he should. Patrick has tons of money from being a body guard to the rich. He cannot stand to see Madelyn so broken down, especially since he gets a funny otherworldly feeling when he looks at her.

He pampers her with clothing and anything else she could ever want, including a new violin. The two seem on their way to a wedding when Patrick's previous deceased wife's father comes and wreaks havoc. He decides the best thing for Madelyn is to be sent home and gets ready to do so.

Unfortunately, she falls through another time gate and ends up with the 1300's in the hands of the MacLeods' enemies. It's up to Patrick to save her and bring her back to the future.

Thanks to Amazon for recommending this book. I had been searching about another book and it recommended Lynn Kurland as a similar author.

This book to me was fascinating. I enjoyed how everyone seemed to either be from a different time or married to someone from a different time. The unexpectedness of the time gates throughout their properties, even if they weren't actually used too much in the story.

I'm having a hard time getting my hands on some of the books in the series, so I will definitely (but unfortunately) be reading them out of order. Now that I know the general idea behind them, I think it'll work out decent enough.

Something interesting about the author's writings, is that they are PG books. There is nothing above kissing mentioned. It is discretely suggested at otherwise with Madelyn being, "extraordinarily glad Dewey's brass bed had been too much for Uncle Frank's back." Uncle Frank having taken just about all furniture from the house, but that's it. It was very tasteful and I honestly didn't really even notice that it was missing.

After checking out the author's website, I'm still slightly confused by the family tree and through searching it seems I'm not the only one. It appears that the MacLeod series also intertwines with another series, which I'll probably get to after. Hopefully after reading all the books (albeit in the wrong order) I'll have a better idea of the family tree.