Grace Burrowes brings her wonderful, polite and gentlemanly men from her HIstorical Romances to this Contemporary Romance. Elias Brodie is a true hero - handsome, kind, caring, loving .... he's even an Earl. But, he is a hero caught between a rock and a hard place. He inherited a castle in Scotland that is in dire need of repair and a large farm in MD that he must sell to pay for the castle.
The only problem is that when he arrives in MD he falls in love with the neighboring farmer and she is adamant about not selling to developers.
Even as they struggle to come up with a solution to keep the farm, they fall in love. The struggles are heart breaking at times as it seems like there is no solution that will work for both of them. The sad parts make the Happily Ever After all the better.
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Elias Brodie has inherited a mess: an earldom in Scotland, a castle that needs repairs, and kin that depend on him to fix their problems. He needs ready cash and the only property he can sell is a large farm sited in Maryland. His new neighbor is Violet Hughes who runs her own farm enthusiastically. There is an immediate attraction, but Violet is worried that he only intends to sell to someone who will develop the property rather than farm. He also needs to go back to Scotland in order to fix the rest of his problems.
I've had a soft spot for Elias ever since he appeared in some of Ms. Burrowes previous books and I love his story. The lonely, orphaned boy has grown to an honorable man, and Violet is a match in every sense of the word, seeing beneath to the inner person while still holding to her own principles about development vs. farmland. Elias comes up with a solution that surprised me (and made me happy). I lived in a similar farming town that has been taken over by development; it's still a lovely place, but I miss the farms.
It was also great to see some of my other favorite characters again; Dunstan and 'wee Jane' are neighbors of Violet's, and Magnus in Montana gets mentioned a few times. Ms. Burrowes never disappoints. I can't wait to find out how Max fares in Scotland in the next contemporary book. ( )