The Handfasters by Helen Susan Swift – Book Review

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Title: The Handfasters (you can Buy on Amazon here)

Author: Helen Susan Swift

Publisher: Liaison – A Next Chapter Imprint

Genre: History, Romance

Pages: 310

Format: E-Book

Rating: ***** (5/5 Stars)

About: Scotland, 1811. Coming from the Highlands to Edinburgh in search of a husband, Alison Lamont finds herself in all sorts of trouble.

Thrown out of a fashionable ball for a stolen kiss, Alison flees from a riot in the notorious Old Town and meets Willie Kemp, an eccentric boatbuilder. While she falls deeply in love with Mr. Kemp, her aunt wishes her to marry the obnoxious but rich John Forres.

Alison takes drastic measures to solve her dilemma, including a long trip through the snow-covered Pentland Hills. But who left the mysterious footprints outside her cottage, and what secrets is Mr. Kemp hiding?

Review: So I actually found this quite slow at the beginning, but I’m so glad that I stuck with it until the end.

There are so many twists and turns in this book and I absolutely loved it by the end.

It was not what I expected at all – it was so much better than I expected!

Without spoiling anything, this is a book where you can’t predict anything. It kept surprising me right till the very end.

There’s nothing complicated about this read, and it is something that can be read easily one evening.

It’s well researched and casually introduces a lot of interesting facts about Scotland’s history, geography and social environment of the time. I felt like I learned a lot after reading this book.

However, the only thing I will have to say, is that the cover does not reflect who the main character is, particularly as she is meant to have black hair not blonde (something which is mentioned a few times in the book).

Other than that though I have nothing negative to say about it.

It’s written as the memoirs of an elderly lady, and the writing style isn’t something that I am used to. But I really enjoyed this new way to read a story.

I would quite happily reread this book and I think more people should give it a go as well.

If you love history, romance, Scotland then this book would be perfect for you.

I’m so glad I came across this book, and I can’t recommend it enough!