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My Heart's in the Highlands Kindle Edition

by Amy Hoff (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 43 ratings
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The year is 1888. Brilliant and beautiful, Lady Jane Crichton has fought the constraints of her Victorian Edinburgh upbringing to become one of the first women to attend university for medicine. Denied a degree because of her gender, she decides to marry a closeted gay man, providing him with political and social cover and herself with the time and money to pursue her scientific interests—one of which is a time machine. Jane’s machine works…but not exactly as she expected, and soon she has crash-landed in the 13th-century Scottish Highlands.

There she is rescued by a wild, red-haired warrior woman, Ainslie nic Dòmhnaill, next in line to the chiefship of the great Clan Donald, the rulers of the Sea Kingdom of the Isles. Despite the constant threat of attacks from enemy clans, harsh winters and a touch of homesickness, Jane finds herself bewitched by this land, this time and this magnificent woman. The rough and warlike Ainslie also feels the magic and revels in a passion and love neither she nor Jane had ever imagined.

But Jane is hiding a dangerous secret—one that threatens to tragically transform their Highland fairy tale.
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  1. Print length
    335 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    July 17, 2020
  5. File size
    2933 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Amy "Dean" Hoff lived on the US road for years. She is a Scottish historian and folklorist, and has lived in Glasgow, Scotland, for the last decade, more or less. She is also a filmmaker and dancer. She travels all the time, but Scotland is her home.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08CRYJY96
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bella Books (July 17, 2020)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 17, 2020
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2933 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 335 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 43 ratings

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Amy Hoff

Amy Hoff

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
43 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

C. M. L.
5.0 out of 5 stars Great story about early & Victorian Scottish lesbians....
Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2021
Verified Purchase
Excellent lesbian historical fiction, especially as the author took great care to stay true (as one can) to the cultures and history of the 2 time periods in which the story takes place. Was very happy to learn more about the history of the times in the author's excellent endnotes & in her pronunciation guide. And to read a story about us - who have been and will be actors in every time and place! Kudos to you!
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Tanyawriter
5.0 out of 5 stars Time machine
Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2020
She has been to medical school but was denied becoming a doctor so she marries a gay man to gain the funds she needs. She wants to build a time machine and she succeeds. She crazy lands in the past where she meets a wild woman. What will happen between them? Will she want to go back to her own time? See where the past will lead her
I received an advance copy from hidden gems and I want to review
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WY_reader
3.0 out of 5 stars Great characters
Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2021
This book is an entertaining read with a unique glimpse into the past. I really liked the characters, a number of whom are actual historic persons, and felt invested in their stories. The time-travel aspect was not overdone, merely the vehicle (pun intended!) to open the heroine's eyes to what her life could be. The only thing I really didn't like were the intimate scenes, not because I don't go for that but because I felt they did not match up well with the characters' personalities. That said, this book was well-written and I would certainly consider reading another by this author.

Disclaimer: I was provided an ARC for free and am voluntarily leaving a review. The final version may differ from that which I reviewed. All opinions are my own.
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Gabriella
4.0 out of 5 stars Queer Outlander from 1888 to 1293!
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2020
I received a free copy of this book from BookSirens in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 stars. The premise of My Heart’s in the Highlands had me bursting with excitement. A Scottish Victorian time-traveling female scientist who accidentally travels back to 1293 (!!!) and falls in love with the powerful female soon-to-be-chief of one of the Highland clans?? Incredible. Masterful. This book isn’t perfect by any means, and I found some of the plot choices iffy, but I sure enjoyed reading it.

It’s obvious Hoff knows her stuff about Scottish history, and this book made me want to visit Scotland even more than I already did. The descriptions are lush, and I could see everything as if it were right in front of me. Writing about life in 1293 must have been a challenge, but Hoff’s writing is seamless.

Jane is a wonderful character, and I loved how traveling back in time informed her of not only life back then, but her own time as well. Jane is strong and self-assured, and Ainslie is probably one of the only people who could go toe-to-toe with her. They’re certainly a dynamic pair! And David, Jane’s gay husband, is wonderfully genial and supportive.

Several of the scenes between Jane and Ainslie are incredibly sweet. Like, mushy, aww-inducing, that’s-where-it’s-at level stuff. However, a few of the love scenes just did not sit well with me, because I didn’t feel there was enough consent happening. I mean, they both undeniably wanted to be doing what they were doing, but yeah, I’d have liked some more explicit consent. Also, the romance is totally insta-love, which I didn’t exactly mind, but found a bit jarring at times.

It’s unclear how Jane ends up on the island of Islay in 1293 in the first place, and the co-occurring passage of time (?) between 1888 and 1293 seem a bit random. Maybe this is all intentional though, since time-traveling is a new, unpredictable science. Regardless, this book is definitely more historical fiction than science fiction.

The Author’s Guide was an interesting and necessary addition to the book. In the guide, Hoff describes which characters were based on real people, which story elements were true to the time period, which elements were entirely artistic license, and which elements were estimates based on limited evidence. The most obvious use of artistic license is that 19th-century Jane and 13th-century Ainslie could have even communicated at all, much less so easily.

Overall, this was a memorable read, and I’m off on a Scottish history Wikipedia binge.
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Tracy Bartolone
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and sexy
Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2020
As a free reader and lover of historical romance this is an amazing twist. The love between Ainslie and Jane is epic and cannot easily be put into words. The read is compelling and I look forward to seeing what fun take on history will be taken in Amy Hoff's next novel.
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Michelle Louise
2.0 out of 5 stars Lesbian Highland Romance with an eye toward the culture and not the story.
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2020
One of the first women to attend Edinburgh University, Jane keenly feels the restrictions placed upon her as a woman living in the Victorian period. After all, she is more intelligent than many of her male colleagues. The proof: she’s invented a machine which allows her to travel through time. But when she goes to show it off to her favorite Professor, something goes wrong and she ends up trapped in the Scottish Highlands.

Thankfully, she’s found by Ainslie, the daughter of a laird and heir to the title herself. Jane needs to get home, but the longer she stays the more enchanted she becomes with 13th century Scotland, its people, and... and... Ainslie.

Can Jane bring herself to return to her Victorian life or is her heart going to remain forever in the Highlands?

---

This book has everything that I could ever want in a romance! Time Travel? Check. Women being awesome? Check. Promised Historical Accuracy? Check. Historical Lesbian Romance? Check. Accurate portrayal of Scots and Scottish culture. Check.

I was so looking forward to reading this book. Sadly the execution did not live up to the potential. I was disappointed, and that’s, well, disappointing.

First off, the editing left a lot to be desired. I found so many comma errors (both missing commas and randomly added ones) that it was distracting. The same was true with missing or wrong words. At one point, I was thrown out of the story at the mention of Potatoes being served in the 13th century... this is out and out impossible historically since potatoes are a New World crop and weren’t introduced to Europe until the 16th century at the earliest. Those weren’t the only anachronisms present in this book.

Nor were the anachronisms the only thing that threw me out of the book. It felt like a thinly veiled Outlander satire... and not a good one at that. Multiple times during the story I felt like I, the reader, was being attacked for enjoying highlander romance. That there was something wrong with me. It felt like the author was taking pot-shots at the genre... and we all know how I feel about that. Romance needs to be respected, it’s one of the few genres where women are the primary audience. I didn’t like feeling like I was somehow lesser for liking and enjoying romance.

I suspect that the author isn’t a romance reader, or if they do read romance they’ve really only read old school romances. Because there are a lot of beats and tropes in this which have been largely discredited in romance. The biggest of which has to do with the sex scenes. There’s no consent. Which in LBGTQIA+ romance is a particularly egregious no-no. There’s also instalove... which is not one of my favorite tropes in general. The pacing was off, and I struggled with this book. Plot points came out of nowhere... as if the author went “Oh! I like this idea! And then didn’t go back and foreshadow it.” There were many times that I had to put it down and walk away for a bit before I could continue reading it. Or times where I jumped back to reread sections because I was confused about if I’d missed something.

So what did I like about this book? First off, I did like Ainslie... mostly she loses her shine for me as the story goes on. She was fun and funny and spunky. The author has the occasional lovely turn of phrase -- there were times in this story where the prose was so lyrically lovely it made me weep. The depiction of the Scots people, language, and culture was lovely. It was nice to see a highland romance without the randomly gratuitous Gaelic that is so prevalent in the genre. I liked the originality of having the time traveling heroine coming from a time that wasn’t “modern.” I liked Jane’s husband. (Yes she’s married, it’s a marriage of convenience... he’s gay and their marriage is mutually beneficial.) I also liked Jane’s mentor.

There’s good here, but it’s like a diamond in the rough. It needs polishing, trimming, and shaping.

I’ve struggled with what to rate this. I liked it and I didn’t. I could see some people really going for it, especially those for whom dubcon isn’t a huge turn off.

But since I didn’t enjoy it, and there were enough other problems I really can only give this

Two Stars

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley.
7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

jc moffette
2.0 out of 5 stars No spoiler just my opinion
Reviewed in Canada on November 8, 2022
Verified Purchase
I don’t want to be mean, but the story doesn’t make sense. The characters' reactions are not coherent with the situations. I also found that there was a lack of details regarding several situations and locations. When you read you want to imagine yourself there, but there were so many details missing that you couldn’t see anything precise.
Positive? I liked that the author taught us more about Scottish culture. Research has been done and it seems.
I read this book in 2 weeks. It wasn't for me but I still finished it (with difficulty).
For the honeyed hearts you will love the end. For me, it was bland, déjà vu.
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