"A great plot with an unexpected twist"

Not quite comprehending what is happening to him, Cameron floats towards the light. When he regains consciousness, he has no memory of his past, but feels as if something is not right due to a recurring nightmare. He dreams of an automobile and a screaming woman, but in mid fifteenth century Scotland cars were not even a flicker of anyone's imagination.

Cameron learns that he is married to Marjory as part of ending a clan feud, but she clearly detests him as his side killed her parents several years ago. Marjory knows that her spouse's recovery from the rockslide accident that buried and obviously killed him is miraculous because this prevented the genocide of her clan by his. However, she finds her husband radically changed as he cares what happens to everyone and he looks at her with desire, neither of which he displayed before the incident. She wonders if he really suffers from amnesia or if this is just another ploy. Yet he seems genuine as Marjory finds her worst nightmare has occurred: she loves her mate.

Dee Davis displays the range of her talent as she switches sub-genres from her usual powerful romantic suspense tales to a delightful time travel novel. The key to the story line is Cameron who knows nothing seems right, but cannot fathom why. The reactions of everyone to his seemingly changed behavior as he is suddenly considerate of others is fun to see play out. Readers will take much delight observing the bewildered cast especially his wife struggle to comprehend what is happening to Cameron and how to react to his radical transformation.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted November 24, 2003

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Summary

ROSE

Marjory Macpherson felt rebirth at hand. She'd known fifteen years of winter since her parents' brutal murder at the hands of the rival Cameron clan. But now Ewen—the enemy son she'd been forced to marry—was dead, perished in a rockslide. Marjory rejoiced. She could shed her thorns...at least, until her husband's father returned.

IS A ROSE

Yet, was her husband dead? When Marjory went to retrieve Ewen's body, she found instead a living breathing man, covered in blood, talking strangely but very much alive.

BY ANY OTHER NAME

Although he wore her husband's face and kilt, Marjory recognized salvation. Whether he was a kinder Ewen or another who, as he claimed, had been transplanted from the future, the man she'd found was the key, a strange twist of fate that reseeded Marjory's future. It was finally time for Crannag Mhóór to bloom again: a rebirth that brought with it the promise of true love.