PW Reviews Just Say Yes and Lord of the Black Isle

This week’s issue of Publishers Weekly features two fiction reviews: Just Say Yes by Phillipa Ashley and Lord of the Black Isle by Elaine Coffman, both June releases.

Just Say Yes
Phillipa Ashley. Sourcebooks Landmark, $9.99 trade paper (352p) ISBN 978-1-4022-4143-7
Ashley (Carrie Goes Off the Map) delivers a frothy chick lit commentary on love and spectacle. Lucy Gibson barely knows Nick Laurentis—aside from in the biblical sense—when he proposes in front of 10 million people after winning a British reality TV competition. An overwhelmed Lucy declines, and media hell ensues. Lucy’s closet friend, Fiona, spirits her off to a cabin she owns in a seaside town outside London where Lucy meets Josh Standring, who owns the nearby cabins. To spare Lucy the nightmare of further media exposure, Fiona tells Josh that Lucy is a merchant banker who has suffered a minor meltdown. Josh has a girlfriend and Lucy has just about given up on love, but the two are drawn to each other. Will her real identity scare him off? While the ending is far from unexpected, it will charm Ashley’s existing fans—and new ones. (June)
Reviewed on: 04/23/2012
Permalink: http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4022-4143-7

Lord of the Black Isle
Elaine Coffman. Sourcebooks Casablanca, $7.99 mass market (352p) ISBN 978-1-4022-5949-4
Coffman enchants readers with mystical time travel and sweeping, spicy romance in the third installment of her Mackinnon-Douglas series (after The Return of Black Douglas). Dr. Elisabeth Douglas has traveled from 21st-century America to 16th-century Scotland and is prepared to marry her sister’s brother-in-law, Ronan, when the king’s regent orders him to wed another. A distraught Elisabeth focuses on her first love, medicine, and decides to travel to Soutra Aisle to practice medicine among the friars at the largest hospital in Scotland. En route, Elisabeth is captured by Angus MacLean and rescued by Highland laird David Murray. As Elisabeth decides whether to trust David with her secrets, the two are caught up in mutual attraction. Elisabeth’s wit, intelligence, and independence add spark to her interactions with David, who longs for her despite her unwillingness to be properly submissive. Fans of mystical historicals will love this tale of culture clash. (June)
Reviewed on: 04/23/2012
Permalink: http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-4022-5949-4