THE TAMING OF A SCOTTISH PRINCESS – Karen Hawkins
The Hurst Amulet Series Conclusion
Pocket Books
ISBN: 978-1-4391-7595-8
June 2012
Historical Romance

London and Scotland , 1822

Famed explorer Michael Hurst is free of captivity in Egypt and back in England . Thanks in large part to the help of three of his five siblings, he believes he's nearing his goal of finding the long lost Hurst Amulet, an artifact stolen from his family centuries ago. Legend attributes the amulet with magic, also with luck…good and bad. (Queen Elizabeth thought it bad luck and sent it out of England, and the MacLean family surely found it unlucky, for the ancestor who stole it from the Hursts brought down a curse on his head and on those of all his descendants, as told in Ms. Hawkins's MacLean Curse series.) But back to the present…

Michael has little patience for Society and the fawning hero worship by silly young chits that his exploits garner him. But necessity for finding sponsorship for his explorations, not to mention the reminders from his intrepid assistant, Miss Jane Smythe-Haughton, prod him into getting a promise of funding. Now he's free at last to journey to Scotland , where all clues point to the location of the amulet. Something odd happens on the journey north; Michael really sees Jane as more than the efficient person who has made his life easier the last four years. He doesn't much like these new feelings of possession.

Adventures and dangers await Michael and Jane as they follow the trail to the amulet. And as they get to the small isle in the Hebrides , Michael is faced with a puzzle almost the equal to those he's spent his adult life solving. Who is Jane? What is her story?

THE TAMING OF A SCOTTISH PRINCESS neatly winds up the tale of the Hurst family and its amulet, as well as those who become involved with them. The heroes are larger than life, though in Michael's case, you need to get past the grumpiness to find the gold beneath. Perhaps he just needs an independent and feisty heroine such as Jane to manage his irascible nature. The evolving relationship between the two is lots of fun to watch.

Each of the series enthralls and entertains as a suspenseful romance, but if you haven't yet read any, I recommend reading them in sequence as most rewarding. Vicar Hurst and his good wife certainly produced a resourceful and fascinating family. Start with daughter Mary's tale in ONE NIGHT IN SCOTLAND and proceed with William's (captain of his own merchant ship), Robert's (something in the Home Office), then Michael's tales. You'll be in for hours of captivating reading.

If you've been following the series all along, you'll find satisfaction in THE TAMING OF A SCOTTISH PRINCESS.

Jane Bowers