Blue Bells of Scotland by Laura Vosika

Synopsis from Goodreads:  Shawn has a skyrocketing musical career, fans, fame, money, his beautiful girlfriend Amy, and all the women he wants. Everything changes Amy has enough and leaves him stranded in a Scottish castle tower overnight. He wakes up in medieval Scotland. Mistaken for the castle's future laird, he is forced to make a dangerous cross-country trek with a beautiful woman wielding a knife, pursued by English soldiers and a Scottish traitor, to raise men for the critical battle at Bannockburn. 

Niall Campbell, Shawn's opposite in everything except looks, is no more happy to find himself caught in Shawn's life, pursued by women, the target of an angry girlfriend, expected to play a sell-out concert, and hearing the account of his own death and Scotland's annihilation at Bannockburn. He vows to figure out what went wrong at the battle, and find a way back to change it. 

Blue Bells of Scotland is both an action-packed adventure and a tale of redemption that will be remembered long after the last page has been turned. 

About the author:  Laura Vosika is a world traveler who has a degree in music.  Much of Laura's career has been spent with music.  She has worked for years as a music teacher, freelance musician, music teacher and band director as well as giving private music lessons.  She currently makes her home in Minnesota with her husband and nine children.

My thoughts:   I was very excited about this tour when it was announced.  The summary was somewhat reminiscent of the very book that turned me on to historical fiction.  It involved handsome Scots, and travel back into time.  Is this sounding familiar at all?  Niall was no Jamie Fraser, but he was captivating in his own way.  I was a little bit afraid that I would spend the entire novel making comparisons to Outlander, but I didn't have to worry about that.  Blue Bells of Scotland was different enough to grab my attention on its own.    

The story jumps back and forth between present day Scotland and Scotland in the year 1314.  The imagery transported me to the castles and moors of Scotland and I became immersed in the story.   I think that the author spent a sufficient amount of time in both time periods so that you really understood where each of the characters were coming from.  She gave you time to form your opinions on each of them and figure out where you wanted the story to go.  I was truly surprised by the ending and I am thrilled that this is the first installment of the trilogy.  I cannot wait to read the next installment, but I was unable to find out when we should expect to see it.

I would recommend this story to fans of Historical/time travel fiction.  Anyone who enjoyed Outlander will enjoy Blue Bells of Scotland.  I've already had two requests from friends to read my copy because they know how much I enjoyed it.  If you do pick it up, let me know what you think.

Do you have any suggestions of other authors or books similar to the Outlander series?  I'd love to check them out.  


I received my copy of Blue Bells of Scotland from the author to participate in this tour presented by Pump up Your Book.