When I was nine, or thereabouts, my family took one of the greatest vacations of my life. We took my Grandad’s small RV, drove up to Scotland from our house in the Midlands, and spent what felt like all summer, but was probably just a week or two, driving over hills and around mountains, exploring lochs and woodlands. I have vivid memories of this trip, and think of it at least once a month even though it was over 30 years ago.
Along with a pool in the rain, a boat ride on Loch Lomond, and a very cute stuffed animal, the memory of staring at Loch Ness and willing the monster to appear, stays with me more than any other.
We must have visited a museum, but I don’t remember it. We must have walked along the banks, but I don’t remember it. I do remember standing next to what in my memory is a castle, and staring at the deep, staring so hard that my wishes could move the water and that the monster would rise up to greet me.
So when I received a copy of a new book from Lana Ferguson with the tag line “ Up against time, mystery, and a centuries old curse, they’ll quickly discover that magic might not only be in fairy tales, and that love can be a real loch-mess.” I was hooked immediately.
Under Loch and Key is the fourth novel by Ferguson, and the first one I have personally indulged in.
Keyanna MacKay is an American in search of something, though she doesn’t really know what she is looking for. She was raised by her single father far from his home along the Scottish Lochs, absent from her family’s life for her entire life. When he dies, she finds herself bringing her ashes back to his childhood home, and meeting the grandparents she never knew.
Lachlan Greer never really left home. His life and soul lies in the Loch that he lives upon, in more ways than one. The secrets he hides quickly become undone by the redheaded American that stirs something deep within him.
Starting off on the wrong foot, the pair are repeatedly drawn together until all secrets are laid bare, and their paths merge on a journey of discovery that might just save them both.
Not to mince words, I loved this book. The developing romance was wonderful for sure, but the love story between Keyanna and her grandparents filled my soul. Her warm and welcoming grandfather, her prickly and distant grandmother. The way she fit right into their lives and into the village. The romance is wonderful, but the love of a grandfather and granddaughter is true love. I am very biased, my own grandfather was taken from me far too soon and remains one of my favorite people in the entire world. Reading Finlay’s response to the arrival of his granddaughter made me feel everything all at once, and while I did bring my own emotions and memories to the table, it was so beautifully written and put together.
“Wheesht with that now,” he scoffs, “You’ll call me Grandpa or nothing at all, girl.”… “Och,” he rumbles, his voice sounding rough. “I dinnae ken this day would ever come.” His accent thickens with the emotions in his tone, and when he opens his arm and approaches me, I can’t find it in me to refuse him. I let him embrace me, and the comforting warmth he emanates is admittedly welcome, familiar even.”
Lachlan and Keyanna can’t help but be drawn together, and their story plays out in pubs, on fields, in abandoned castles, and of course on the lake itself. The mythology that Ferguson creates around not only Lachlan’s family, but the ancestry of Keyanna is breathtaking, mixing so much that is familiar and so much that is new and interesting. She takes old legend and creates something quite new and exciting. And of course we eventually reach our spice levels, which were a tad monstrous but in a good way.
And then there’s the Loch Ness monster of course. Keyanna visits a cheesy tourist trap of a museum, but also gets up close and personal with legend. In the waves and in the walls of the old castle in the hills. The infamous sightings from 1933 and the picture from 1934 are mentioned, and given a special place in the “real” history of the monster. It really is exciting to read the story that Ferguson has put together around such a well know piece of British mythology.
The monster gives a weak chuff, something that might almost sound like a snort on something that wasn’t the size of a small charter plane. I imagine it’s thinking that my threats aren’t much of an incentive not to take a bite out of me, but it’s all I’ve got.
The cast of characters created to accompany our enemies-to-lovers, and our monster, are established well and quickly, and lead me to believe that this will not be our last visit to this village. We need at least two more novels about the pub owning twins Rory and Blair, whose love lives could keep us warm on many nights. But the story also lends itself to at least a few prequels. Much mythology was created in this book, and there is much still to explore. There is a slight touch of the Outlander about this setting and backstory, and while I am not a fan of those Scottish novels, I would welcome more from Ferguson.
If you enjoyed this book and want a taste of what it was to be a British kid growing up in the eighties then you should immediately go to youtube and check out the Family Ness. It was an integral part of my childhood and the theme song may or may not have formed much of the inner background noise in my mind while I was reading this book.
GeekMom received a copy of this book for review purposes
