Not a ton of complexity, but a fun story nonetheless. ( )

I started this without realizing it was YA, which I'm picky about and try to avoid accidentally dabbling in. This one wasn't my cup of tea. One group of highlanders that slays another in the 1740s or so is cursed with an immortality where they cannot feel or experience anything. Our young heroine, descendant of the one member of the slain clan that was snuck out of the slaughter, falls in love with one of the cursed members and brings a whole lot of woe and a possible solution to the curse to the table.

There's a lot of nice tourist detail of Scotland. Sam, an American, travels there as part of a student exchange, and her host family as well as her beau Payton takes her around to see the major tourist draws. This reads like a travelogue of a trip the writer took, but the detail is still nice.

Less appealing is some of the strange lack of detail elsewhere. Payton's family refers to the rising in 1745 several times, but without any detail in their involvement, and with no other mention in other historic incidents they may have taken part in, such as the world wars. The vague allusions without any detail inevitably made me think of Outlander, which is not a work you want to draw comparison to.

I also disliked Sam, the heroine, who dismisses a potential American beau rather rudely several times at the beginning of the book. Her rejection is based on the fact that he seems like a shallow flirt, but when he sincerely approaches her again and again, and she coldly shuts him down without speaking to him, she seems just as shallow, and this ruined my opinion of her for the rest of the novel. She repents this harsh judgement later, but not until almost the end.

The characters and plot also struck me as a little generic. There were nice touches along the way, but again, YA isn't really my favorite, and I'm super-picky. It will likely appeal more to people that are big fans of these books. ( )

It all starts with a piece of jewelry, a necklace, the family crest...
I was cleaning out the attic in my grandma's old house when I saw it. It was a silver necklace, old and tarnished. But it took my breath away. It was as if my grandma was giving me a last gift. In the same box was a small red book. Little did I know that these two items would change my life in ways I couldn't possibly imagine.
**
Sam travels to Scotland as a foreign exchange student. When she gets there the weather is bitter and cold. She tries to open her suitcase for something warm to wear but is blindsighted by a man on a motorcycle. Sam isn't hurt but astounded that the rider came out of no where. The two meet again as she is left at a gift shop; her ride forgetting to pick her up.

"I know this sounds awfully strange lass but I'd like to see you again." says the rider.

The two become inseparable. The rider, Payton , is falling for her in only a short period of time. He is feeling things he hasn't felt for so long. It's almost as if Sam is making him feel things again. But he tells a devastating secret. One that rattles both of their worlds. She falls apart as he tells her. She can't believe her ears! How could he have done such a thing? Payton hasn't told anyone this in all of his life. Can he trust Sam as she leaves for America? Will the distance keep his secret safe? ( )