Love Beyond Hope: A Scottish, Time-Traveling Romance

By: Bethany Claire

Narrated by: Lily Collingwood

Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's Summary

Love is the most powerful kind of magic. Baodan McMillan values many things in life: friendship, loyalty, kindness, but certainly not love. After the tragic death of his wife many years ago, he hardened himself to the idea of giving his heart to another. There is only one lass who can thaw his chilly heart, a lass he's never met nor knows of, a lass whose birth won't occur until centuries after his death.

Mitsy Fredrickson is in serious need of a distraction. With the ink still drying on her divorce papers, she flies to Scotland determined to forget about her own problems by helping her best friend re-enter reality. She knows Bri's claims that she is able to travel back in time and is currently living in the year 1647 are a lie but, instead of locating her friend, Mitsy falls prey to the same magic and is quickly forced to believe the impossible.

Modern and sassy, Mitsy finds few in the 17th century who know how to take her fiery personality, but she finds her match in Baodan, laird of McMillan Castle. He is her opposite in every way, yet she feels balanced in his presence. The more time she spends with him, the harder she falls. She suspects he feels the same way, but something is holding him back - a dark secret from his past that even Baodan doesn't fully understand. Mitsy works to uncover what is hidden in the hopes that with resolution, Baodan will be free to love her. But the truth is darker than she expects, and it threatens to destroy them both.

©2013 Bethany Claire (P)2015 Bethany Claire

Fun easy listen

Some ppl say not like Outlander ands its not. But, its not meant to be. It is a fun easy listen about time travel to the Scottish highlands. There is something to be said for not being overwhelmed by excessive details and descriptions. Morna's Legacy has great flow, relatable characters and good storytelling.

Medieval Time Travel with a side order of Sass!

What did you like best about Love Beyond Hope: A Scottish, Time-Traveling Romance? What did you like least?

I really like the characters. Bethany Claire (the author) has a way of making you like these characters, even when they are in the most ridiculous of circumstances. What I liked least was that the main female character, Mitsy cussed like a sailor! This was supposedly her way of showing that she was sassy and was a thoroughly modern 21st century female.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The relationship between the brothers was the most interesting. Also seeing what it takes to heal Baodan's heart kept me involved in the story. The least interesting was unfortunately the mystery plot. The villain was so obvious within the first 1//4th of the book that there was no mystery left to that plot line.

What does Lily Collingwood bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Lily is a very nice narrator. Her voice is pleasant to listen to. BUT, these books are based in Scotland, with a modern American thrown in for flavor. But Lily uses no accents. All her voices sound the same.

Do you think Love Beyond Hope: A Scottish, Time-Traveling Romance needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Oh yeah... we have to know what happened to "IO" ...(no spoilers, sorry....)

Any additional comments?

All in all, I love this series. It's snack food reading. Light, fun, and after you've had some, you want some more!

Putting the Past Relationships to Rest

Love Beyond Hope is the third book in the Morna's Legacy. This story is Mitsy Fredrickson and Baodan McMillan's story. When Bri left a letter for Mitsy Fredrickson in Love Beyond Reason, Mitsy is now discovering how much of a jerk that her ex-husband is. Her ex-husband has withheld Bri's letter for over a year before Mitsy realized that ex-husband has been cheating on her while they were still married.

Still fresh from signing her divorced papers and being angry, Mitsy is on a mission to bring Bri back from her delusion of time traveling and living in 1647 to the present. Mitsy has never thought that she will end up traveling back to the 1647.

Baodan McMillan lost his wife and believed that he was the cause of her death by placing his brother, Eoghanan in charge of McMillan Castle and to take care of his wife while he was away. If he was to wed again, it would be for mutual respect and not for love.

When Mitsy entered into Baodan's life, she completely disrupted his life. Mitsy made demand to be taken to Bri and completely thought that Boadan was part of the con to delude Bri. And Baodan thought Mitsy was mad.

When both realized that each was telling the truth, each tried to figure out each other true feeling to each other which was amusing. Mitsy believed Eoghanan was searching for proof of who has killed Baodan's wife. Baodan, on the other hand, refused to accept any explanation from Eoghanan until 3/4 into the story.

The story didn't really show the Baodan in trying to figure out his wife's death. Baodan saw the world as black and white. Eoghanan was the one who was trying to put everything together even though he has always know who did it but it was trying to show proof to back-up his accusation.

Mitsy was the bond that was able to repair the relationship between Baodan and Eoghanan.

Most of story was about Mitsy and Baodan trying to put each of their past relationships behind them so they can start their relationship without baggage and accepting the belief that time traveling is real.

The story even ended with an epilogue of Eoghanan being sent forward into time to be save by Morna. It is a pretty good way to entice readers (and me) to follow Eoghanan into the next book. After all, Eoghanan was the one who suspected how Baodan's wife died, bring proof to Baodan, and put his life on the line to defend Baodan and Mitsy.

This story didn't have the same theme and conflict from the first two books of Morna's Legacy. Yes, the story is about Mitsy finding her equal because she is so feisty and outspoken. But it is the second character, Eoghanan who carry the story. I am interested to discover if Eoghanan would survived and whether if he would stay in the future or return to his time.

The narrator, Lily Collingwood does a great performance. I love how the narrator provided Mitsy with all that sass to stand up to Baodin and her predicament with Baodin's younger brother, Neil. With Baodan, the narrator showed Baodan as a calm leader with a flaw to be quick of judgement. Mitsy does makes Baodan a better man. Listening to the narrator was quite pleasant, considering that the story conflict was secondary to Mitsy and Baodan's story.

I was given this audiobook by the author in exchange of an honest review. I was not compensated or influenced in any way in writing this review.

Great book

loved this story. they make me smile, I will definitely share this good book love it

Same old same old

Same old tired story that's been told a million times and a heck of alot better. The series started off okay, but became so silly I had to stop listening. The talented witch who now lives in the future and "send" items back across time hundreds of years like antibiotics, supplies, etc whenever anyone needs anything from the future, because she "sees all". And people can go back and forth like walking thru a door whenever they want to go. It's a bit ridiculous and the stories are all basically identical with different character names.

The Scottish characters have Irish accents wtf???

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

A teen? Someone with a very low IQ??

What do you think your next listen will be?

Something I'll research more so I don't waste another credit on another book this god awful.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Let's see...besides sounding robotic, her accents were cringeworthy

What character would you cut from Love Beyond Hope: A Scottish, Time-Traveling Romance?

Burn it and start over. Seriously.

Any additional comments?

This author must have a lot of friends. No sane and/or sober person could enjoy this.

Too Physically Descriptive

Well-written, and it pulled me right in. I was about a third of the way into it, when my Victorian sense of propriety was offended. I can't finish it.

Love conquerors misplaced doubt, anger, and fear of succeeding

Baodan comes across Mitsy when she arrives 'from the future' with enough strangely spoken futuristic jargon and a too spirited attitude for a lady of that day and time that Baodan believes that Mitsy may not have all her mental faculties nailed in place. And then there is all the havoc that is taking place in and around Baodan's life, home and extended family that keeps the pace of all the extenuating circumstances revved up to full throttle in a way that makes it seem that there is no hope for a positive outcome for all the troubles. But . . .

Baodan finally opens his eyes to allowing himself to take a less biased view of his circumstances and a more honest look at his feelings for Mitsy, and they do get to have their HEA!!! Was there any doubt?!

All the characters from the previous books of the series make appearances so you can catch glimpses of their ongoing lives and all of their own HEA's. This is a charming series of stories in the cozy setting of Scotland that simply warms the heart.

Awesome series!

Would you consider the audio edition of Love Beyond Hope: A Scottish, Time-Traveling Romance to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the written version. I love the audible one, as I can listen while getting ready for work & in the car

What was one of the most memorable moments of Love Beyond Hope: A Scottish, Time-Traveling Romance?

When Owen realizes that Brielle is from the future.

What about Lily Collingwood’s performance did you like?

She is an excellent narrator. She brings the characters to life

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. I couldn't wait for my work day to be over, so I could get back to it!

Any additional comments?

I have listened to the first 3 books plus a novella, & I am anxious to hear the rest!

Another wonderful book by Bethany Claire

What did you love best about Love Beyond Hope: A Scottish, Time-Traveling Romance?

I loved that another romance blossoms between Baodan McMillan and Mitsy Frederickson. I enjoy the time travel stories.

What did you like best about this story?

I love that Mitsy did not believe Bri's claim of time travel and then she experiences the same thing.

Have you listened to any of Lily Collingwood’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have listened to Lily Collingwood's other performances with the other books previously in this series. I have enjoyed each one of them.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I enjoyed the entire book.

Any additional comments?

As always I can't wait to read more in the series.