Abeni and Tinashe MacCadain usually tumble into trouble despite the fact they come from a close-knit and overly protective family.  A trip to the Orkney Isles should be pretty tame compared to some of their past adventures.  What the feisty sisters don’t bank on is meeting brothers Coinneach and Eoghan Francisco Stiubhart.  Gorgeous or not, there’s something unnatural about them.  Tinashe feels they should proceed with caution.  It’s all she can do to hold back her kooky older sister who doesn’t know when to slow down.   Abeni just wants her surly young sibling to loosen up and have fun.   What better way to do than by exploring the lay of the man–ahem-land?

As for the Francisco Stiubhart brothers…well, they know a good thing when they see it.   These American women better get ready to be conquered.  The Scottish inquisition is here.

Sibling Survivalry:  Them MacCadain Girls and Those Francisco Stiubhart Boys operates in a different setting with a wonderfully researched paranormal subplot.   Ms. Johnson and Ms. Leigh really did their homework in setting up the historical background of the Francisco Stiubhart brothers along with all the details involving the Orkney Islands.   I was intrigued by everything they planted into the narrative, it was quite fascinating, and now I’d like to take a trip there. 

The downside for me was this is the third book I’ve read by these talented ladies, and I found myself wishing they would expand their horizons in the arena of character development and core plot.  I appreciate and enjoy the humor, intensity, melodrama, larger-than-life characters and their unique prose language and style, but without variety, it became monotonous.  Their work has the potential to evolve to the next level, and this book showed signs of that.   However, it didn’t quite make it although it had a terrific lift off.  As usual, it was a pleasant and fun ride from start to finish with sweet and downright cute moments, though still a bit uninspiring.