Customer Reviews

Beyond the Glen

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Though the other customer who reviewed this novel called it a Contemporary romance, I must disagree. Beyond the Glen was so much more. It was romance/coming of age/suspense/mystery all rolled into one. The range of emotions Haeger was able to make me feel through her words is amazing. I found myself as torn as Marielle was for her physical desire of Calum and less potent but slow burning love for Barry. Haeger did such a good job making both men seem worthy of Marielle's love that I could not decide, as I can in most romance novels, which I wanted her to end up with.

All in all a lovely novel that doesn't fit in the genre of "romance" easily, because it is so much more.

In 1983 Scotland, half-sisters Colleen and Mairi Gordon are extremely close friends. However, their father's physical and mental abuse of Mairi's biological mother leads to a divorce. Colleen remains with Gordon while Mairi goes to France with her mother. Mairi desperately misses her best friend, but ma mere wipes out all references to Scotland and renames her daughter Marielle Girard.

Over ten years have passed before Marielle learns that Colleen never stopped trying to find her. Deciding to see her best friend for the first time in a decade, Marielle returns to Scotland, only to learn that Colleen has been dead for two years. The locals hint that Colleen's spouse killed her. As Marielle tries to learn what happened to half-sister, she becomes romantically involved with Colleen's husband and a man from her own Scottish past.

Diane Haeger scribes an interesting contemporary romance filled with several types of love lost and regained. Readers are never allowed to get close to the characters, which surprisingly adds to the overall feeling of grief that permeates much of this well written contemporary romance. BEYOND THE GLEN is a powerful relationship drama that demonstrates that Ms. Haeger is a rising star.

Harriet Klausner