Lord of the Isles gets some points for trying - primarily because it tries nearly everything. The plot is all over the place, with time travel, feuding clans, vicious other woman, witch accusations, wounded people, crazy priests....and I'm sure I'm leaving some stuff out. (Fairies! I forgot fairies.) While the obvious downside is that the plot lacks a clear focus, the upside is that eventually the plot settled into a direction that I found fairly interesting. Too bad it took three quarters of the book to reach that point.

Alieanna (Ali) Graham goes to Scotland on a modeling assignment as a favor to a friend. Although she is a medical student, some difficulties with her career make this a good time to get away for awhile. When she arrives on the Isle of Skye, she accidentally goes to a castle instead of an inn. Since it's late and it's raining, the caretaker invites her to stay the night and tells her an interesting story about the MacLeod clan and its fairy flag, which was used to summon help in times of great need. He also shows her a portrait of Brianna MacLeod, who lived over 400 years ago, but bears an uncanny resemblance to Ali. Exhausted, Ali falls asleep in the old laird's bed chamber - and wakes up in 1598, in the Laird's bed chamber. With the laird, Rory MacLeod.

He starts making moves, but stops when he realizes she's not his dead wife (and remembers that he is badly wounded as well). Ali is a doctor, so she jumps right into tending Rory's wound, and everyone listens to her. She finds out early on that she has been summoned by the fairy flag, and some of the castle crowd are aware that she is not from their time. What follows is more or less kitchen sink plotting; it's all in there. To briefly summarize:

• Ali must tend to Rory, and he doesn't listen very well. They are both attracted to each other, but he is determined never to marry again because his father was too devoted to his mother and committed suicide upon her death. He continues in this vein for much of the book.
• Ali tends the MacLeod sick and arouses the suspicions of some because of her strange ways. She also befriends a young serving girl who is later accused by a priest of witchcraft.
• The clan prepares for battle against the MacDonalds over some disputed land. Rory's injury is from a skirmish with the MacDonald clan, and his first wife (she who looked like Ali) was a MacDonald.
• In order to get more men to fight the MacDonalds, Rory spends much of the book thinking he will have to marry Moira McLean, a text book eeeeevil other woman. How evil is she? She hits people, especially servants. She lies, she manipulates. You get the idea. Who doesn't get the idea? Rory. He spends a lot of time thinking Moira's not that bad, even though any idiot can tell she's a total bitch.
• Rory and Ali finally sleep together (really, it takes them forever). Rory immediately realizes he can't marry Moira and must marry Ali. Who now doesn't want to marry him, because he's doing it out of duty. Please, for the love of God, can this plot device die? It can be my Christmas present.
• Rory leaves to help his cousin (I haven't mentioned him, but really, don't worry about it), and while he's gone, Ali is kidnapped and meets the MacDonald laird, who immediately takes a liking to her...
• Which comes in handy later, when Ali gets in trouble.
• A bunch of other stuff happens, and then the book is over.

Rest assured there are several developments I haven't bothered to mention. It's convoluted, and the flow of time doesn't always make sense. It feels pretty choppy throughout - a bit like a rough draft. I also didn't particularly like Rory, and never really changed my opinion of him. I find it difficult to like most heroes who constantly think, "I can't ever marry because..." In my head I always think, "Blah, blah, blah...I don't care why you can't marry, and I think you should just man up and quit whining." And what's the only thing I dislike more than that? A heroine who finally bring the hero to heel and then decides he is marrying her for the wrong reason, so she'll toss her hair until he asks her right.

However, there are some things I enjoyed about this book. While it's kind of history-lite, the time travel premise is interesting (and definitely more credible than many I've seen). I liked many of the secondary characters, including Rory's brother Iain, the maid accused of witchcraft, and the housekeeper Mrs. Mac (who had more balls than every man in the keep). I also really started to like the plot once MacDonald came on the scene. Unfortunately, that part of the book comes too late to really save the whole of it.

Overall, this is a fairly average book that I wouldn't really recommend, even if you're a fairly die-hard time travel fan. That said, there are some promising elements here, and with some more polish and experience that author's next effort might be better. I wouldn't be adverse to giving her another chance.