Caught by the Scot

Caught by the Scot (Made to Marry #1)- Karen Hawkins
Pocket Books/ Simon and Schuster
Release Date: September 26, 2017

Rating (out of 5):
📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: New York Times bestselling author Karen Hawkins is back with a brand-new, sizzling series featuring three unforgettable, untamed brothers who must marry or risk losing their inheritance.

Dashing Scottish privateer Conner Douglas must marry a respectable, well-born woman—and soon, if he wants to secure his rightful inheritance. Determined to still explore the high seas as well as his mistresses’ beds, he aims to find a pliable wife who’ll turn a blind eye to his antics. And he knows just the woman—childhood friend and mousy spinster Miss Theodora Cumberbatch-Snowe. 

Unbeknownst to Conner, meek and plain Theodora has been hopelessly in love with him for years. But unwilling to wait forever for what will never happen, Theodora plans to wed a kind—if unexciting—local landowner, leaving behind the wild Highlander of her dreams.

Yet Conner refuses to let his perfect wife get away. He chases her to Gretna Green and is shocked to discover the real Theodora is an ardent and wildly sensual woman. Soon he realizes his passion to win her has nothing to do with securing his inheritance and everything to do with earning the love of the unforgettable woman who has vowed to leave him in her past forever. But have his wandering ways chased the woman he loves away for good? Or can Conner convince Theodora to give him one last chance before she marries the wrong man?

________________________________________________

When Connor Douglas and his brothers are given an ultimatum: marry a respectable woman (in the next four months!) or lose their inheritance, Connor looks for a way to have his cake and eat it too.  How does a man remain a privateer, travel around the world, keep mistresses, enjoy life, AND marry the right woman to keep his inheritance? Clearly by marrying a plain, manageable, undemanding woman. He instantly thinks of his best friend's sister Theodora, who is 'on the shelf' and therefore will be thrilled to get a proposal from him.  By the time he gets to Thea to inform her of her good fortune, she's eloped with another man.  Now Connor needs to track the couple down, prevent them from marrying, and convince Thea to marry him instead.  But will Thea teach Connor that love is necessary, or will they become two ships passing in the night?

Karen Hawkins (The Oxenburg Princes series) introduces readers to a new series and a new set of rakish Highlanders in Caught by the Scot, the first in her Made to Marry series.  Connor and his two brothers have spent their adult lives sailing the high seas, living adventures and raising scandals wherever they go.  Coming home at the death of their sister Anna, the brothers learn that Anna has tied their inheritance with a clause: marry respectable women. Her husband gives them four months to do it, or lose their inheritance to the clan's enemies.  While they'd be fine if the money went to charity, they aren't about to let the Gordons get their hands on the money!  Connor sets himself up from the beginning as an arrogant jerk who needs taking down a few pegs.  Given 4 months to marry he choses his best friend's sister, then waits more than two months to go find her and tell her he's decided they'll get married.  Being currently unwed and no longer under 20, Thea will of course be thrilled. He'll get his inheritance, then go on with life as usual.  

Thea has been in love with Connor forever.  He's never seen her as anything other than his brother's kid sister.  She finally decides its time to move on with her life, maybe even have a little adventure and romance.  So when the local squire proposes to her and suggests eloping because it will be romantic she says yes.  But the more time she and Lance spend together, the more Thea starts to wonder if she's making a huge mistake.  Connor showing up and asking her to marry him doesn't help matters!  What I loved about Thea is that she was determined to be her own person, and she recognized that she deserved a lot more than than Connor's selfish proposal.  Even though she'd loved Connor forever, Thea didn't instantly say yes.  She didn't assume she'd change him after they got married.  She recognized that they both wanted very different things out of life and that she didn't want- or deserve- less than happiness. How Connor thought this strong, independent, and fiery woman would be a meek and manageable wife is beyond me.

Connor and Thea both grew a lot over the course of their adventure, and I loved how Hawkins reminds us that growth (and occasionally compromise) are as important to a happily ever after as love and passion.   I liked how, until the very end, you aren't quite sure how Hawkins will get these two stubborn people to work things out.  Connor and Thea learn that love doesn't mean changing someone,  but sometimes it means they change how they see themselves.  And in the end, I think that was what Anna wanted for her brothers when she set the conditions of her will.

Caught by the Scot is a fast-paced, well-written and enjoyable start to a new series. A great read for Karen Hawkins fans and newcomers alike!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Sinful Scottish Laird

Sinful Scottish Laird- Julia London
HQN Books
Release Date: February 28, 2017

Rating (out of 5):
📚📚📚

Synopsis:  Widowed and forced to remarry in three years' time or forfeit her son's inheritance, Daisy Bristol, Lady Chatwick, has plenty of suitors vying for her hand…and her fortune. But a letter from a long-lost love sends Daisy and her young son to her Scottish Highland estate to buy time for his return. Along the way she encounters the powerful Cailean Mackenzie, laird of Arrandale and a notorious smuggler, and she is utterly—though unwillingly—bewitched.  

Cailean has no use for any Sassenach in his glen. But Daisy's brazen, flirtatious nature and alluring beauty intrigue him. When her first love appears unexpectedly at her estate, Cailean knows that a passionate woman like Daisy cannot marry this man. And to prevent the union, Cailean must put his own life at risk to win her heart.

______________________________

Sinful Scottish Laird is the second in Julia London's new Highland Grooms series and takes place about 30 years after Wild Wicked Scot.  Cailean Mackenzie (eldest son of Arran and Margot) may be set to one day inherit the leadership of the Mackenzie clan, but he seems to enjoy being on his own more than being surrounded by people.  He enjoys smuggling French goods with his brothers and building his own home in an isolated glen.  His isolation is disturbed when Daisy, Lady Chatwick, comes to the Highland hunting lodge her son has inherited. 

 Thanks to Daisy's first (older) husband, she can't enjoy being a widow and raising her son, Ellis, alone. Instead of appointing an executor to the estate to handle finances (which Daisy couldn't possible be trusted with, since she's a woman) the will says that if Daisy doesn't remarry in 3 years, she forfeits her son's inheritance.   Every fortune hunter in London is thrilled to try to win her hand and Daisy enjoys parties and flirting.  But she remains aware that they don't want her, just the money, and wishes she could meet someone who didn't care about the money.  A letter from Daisy's first love Rob announces that he will soon be resigning from the Navy and hopes to see her again.  To give Rob time to come back to London, and to take a break from the fortune hunters, Daisy packs up the household and goes to Scotland to see her late husband's hunting lodge.  Despite the disrepair and isolation of the house and the unfriendliness of her neighbors (until the local fortune hunters hear about the will), Daisy falls in love with the lodge and the Highlands.  And eventually, despite the reappearance of Rob, she falls in love with Cailean.

With a few simple descriptions, Julia London brings a little corner of the Highlands to life. Beautiful lochs, glens and rustic homes make the reader feel more comfortable than all the glitz and glamor of a London ballroom.  Despite this talent, and despite what the fast-paced and character-driven Scot promised, Laird fails to deliver.  The plot is plodding and we almost never see below the surface of the characters.  We learn that as a youth Cailean fell in love and proposed to an English beauty, who refused him because he was Scottish.  Is that the only reason Cailean is dour and anti-social?  This one event, despite being brought up in a loving and large family seems to be enough to turn him off marriage, love, and people altogether.  Despite his strong talk about how a Highlander grabs what he wants, he finds it easier to walk away than to grab the love that is offered to him.  Daisy's situation seems off from the beginning.  If her husband didn't believe she could be trusted to manage the estate for Ellis, why didn't he appoint an executor who would?  If marrying preserves the fortune for Ellis, Daisy isn't the one with the money and all the fortune hunters in the world wouldn't be able to access it.  Through Daisy's stubbornness in coming to Scotland and repairing the lodge we get glimpses of a strong and stubborn woman.  She recognizes that she was nothing but a means to an heir for her first husband and seems to rebel against that realization with flirtations and a somewhat desperate gayness after his death.  While Daisy is refreshingly honest with herself about what she wants from life (as well as regarding her desire for physical intimacy), the magnetic chemistry London proved she could write in Scot is nowhere present in Laird.  The politics of the time period get brief mentions in terms of smugglers and tension between England and Scotland, but unlike Scot where potential betrayal to the crown helped drive the story and prove the mettle of the characters, in Laird it only seems to offer an excuse for the few faceless Scots we meet to send dirty looks at the Chatwick family.  Since the ending of the book mentions that a mere 3 years from the setting of Laird will be 1746 and the Battle of Culloden (and the third book in the series) I would have expected a little more of the England-Scotland tension to be building here.

Overall Sinful Scottish Laird proves to be a slow book where the reader alternates between waiting for something to happen and the book to get moving, and hoping the book is almost over.  A disappointing and flat performance from London, who is normally a historical romance powerhouse.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wild Wicked Scot

Wild Wicked Scot- Julia London
HQN Books
Release Date: December 27, 2016

Rating (out of 5):
📚📚📚📚

Warning: Potential Spoilers!

Synopsis: Born into riches and groomed in English luxury, Margot Armstrong didn't belong in a Scottish chieftain's devil-may-care world. Three years ago she fled their marriage of convenience and hasn't looked back—except to relive the moments spent in wild, rugged Arran McKenzie's passionate embrace. But as their respective countries' fragile unity threatens to unravel, Margot must return to her husband to uncover his role in the treachery before her family can be accused of it. 

Red-haired, green-eyed Margot was Arran's beautiful bride. Her loss has haunted him, but her return threatens everything he has gained. As the Highland mists carry whispers of an English plot to seize McKenzie territory, he must outmaneuver her in games of espionage…and seduction. But even as their secrets tangle together, there's nothing to prevent love from capturing them both and leading them straight into danger.

______________________________

In the first of a new series Julia London introduces us to Margot Armstrong, a young English society girl still learning the ways of the world, and Arran McKenzie, a proud and wild Scotsman.  Margot's father agrees to marry Margot to Arran for lands on both sides of the border and before Margot knows what's happening she's on her way to Scotland, a country she doesn't know, married to a man she barely knows.  Unable to handle Arran's world on her own she leaves her husband and returns to her father. Three years later her father sends her back to discover if Arran is plotting with the Jacobites to overthrow the queen and put a Stewart king on the throne.  With his wife's sudden return Highlanders begin to accuse Arran of plotting with the English against Scotland.  The two may be virtual strangers (with LOTS of emotional baggage between them) but they are going to have to work together to escape a web of deceit and danger.

Scot begins by alternating between the present and the past, which is a little jarring until you realize what's happening.  I don't usually like that, but here it created an interesting emotional effect as we jump between meeting the young, innocent Margot and the Arran who is so bitter about his marriage failing.  For me it created the initial effect of not liking either character, but wanting to find out how they got to where they were.  As the book progresses and you see things through both their eyes and come to understand them it becomes heartbreaking to see how these two, both inexperienced in the ways of marriage and compromise, were unable to make things work.  You might not agree with either of their early choices, but you begin routing for them to figure out how to come together.

London's writing is detailed but fast-paced and all her characters have wonderful layers.  I especially can't wait to see if Margot's brother Knox gets his own book- he doesn't get too much time here, but what you see of him (especially at the end) makes you want lots more!   Our heroes experience everything from joy, despair, lust, hope, disillusionment, love, and everything in-between- and the reader is swept right along the emotional roller coaster with them.  It's an emotional journey that proves that while compromise and communication may be the most important things in a relationship, sometimes they are also the most difficult.

Wild Wicked Scot is an emotional gripping adventure of love and loss, deceit and trust.  An exciting start to Julia London's new Highland Grooms series.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Mad for the Plaid

Mad for the Plaid (The Oxenburg Princes #3)- Karen Hawkins
Pocket Books
Release Date: August 30, 2016

Rating (out of 5):
📚📚📚📚

Synopsis:Nikolai Romanovin, a royal prince of Oxenburg, has travelled to the deepest wilds of Scotland to rescue his grandmother the Grand Duchess, who was abducted while visiting an old friend in the Highlands. Wanting to avoid an international incident, Nik plans to quietly slip into enemy territory disguised as a groom at Castle Cromartie. But his plans go awry when he falls under the cool gray gaze of the laird’s daughter.

Pragmatic and clever, Ailsa Mackenzie has been left in charge of the family estate and her unruly grandmother in her father’s absence. Something about the new groom catches her eyes, and makes her think he’s not who he pretends to be—and even more shockingly, stirs her senses. Is it his obviously educated manners? His arrogant, non-servant-like presence? It’s certainly not his towering, powerful form, or slumberous, inviting green eyes!
              
After confronting the imposter and learning the truth, Ailsa agrees to help Nik—for she, too, understands difficult relatives and would do anything for family. Soon their secret partnership leads to growing respect, searing kisses, and then something far more perilous. And when their quest turns dangerous, Ailsa and Nik must discover this unknown enemy while facing the dangerous demands of their own unruly hearts.

               _______________________________________________________________________ 

Mad for the Plaid signals the end of the Oxenburg Princes series, and while it was not my favorite book in the series, it was a great ending for the series.  Plaid follows the eldest Oxenburg prince, Nikolai, as he puts off an international diplomatic meeting in order to travel to the wilds of Scotland and track down his grandmother.  While visiting an old friend, "Tata" Natasha, seems to have been kidnapped.  Was she the target? Was it to destabilize Nik's negotiations?  To start a clan war in Scotland?  Nik tries to fly under the radar and find his grandmother before anyone knows she's missing.  Unfortunately, the family Natasha was staying with not only knows she's been kidnapped, but Ailsa (in charge of the estate while her father is away) is determined to prove that she can handle the situation and rescue the captives herself.
              
Most of the book is spent with Nik, Ailsa, and a few others traveling to reach the town where they believe they can find the hostages.  With the exception of several bandit attacks, this doesn't make for much external action and was sometimes a little slow going.  But it provided an excellent "bubble" of time for Nik and Ailsa to get to know each other without titles, money, and duty getting in the way.  They also get to see themselves in different ways.  Nik especially starts to reevaluate his view of himself and his life, he's not happy with the way Ailsa sees him in the beginning but starts to worry that she might be right!  Aisle was a great heroine, strong and stubborn enough to not fall for Nik right away, and who realizes that love, like life and leadership, is work and compromise on both sides. 

Although Plaid didn't have as much of Hawkins' trademark humor as I expected, plenty of sharp wit kept things entertaining.  Every time I thought I had figured out who the traitor was, something would come up to make me question my idea and keep me guessing. Tata Natasha doesn't play as large a role in this book as in others in the series, but her tricks ensure she gets the ending she wants for her grandson in true Natasha fashion.  While this book closes the series, we are left guessing about whether Karen Hawkins will bring Natasha back for future books- the door has definitely been left open on a very entertaining idea!  

When A Scot Ties The Knot

When A Scot Ties The Knot (Castles Ever After Series #3)- Tessa Dare
AvonBooks Publisher
Release Date: August 25, 2015

Rating (out of 5):
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: On the cusp of her first London season, Miss Madeline Gracechurch was shy, pretty, and talented with a drawing pencil, but hopelessly awkward with gentlemen. She was certain to be a dismal failure on the London marriage mart. So Maddie did what generations of shy, awkward young ladies have done: she invented a sweetheart.   A Scottish sweetheart. One who was handsome and honorable and devoted to her, but conveniently never around. Maddie poured her heart into writing the imaginary Captain MacKenzie letter after letter . . . and by pretending to be devastated when he was (not really) killed in battle, she managed to avoid the pressures of London society entirely.   Until years later, when this kilted Highland lover of her imaginings shows up in the flesh. The real Captain Logan MacKenzie arrives on her doorstep—handsome as anything, but not entirely honorable. He's wounded, jaded, in possession of her letters . . . and ready to make good on every promise Maddie never expected to keep.

I've only recently discovered the joy that is reading books by Tessa Dare, and all I can say to anyone who hasn't tried her books yet is: start now! 

When A Scot Ties The Knot is the third book in Dare's Castles Ever After series- a series that doesn't have to be read in order for you to fully enjoy each book.  It's the story of Madeline Gracechurch, a shy woman more at home drawing or reading than dancing and visiting.  At age 16 she invents a mythical Scottish soldier to explain to her family and friends why she doesn't want to go to London and meet potential suitors.  Why look for Mr. Right when Captain McRight has already stolen her heart? She strengthens this fiction by writing him letters, assuming they will end up in some dead letter box somewhere and that will be the end of it.  Her family believes her story, no one bothers her about London Seasons, and she falls in love with her imaginary Captain Logan MacKenzie over years of letter writing.  Eventually she realizes that the only way to end the lies is to kill off her Scot.  So she's beyond surprised when the real Captain Logan MacKenzie shows up, having read all of her letters, at the castle she's inherited, ready to marry her.

Of course the real Logan is not quite what she'd imagined.  He refuses to believe he has dreams, hopes, or emotions.  He's naturally a little peeved that she killed him off.  He wants to marry her because he and the remaining Scottish soldiers under his command have returned from fighting Napoleon to find their sweethearts have married others, families have died or moved away, and their homes have been destroyed by the Highland Clearances.  Logan needs the castle and land Maddie promised in her letters as a new home for his men, and he's ready to blackmail Maddie to get his way.  After all, what would her family and friends think of the fact that she's been lying to them for years?  They agree to a marriage of convenience, and things promptly get, well, not convenient.

Maddie is a strong and independent woman who thinks she's a shy and weak wallflower.  She has a paralyzing terror of crowds and has let that dictate her entire life.  She's a wonderfully written character full of depth, intelligence, and humor.  She doesn't let Logan blackmail her because she cares about Society, but because she cares about what her friends and family will think, and because it would most likely damage her burgeoning career as an illustrator.  But she's also a romantic and has a hard time hating Logan, especially when she watches him with his men, or when he's talking to her, or when he's . . . anything.

Logan is a far more complex, and it's easy to make the mistake of thinking he's a shallow and underdeveloped character acting more as a prop for Maddie than as his own person.  But by the time you get to the end of the book you realize Logan is, if anything, an even more layered character and more affected by his past than Maddie.  

When A Scot Ties The Knot explores not only a wonderful romance between two people who believe they are very different, but also explores how we can trap ourselves into thinking we are one thing when we've secretly grown into something different, and how the dreams that we once had can change into something different (and maybe better) without our noticing.  How do you choose between new love and old dreams? It's a book of brilliant wit and humor, a beautifully described Highland setting, and more kilted soldiers than you can shake a sporran at.  And of course, a lobster named Fluffy who manages to steal the show without saying a word.