This was my first Suzanne Enoch, and only my second or third historical romance about highlanders. You know you found a great book when you immediatelThis was my first Suzanne Enoch, and only my second or third historical romance about highlanders. You know you found a great book when you immediately go on Goodreads and start marking all of their previously published books as "To Read," haha.
I love Suzanne Enoch's writing style. Her characters are so multi-faceted and full of depth, flaws, and redeeming qualities. The dialogue is wonderful and often witty. Both our hero (Callum) and our heroine (Rebecca) go through quite a journey of personal growth, after suffering a significant amount of pain and heartache. I love that Callum and Rebecca were childhood besties, and that Callum doesn't even realize his feelings for her until he finds out she's engaged to his brother. I also really appreciate that while young Becca is drawn to Callum, she also knows she needs to make a wise decision for her future and the drunken, volatile brother is not that choice. This is a friends to lovers story while also being a second chance romance and, because of the situation that brings them back together, also sort of an enemies to lovers story as well. It's so multi-layered and multi-faceted, and Enoch weaves it all together with great skill. I had a really hard time putting this book down!
I thought I was nae going to like all the Scottish accents, ye ken, but it wasnae too annoying for me. I think that consistency and moderation are key when writing dialects authentically, and if the whole book had been full of spellings like "oot" for "out" and whatnot, I'd have DNF'd this in a hot minute. Mostly it was use of aye, nae, and ken to give the Highlanders an authentic feel to their dialogue, which kept me remembering where we were set (like you could forget with all the men in kilts!!) without alienating me as a reader. Enoch manages to strike a really great balance, which I think can be difficult to do.
This is the third book in a series. It does touch on the plotlines for the first two books, including what is likely plot twists and outcomes of plotlines. The characters/plotlines from the previous two books have some bearing on what happens in this book, but what you need to know to understand is covered/recapped in this book so it doesn't affect the readability at all. While this book can definitely be read as a stand alone, beware spoilers for the previous two books. If you really care about that sort of thing, read Hero in the Highlands (No Ordinary Hero #1) and My One True Highlander (No Ordinary Hero #2) first.
*I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
I love this book. Let me repeat, because I feel it so hard: I love this book. Can I just start by saying: OMG, this cover. Alosa is so bad ass. Her reI love this book. Let me repeat, because I feel it so hard: I love this book. Can I just start by saying: OMG, this cover. Alosa is so bad ass. Her reminders of "Pirate" any time Riden questioned her unladylike behavior cracked me up. She's basically Captain Jack Sparrow only a tiny redheaded fury, and not drunk all the time. She's a brazen, smart-mouthed spitfire who is almost too good at her job. She has to keep pretending to be trying to escape so her captors don't get suspicious of her. I love how many steps ahead she thinks, and how many false trails she lays. Without revealing spoilers, about all I can say is I loved Alosa fighting with herself, with her dual natures, her instincts.
I fell in love with Riden more than a little as well. He's just so honorable and un-piratelike. I like how confused he is about his feelings for Alosa, and is torn about his past, her past, his relationship with his family, her relationship with her family… He overthinks everything, and is way too much of a neat freak. He's so self-sacrificing and good, I want to shake him and go "How are you a pirate?!" OK, Will Turner. Go back to your room and clean it. I love you. *smooch*
Some of the side characters were pretty great as well, especially Alosa's superstitious guard (Enwyn? I listened on audiobook, so forgive if I'm getting it wrong!) There are a couple of plot twists in there that are very intriguing (though I did see the "big reveal" coming wayyyyyy in advance, but… well, that can you do?)
I listened to this on audiobook, and the narrator is amazing! Marisa Calin does an excellent job narrating Alosa, daughter of the Pirate King. She conveys Alosa's sassy, witty, fierce personality with excellence, and does a great job of voicing the other (male) characters as well, giving each their own voice. I especially loved this part:
“I’m going to show you something more magical than the stars.” Oh yuck. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. I can’t do this. I can’t stand to hear him talk anymore.
You know the narration was good when you pop onto Audible to see what other books they've narrated and immediately buy any of them that look emotionally interesting.
You also know the book was good when you immediately go buy the sequel. (Or attempt to, at least. Audible doesn't have Daughter of the Siren Queen available for pre-order yet, and if it's not narrated by Maria Calin again I'm going to start a riot.)
How to Forget a Duke is the first in an excellent new series by Vivienne Lorret called Misadventures in Matchmaking. Who doesn't love an opposites attHow to Forget a Duke is the first in an excellent new series by Vivienne Lorret called Misadventures in Matchmaking. Who doesn't love an opposites attract, enemies to lovers Regency romance? (Answer: Nobody. And if they don't, they're wrong.)
Jacinda is wonderfully wild, messy, impulsive, fiercely intelligent, and also has a big heart and enough curiosity to kill a cat. Jacinda is that best friend you wind up sitting in jail with going "Well that was fun, but maybe we shouldn't have done it..." In contract, Rydstrom divides his life into equally balanced quadrants (and seems to have some mild OCD...) and is quite stern and businesslike. There is a place for everything and everything in its place and he's not quite sure what to do with Jacinda, who is a veritable whirlwind. While they seem like total opposites on the surface, they both have hearts of gold and are fiercely protective of those they love. I love the back and forth between Jacinda and Rydstrom, and the slow unfolding of their romantic relationship.
Lorret does an amazing job of working the amnesia plotline in a way that's enjoyable and that doesn't venture into soap opera territory. While trying to remember who she is, I feel like Jacinda goes through some personal growth that really hits home when she finally regains her memories. The chapters after her memories return just gutted me, and that's all I'll say about that because I don't want to spoil it for anyone.
Literally the only thing I hated in this book Rydstrom calling Jacinda "Darling." It just came off as weird and awkward and kind of gross for some unknown-but-felt-in-my-gut reason. I'm seeing some reviews saying Jacinda is an annoying heroine, and while I can see how some people might feel that way, I really like her. She's got spunk, she's got moxie. Maybe it just means I'M an annoying character too! ;) I definitely look forward to reading the next book in the Misadventures in Matchmaking series, about Jacinda's younger sister Briar and titled Ten Kisses to Scandal. ...more
All of Lenora Bell’s Disgraceful Dukes books are… I don’t want to say “based on,” so let’s say… linked with a book/movie/story. They are as follows: HoAll of Lenora Bell’s Disgraceful Dukes books are… I don’t want to say “based on,” so let’s say… linked with a book/movie/story. They are as follows: How the Duke Was Won (The Disgraceful Dukes #1) - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory If I Only Had a Duke (The Disgraceful Dukes #2) - The Wizard of Oz Blame It on the Duke (The Disgraceful Dukes 3#) - Alice in Wonderland
I was so pumped when Lenora Bell affirmed that this third book in her Disgraceful Dukes trilogy would feature the notorious Alice Tombs and be Alice in Wonderland-ish. Alice Tombs was a side character in the first book in the series, and she was instantly my favorite character in pretty much ever. There’s a scene in a row boat in How the Duke Was Won (that I’ll let you discover for yourself) that pretty much cemented it for me: Alice needed her own book, and if I had to start a petition to get Ms. Bell to write it I was prepared.
Imagine my great surprise and delight when I learned that not only was Miss Tombs getting her own book, but it was to have Alice in Wonderland undertones (overtones?) to it as well!! Alice in Wonderland is an obsession of mine and definitely one of my top fandoms. And elements from Lewis Carroll’s books are interwoven so beautifully into Blame It on the Duke. There’s the obvious of the main character’s name being Alice, to the less obvious “mad” Hatherlys (Mad Hatter, anyone?) right down to minor details like Lord White with his waistcoats embroidered in rabbits checking his pocket watch and declaring that he is ever do late. There is also an in-the-know bit about a paperweight, as well as a play on the White Queen’s ability to believe in six impossible things before breakfast.
Blame It on the Duke turns a well known trope about a woman being trapped into marriage by the machinations of her father (gambling her away, in this instance) right on its head, as in this instance it is the father of Nicholas, Lord Hatherly, who has gambled his son’s hand in marriage! It’s always fun to see well loved trooped turned on their heads, and this was a delight to read. Neither Alice nor Nick wants this marriage, and so they conspire together and, in the meantime, grow closer together. I love Alice’s passion for her studies, and I feel these deep pangs for Nick and his worries about his father, his sanity, and his future.
I love Lenora Bell’s books so much that I own the entire Disgraceful Dukes series both in paperback and audiobook (narrated by Beverly A. Crick). Ms. Crick does an excellent job narrating, giving great personality to the voices of the characters and making the men sound alluring and deep-voiced without putting on a falsely high voice for the women (which is something I absolutely abhor!) I’ve also pre-ordered Lenora’s next book, What a Difference a Duke Makes, which will be the first in a new series called School for Dukes. The expected publication date is March 27, 2018, and I just can’t wait to read it!!
The description reads: "Captain Christopher Phelan is a handsome, daring soldier who plans to marry Beatrix's friend, Oh, Beatrix. Be still my heart.
The description reads: "Captain Christopher Phelan is a handsome, daring soldier who plans to marry Beatrix's friend, the vivacious flirt Prudence Mercer, when he returns from fighting abroad. But, as he explains in his letters to Pru, life on the battlefield has darkened his soul—and it's becoming clear that Christopher won't come back as the same man. When Beatrix learns of Pru's disappointment, she decides to help by concocting Pru's letters to Christopher for her. Soon the correspondence between Beatrix and Christopher develops into something fulfilling and deep... and when Christopher comes home, he's determined to claim the woman he loves. What began as Beatrix's innocent deception has resulted in the agony of unfulfilled love—and a passion that can't be denied."
That's not entirely true - it says Beatrix starts writing to Christopher because Pru is disappointed by the changes in him. In actuality, Christopher writes to Pru about a stray dog he's befriended on the battlefield who keeps trying to bite people and is having behavior problems. Beatrix, being a positive prodigy with animals, urges Pru to write him back with some advice on how to help the poor dog. Pru - who is about as deep as a puddle - finds Christopher's talk of the war boring and refuses to write for him, and tells Beatrix to write to him herself if she cares so much. So starts a rather Cyrano de Bergerac storyline where Beatrix writes to Christopher as "Pru," and Christopher falls more in love with "Pru" through their letters to each other - when he admits that before he was shallow and their attraction superficial.
Of course Christopher at one point in their past said some rude things about Beatrix (because let's face it, my girl is weird, bringin' hedgehogs to picnics and keeping pet goats and things like that), so they hate each other. And Christopher comes back from war with his bite-y dog, both of them suffering hard from PTSD, and bumps into Beatrix in the woods and says some sharp words to her. Misunderstandings and heartbreak ensue.
I read this book in one sitting because I was completely incapable of putting it down. Love in the Afternoon indeed.
This is the fifth book in a series, and I read it first. Beatrix clearly has a large and lovely family, and I can't wait to read the rest of their stories. That being said, I feel like this read just fine as a stand-alone, and while clearly I found out some of the pairings her siblings made there weren't so many details of their back stories that I feel anything will be "spoiled" by reading the series out of order. I have actually NOT requested the rest of the books from my local library, because they don't carry them! (What?! How do you carry book #5 and not the rest of them?!) Also, I don't see how the other books can possibly compare to Beatrix's story, as she is admittedly the strangest of a very strange family....more
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