Scan barcode
alisoun's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
4.5
What an absolute romp. Perfect amount of mystery that sets up the series too. John was a lovely hero - love it when they fall first. Annie was absolutely incredible. I love how "mad" she is. Mainly I love that she's the highlander. What a cool way of flipping the normal trope on its head! Her family is also gorgeous. I love her step dad!!!
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Violence, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape, Gun violence, and Pedophilia
The two for rape and pedophilia are regarding the same event that occured to the MMC. He tells the FMC about the event that occured when he was 16. She is very empathetic to him.risseandshine's review against another edition
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
What a perfect intro for me to this author!
Annie "Mad Annie" Tulloch doesn't have the best reputation. She's friends with a ghost and isn't really known for having the most lady-like personality. One day, her imaginary friend requests to be saved and for that to happen, she needs to marry a Lord. In order to learn prim and proper ways, she seeks the help of John Huxley in exchange for lessons to win the highland games, aka his ticket out of his land problems with Annie's stubborn stepfather. Their little bargain forces them together and eventually makes them realize that their feelings run deeper than they actually think.
I'm going to be frank here: I almost DNF-ed this book. I listened to this one completely on audio and I honestly REALLY struggled to understand Annie's dialogue at first because of the thick Scottish accent. I understand that this struggle is a me thing, but it was still very frustrating as the beginning of the book was supposed to lay the foundation of the whole plot. I can't say that I completely understood what I was listening to, but thankfully I was able to connect bits and pieces of information that allowed me to at least grasp what was going on during key scenes.
And you know what? I actually enjoyed the heck out of this! I absolutely LOVED Annie as a heroine. Her eccentric energy was spectacular and I loved that she owned her personality. John on the other hand was such an amazing hero. The way he came to his feelings for Annie and the way he wore his heart on his sleeve as he pined for her was so captivating to watch. I fell in love with the chemistry between our hero and heroine that I had heart eyes even at the slightest of their interactions!
Besides the difficult (at least to me) accent, my biggest gripe with this book has to be its paranormal elements. I am honestly still not 100% sure of my understanding regarding that aspect of the story, but it didn't completely eclipse my love for Annie and John's romance so I can't really be mad about it that much.
This book was definitely a promising start to a historical romance series from a new-to-me author. I'm very excited to move on to the next installments and dive for more highland romance goodness!
Annie "Mad Annie" Tulloch doesn't have the best reputation. She's friends with a ghost and isn't really known for having the most lady-like personality. One day, her imaginary friend requests to be saved and for that to happen, she needs to marry a Lord. In order to learn prim and proper ways, she seeks the help of John Huxley in exchange for lessons to win the highland games, aka his ticket out of his land problems with Annie's stubborn stepfather. Their little bargain forces them together and eventually makes them realize that their feelings run deeper than they actually think.
I'm going to be frank here: I almost DNF-ed this book. I listened to this one completely on audio and I honestly REALLY struggled to understand Annie's dialogue at first because of the thick Scottish accent. I understand that this struggle is a me thing, but it was still very frustrating as the beginning of the book was supposed to lay the foundation of the whole plot. I can't say that I completely understood what I was listening to, but thankfully I was able to connect bits and pieces of information that allowed me to at least grasp what was going on during key scenes.
And you know what? I actually enjoyed the heck out of this! I absolutely LOVED Annie as a heroine. Her eccentric energy was spectacular and I loved that she owned her personality. John on the other hand was such an amazing hero. The way he came to his feelings for Annie and the way he wore his heart on his sleeve as he pined for her was so captivating to watch. I fell in love with the chemistry between our hero and heroine that I had heart eyes even at the slightest of their interactions!
Besides the difficult (at least to me) accent, my biggest gripe with this book has to be its paranormal elements. I am honestly still not 100% sure of my understanding regarding that aspect of the story, but it didn't completely eclipse my love for Annie and John's romance so I can't really be mad about it that much.
This book was definitely a promising start to a historical romance series from a new-to-me author. I'm very excited to move on to the next installments and dive for more highland romance goodness!
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Violence and Gun violence
ashleycmms's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Torture, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Blood, Alcohol, Murder, Medical content, Gun violence, Infidelity, Drug abuse, Violence, Child death, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, and Ableism
Minor: Sexual assault, Rape, Pedophilia, and Vomit
More...