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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
It's a yes but no for me, I liked it at some parts and hated it at some points. I want to write a proper review but I can't know. But I will. I hope so.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’m gonna label this grumpy/sunshine, strangers-to-lovers, arranged-marriage-for-safety-purposes, 3/5 spice, 5/5 giggle smiles feet kicking. These Scotts just hit different (intended), and you’ll always reel me in with a “head of his clan with young son and dead wife that he loved marries stranger woman to keep her out of danger plus he thinks she’s hot” storyline. This MMC is the grumpiest grump who ever grumped and the FMC is naive and assertive and sassy (which, it turns out, is a delightful combo). It’s cute, it’s sweet, there’s danger, read your trigger warnings. Enjoy.
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I enjoyed this first one in the series--I really liked both of these main characters.
Sexy stuff in here. Maya Banks knows how to turn up the heat. I liked her Highland series kickoff with the McCabe brothers and the mysterious Marin who drops into their keep.
I could have done with a little less vomiting. Seriously, there was a LOT of vomiting, or thinking about barfing on people's shoes, and days of retching. That was . . . less sexy. I was trying to keep a puke reference count, but lost track and couldn't stomach retracing that work - couldn't stomach it, ha. Yes, there were reasons, multiple reasons across the course of the book, but it seemed like the plot lines converged to be a tsunami of puke. Reminded me of that scene from Stand By Me.
I really enjoyed Ewan's feelings for Marin and how he had to work to gain her trust and then love after their hasty coupling. And dang, that was not a slow and sexy wedding consummation, but I loved how the whole storyline played out. I understood why he did what he did and liked that he gave her the time and explanations she needed to not be afraid of the loving. Gosh, we need the loving to be good, not awful.
I wish Marin would have been a little more kickass and a little less helpless as a napkin draped over the front of a horse that a man is riding. I'm hoping that in a later book in the series we'll get the neighbor's kickass daughter for one of the younger brothers, as she's not such a delicate flower as Marin. I still liked Marin, especially her protective feelings for Ewan's son, but woman up a little.
I could have done with a little less vomiting. Seriously, there was a LOT of vomiting, or thinking about barfing on people's shoes, and days of retching. That was . . . less sexy. I was trying to keep a puke reference count, but lost track and couldn't stomach retracing that work - couldn't stomach it, ha. Yes, there were reasons, multiple reasons across the course of the book, but it seemed like the plot lines converged to be a tsunami of puke. Reminded me of that scene from Stand By Me.
I really enjoyed Ewan's feelings for Marin and how he had to work to gain her trust and then love after their hasty coupling. And dang, that was not a slow and sexy wedding consummation, but I loved how the whole storyline played out. I understood why he did what he did and liked that he gave her the time and explanations she needed to not be afraid of the loving. Gosh, we need the loving to be good, not awful.
I wish Marin would have been a little more kickass and a little less helpless as a napkin draped over the front of a horse that a man is riding. I'm hoping that in a later book in the series we'll get the neighbor's kickass daughter for one of the younger brothers, as she's not such a delicate flower as Marin. I still liked Marin, especially her protective feelings for Ewan's son, but woman up a little.
To my disgrace, I kinda mixed up Maya Banks with Maya Rodale (who wrote [b:Dangerous Books for Girls|13159993|Dangerous Books for Girls The Bad Reputation of Romance Novels Explained|Maya Rodale|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328327828s/13159993.jpg|18338715], and thus whose romance fiction I wanted to check out). Aaaand so this turned out to not be my cup of tea at all! I stubbornly forced myself to keep reading just because I wanted to reach the end and have it be over already so I could move on to something else.
Technically it's more proficiently-written than other sloppily-written romance I've read, and Banks' writing style itself is fine... But content-wise, this jots right into the worst tropes & stereotypes of historical romance: a domineering alpha hero who takes the lead in absolutely every single scene (and even!), and a prim innocent virginal heroine who doesn't understand her own desires. I can make some allowances for the historical period, but it just ends up overwhelmingly gross; every moment goes by with him commanding her, instructing her, while she blinks wide-eyed and meekly repeats what he's just said, in astonishment. Ugh. Literally every single steamy scene starts off with her already in bed ~waiting for him~, or him literally physically grabbing/carrying/dragging her out of the public hall and to their bedroom. (It can be spontaneous/romantic the one time, but when it happens EVERY SINGLE TIME, then it's just frustratingly domineering and, frankly, disrespectful. She can walk, you know! Please stop throwing your wife around like a sack of potatoes!)
The bits of humour didn't especially amuse me either. She was supposed to be ~*sassy and feisty~* and a rebellious thorn in his side, but becomes completely demure and obedient to him. The clanswomen instruct her in how to be a more perfect and obliging wife to her husband, because that's, yanno, her chardev goal. All of the drama, too, is centered around Mairin being physically harmed/endangered/kidnapped/etc and Ewan roaring to her rescue (seriously, how many times can one man roar in one book before his vocal chords give out?); again, could have been romantic the once, but not when the entire plot hinges on the nonstop victimisation of the heroine & the looming threat of physical harm to her.
I kept waiting and waiting and thinking that Ewan's "I EXPECT TO BE OBEYED" nature was going to be reformed, too, but nope, he remains pretty much as misogynistic by the end as he was at the start. There are other attempts at subplots to add depth to the story -- Mairin's friendships with the clan women, her parental dynamic with Ewan's son, Crispen -- but Crispen is a too-precocious, too-sweet little elf that got on my nerves too.
I presume there's a time and a place and a reading demographic for this -- there's a reason vintage-style romance was so popular for so long -- but I'm so not here for this. This book doesn't have the excuse of being a legit vintage romance either, since it was published in 2011.
1.5 stars -- only rescued from rounding down because Banks' prose is fine, and it sounds like I should've gone with one of her other books instead of this one. Sigh. Moving on!
Technically it's more proficiently-written than other sloppily-written romance I've read, and Banks' writing style itself is fine... But content-wise, this jots right into the worst tropes & stereotypes of historical romance: a domineering alpha hero who takes the lead in absolutely every single scene (and even
Spoiler
rapes the heroine in their very first sex sceneThe bits of humour didn't especially amuse me either. She was supposed to be ~*sassy and feisty~* and a rebellious thorn in his side, but becomes completely demure and obedient to him. The clanswomen instruct her in how to be a more perfect and obliging wife to her husband, because that's, yanno, her chardev goal. All of the drama, too, is centered around Mairin being physically harmed/endangered/kidnapped/etc and Ewan roaring to her rescue (seriously, how many times can one man roar in one book before his vocal chords give out?); again, could have been romantic the once, but not when the entire plot hinges on the nonstop victimisation of the heroine & the looming threat of physical harm to her.
I kept waiting and waiting and thinking that Ewan's "I EXPECT TO BE OBEYED" nature was going to be reformed, too, but nope, he remains pretty much as misogynistic by the end as he was at the start. There are other attempts at subplots to add depth to the story -- Mairin's friendships with the clan women, her parental dynamic with Ewan's son, Crispen -- but Crispen is a too-precocious, too-sweet little elf that got on my nerves too.
I presume there's a time and a place and a reading demographic for this -- there's a reason vintage-style romance was so popular for so long -- but I'm so not here for this. This book doesn't have the excuse of being a legit vintage romance either, since it was published in 2011.
1.5 stars -- only rescued from rounding down because Banks' prose is fine, and it sounds like I should've gone with one of her other books instead of this one. Sigh. Moving on!
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
After reading Never Love a Highlander and hating it, then forgetting because there's many Highlander romances that I enjoyed,, I read this and wish Goodreads would put in some kind of warning system to let me know when I've picked up a book with the same theme as a previous book in which I've given a low rating.
This book starts out with the so called hero being a controlling, angry, entitled, abuser who's only slightly kinder than the villain.
He rapes his wife on their wedding night
which is only days after a beating from the villain where she most likely has broken ribs, and goes of to war with an excuse that he had to get the deed over with to consimate the marriage yet he didn't even speak it to his wife as he was plowing her or dressing to leave.
She falls in love with him later for the smallest of kind words.
It's supposed to be romantic when they have sex immediately after he stitches her up from an arrow wound . Come on people! Good fiction should be at least a little believable. If you've just been hit by an arrow you're not thinking about seducing your husband, and having sex with someone who is injured is abuse, not loving.
Argh.
This book starts out with the so called hero being a controlling, angry, entitled, abuser who's only slightly kinder than the villain.
He rapes his wife on their wedding night
which is only days after a beating from the villain where she most likely has broken ribs, and goes of to war with an excuse that he had to get the deed over with to consimate the marriage yet he didn't even speak it to his wife as he was plowing her or dressing to leave.
She falls in love with him later for the smallest of kind words.
It's supposed to be romantic when they have sex immediately after he stitches her up from an arrow wound . Come on people! Good fiction should be at least a little believable. If you've just been hit by an arrow you're not thinking about seducing your husband, and having sex with someone who is injured is abuse, not loving.
Argh.
Not for me. A bit too “old school Medieval”. FMC was feisty but a bit useless. MMC ordered her around.
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No