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3.59 AVERAGE
3.59 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Seduction of Elliot McBride marks the point in the Highland Pleasures series where we move away from the Mackenzie brothers and onto Ainsley's brothers, the McBride's. I was pretty excited about the turning point because ever since we met Ainsley's brothers I was pretty sure they would get their own books. More hot Scots? Yes please!
Unfortunately this book didn't quite have the same kick as the previous installments.
Julianna and Elliot are both great characters. Julianna is sweet and accommodating to Elliot's unusual ways and various surprises. She's probably actually pretty darn close to the perfect society lady to be honest, which is a big change from the females we usually get in this series. That's not a bad thing necessarily, I ended up really liking her. Elliot on the other hand has had a colorful past and went through some pretty horrifying things while he was living in India. Now he's a little bit "mad" because of his traumatic experience there, but he's really in love with Julianna, and he's definitely sexy and sweet despite having some pretty heavy PTSD he needs to deal with.
So the characters were good and they definitely love each other. But I guess that's kind of where the problem was. Their relationship was pretty smooth sailing. They have some outside conflicts to deal with and Elliot has some inner demons he needs to vanquish, but as a couple they're pretty in love from page one. For a romance novel, that proved to be kind of anti-climactic and not as exciting to read about.
Overall The Seduction of Elliot McBride is a good story, but I think maybe it should've been a novella instead. There just wasn't enough story for it to be a whole book (even if it was a short one). Even so, I still enjoyed reading about the amazing chemistry between Julianna and Elliot as they stumble through being newlyweds in a fixer-upper of a mansion.
Unfortunately this book didn't quite have the same kick as the previous installments.
Julianna and Elliot are both great characters. Julianna is sweet and accommodating to Elliot's unusual ways and various surprises. She's probably actually pretty darn close to the perfect society lady to be honest, which is a big change from the females we usually get in this series. That's not a bad thing necessarily, I ended up really liking her. Elliot on the other hand has had a colorful past and went through some pretty horrifying things while he was living in India. Now he's a little bit "mad" because of his traumatic experience there, but he's really in love with Julianna, and he's definitely sexy and sweet despite having some pretty heavy PTSD he needs to deal with.
So the characters were good and they definitely love each other. But I guess that's kind of where the problem was. Their relationship was pretty smooth sailing. They have some outside conflicts to deal with and Elliot has some inner demons he needs to vanquish, but as a couple they're pretty in love from page one. For a romance novel, that proved to be kind of anti-climactic and not as exciting to read about.
Overall The Seduction of Elliot McBride is a good story, but I think maybe it should've been a novella instead. There just wasn't enough story for it to be a whole book (even if it was a short one). Even so, I still enjoyed reading about the amazing chemistry between Julianna and Elliot as they stumble through being newlyweds in a fixer-upper of a mansion.
i'm conflicted about how to rate this. jennifer ashley is an incredible writer, and angela dawe absolutely bodies the audiobook narration for this series.
that being said, the treatment of the south asian characters in this book was objectively pretty racist. it was essentially a white savior story. and i didn't appreciate howthe daughter had such a minimal presence in the narrative. like that's literally his child...
the insta love made it hard to get attached to the characters. it almost felt like we were dropped into the middle of juliana and elliot's story rather than the beginning. elliot in particular was pretty flat for me. also there was no seduction anywhere in this book! these two were in love from page one.
still, the story was compelling, and again, the writing was amazing.
that being said, the treatment of the south asian characters in this book was objectively pretty racist. it was essentially a white savior story. and i didn't appreciate how
the insta love made it hard to get attached to the characters. it almost felt like we were dropped into the middle of juliana and elliot's story rather than the beginning. elliot in particular was pretty flat for me. also there was no seduction anywhere in this book! these two were in love from page one.
still, the story was compelling, and again, the writing was amazing.
dark
emotional
sad
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I liked this one very much. Not so much Juliana, but Elliot was a wonderful character to read. His background story was horrific and sad but well written, and I loved how he'd always loved her. xXx
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes