Scan barcode
A review by corrie
My Heart's in the Highlands by Amy Hoff
4.0
With My Heart’s in the Highlands, Amy Hoff went for a historically ambitious debut romance novel. Like all firsts, this one, too, had some teething problems. That’s understandable, every new author has to grow into it.
I don’t know much about the history of the Scots, but reading that Hoff is a Scottish historian, cultural anthropologist, and folklorist, we can assume she really knows her material and you are in safe hands. Sure, she has taken some artistic liberties here and there but she is honest about it. I think she offers the most comprehensive author’s guide in the back of her book I’ve ever seen. Any historical question you might have after reading this book will be answered. She even breaks it down per chapter. Very impressive.
So Victorian Lady Jane Crichton is brilliant. So brilliant in fact she has built a time machine. We are pretty much kept in the dark about how it works, what powers it, or what it looks like. I have to say I was really disappointed by that because I love time travel and it was mostly ignored, as was the lady’s brilliance. In fact, her rather reckless and impulsive actions made me doubt her brain power. Hoff could have spent some more time on this character.
Lady Crighton fires up her mystery machine and basically crashlands into Ainslie nic Dòmhnaill’s lap. We are now in the year 1200-something-another and in need of some subtitles. Ainslie’s dialogue will be heavily accented. I understand why the author chose to do it this way but it will give your brain a bit of a work-out. Readers who don’t have a feel for other languages might struggle.
The romance part was not quite to my tastes. I felt this was the weaker part of the book. Lady Jane went from sexless to ravenous in the blink of an eye. Ainslie hovered between being a perfect gentle-woman and a rapist. There were some borderline abusive sex scenes that made me uncomfortable. I did not really understand the dynamics. They were all over the place.
Overall the book was entertaining although plot-wise it felt a bit too easy sometimes. Also I would have loved a bit more show than tell. Kudos on the historical part. I love to see what Amy Hoff will show us next time.
f/f explicit with a trigger warning for dubious consent
Themes: Victorian Edinburgh, Scotland, The Edinburgh Seven, time machine, 13th century, the feuding Donalds and Campbells.
3.5 Stars
* A free copy was provided by Netgalley and Bella Books for an honest review.
I don’t know much about the history of the Scots, but reading that Hoff is a Scottish historian, cultural anthropologist, and folklorist, we can assume she really knows her material and you are in safe hands. Sure, she has taken some artistic liberties here and there but she is honest about it. I think she offers the most comprehensive author’s guide in the back of her book I’ve ever seen. Any historical question you might have after reading this book will be answered. She even breaks it down per chapter. Very impressive.
So Victorian Lady Jane Crichton is brilliant. So brilliant in fact she has built a time machine. We are pretty much kept in the dark about how it works, what powers it, or what it looks like. I have to say I was really disappointed by that because I love time travel and it was mostly ignored, as was the lady’s brilliance. In fact, her rather reckless and impulsive actions made me doubt her brain power. Hoff could have spent some more time on this character.
Lady Crighton fires up her mystery machine and basically crashlands into Ainslie nic Dòmhnaill’s lap. We are now in the year 1200-something-another and in need of some subtitles. Ainslie’s dialogue will be heavily accented. I understand why the author chose to do it this way but it will give your brain a bit of a work-out. Readers who don’t have a feel for other languages might struggle.
The romance part was not quite to my tastes. I felt this was the weaker part of the book. Lady Jane went from sexless to ravenous in the blink of an eye. Ainslie hovered between being a perfect gentle-woman and a rapist. There were some borderline abusive sex scenes that made me uncomfortable. I did not really understand the dynamics. They were all over the place.
Overall the book was entertaining although plot-wise it felt a bit too easy sometimes. Also I would have loved a bit more show than tell. Kudos on the historical part. I love to see what Amy Hoff will show us next time.
f/f explicit with a trigger warning for dubious consent
Themes: Victorian Edinburgh, Scotland, The Edinburgh Seven, time machine, 13th century, the feuding Donalds and Campbells.
3.5 Stars
* A free copy was provided by Netgalley and Bella Books for an honest review.