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A review by lezreadalot
My Heart's in the Highlands by Amy Hoff
3.0
She could feel the warmth of Ainslie's breath on her skin. It must be fear, Jane thought. This must be what it is to be terrified.
But it was unlike any fear she'd ever known. Not really, she realised, much like fear at all.
I'm giving this what I consider to be a pretty generous rating because I can't deny that a lot of research went into it, and some parts made me laugh out loud, and some parts were super sexy, and the basic premise appeals to my lesbian lizard brain so viscerally I have to stan. (I said YES out loud when I first read the summary.) Basically, this book is about a 19th century scientist in Edinburgh who travels back in time to the 13th century and meets and falls in love with a highlander warrior woman. It had the potential to be SO much better than it actually is.
And there are good things about it, make no mistake. The writing was fine; really good at times. I adore that this is a time travel book about someone from before our time going back even further in time. It lays the ground for a dynamic that's really interesting. Especially because of the ways that Ainslie's clan is more 'modern' than what Jane expects. Jane and Ainslie's chemistry was really good, extremely hot (although I really didn't buy them falling in love as quickly as they did; more on that later). There were a fair few interesting historical titbits. Interesting to me at least, who knows nothing about Scottish history and can't say much on the accuracy here.
As for the not so great stuff. Where to begin...
- This book needed editing. Or a better editor. A lot of research went into this, as I said, and the author has a lot of interesting notes at the end (I only skimmed them, because by the time I got to the end I was just ready to be done) but it seems like very little thought was put into historical fidelity with regard to language? And I don't mean the Gaelic/Scottish, which again, I can't comment on. A lot of modern words and phrasing were continuously used, and it was really counterproductive in terms of setting up that historical atmosphere and vibe. Which is something that I really enjoy in historical novels. It was a pedant's nightmare (or a pedant's dream, if you're the annoying type who likes to nitpick stuff). The POV character used words like 'cheer-leading' which didn't really come into use until 1904; 'submarine' which wasn't used in the sense of underwater vehicle until 1899; 'snow-globes' which were invented until the 1900s. And a lot more. At some point I had to stop taking note of these because again, it really didn't seem like something Hoff had bothered to care about. (And again, I kind of respect that she was just like 'yo this is about women in love, not fidelity in historical language.' She knew what she cared about.) One of the 13th century characters actually cracked a pun-based joke that was so clearly modern (something about fog and mist) that I just threw my hands up. Like, fine.
- With regard to the Scottish language though, I will say... the decision was made to phonetically spell out a LOT of the brogue and. I really wish Hoff hadn't done that LOL. It was more distracting than anything, made for a more difficult read.
- I liked the aspect of Ainslie's clan being more advanced and accepting than would be expected, but the ease with which they just accepted that Jane was a time traveller was laughable.
- The tone of this was all over the place. Sometimes serious, sometimes light, sometimes sombre, sometimes... ??? This obviously isn't to say that a book can't strike different tones as needed, but it just felt off-kilter in a way IDK how to explain. A couple times, the author says something like "because, you see, she knew all along". And like. There's a specific tone that a book needs to strike to get away with directly addressing the reader, and this was NOT IT. Part of me wishes that the book had leaned all the way into the whimsy and the humour, and been a bit lighter and sillier, and then I definitely would not have noticed all the word choice issues. It would have been like, stylistic, and in keeping with the humour.
- This was way too insta-lovey for my tastes. In the notes at the end, the author says that Jane is demi-romantic and demi-sexual, which is great, I love seeing ace rep in books but... it definitely didn't feel like she was. She and Ainslie did not build any kind of deep connection before they fell into bed and bombastic declarations were being thrown all over the place. Also, the way Ainslie lost emotional control because of Jane just didn't feel authentic to me. I thought this would have been a way slower burn.
- The sex scenes were pretty steamy, and there was a D/s element to them which I mean, BLESS, I'll never complain about that but also... it was all kinda sudden and un-negotiated, and. You hate to see it. Jane loved it and consented to it, but it got a little over the top, and the scenes where Ainslie got uber-possessive and almost abusive were too much. Jane called her out on it, and she apologised, but not enough imo. It was just kinda uncomfortable to me.
- The plot was a little garbled and confused, especially when it came to the clan rivalry, and Jane being a Campbell (which I didn't even realise until it became a thing). I got kind of bored with it.
I would love to see this book get edited for coherency and plot and language, because as far as I'm concerned, the world DESERVES good time travel Scottish lesbian romance. And this is that, just... not so much with the 'good'.
2.5 stars.
☆ Review copy provided via NetGalley.
But it was unlike any fear she'd ever known. Not really, she realised, much like fear at all.
I'm giving this what I consider to be a pretty generous rating because I can't deny that a lot of research went into it, and some parts made me laugh out loud, and some parts were super sexy, and the basic premise appeals to my lesbian lizard brain so viscerally I have to stan. (I said YES out loud when I first read the summary.) Basically, this book is about a 19th century scientist in Edinburgh who travels back in time to the 13th century and meets and falls in love with a highlander warrior woman. It had the potential to be SO much better than it actually is.
And there are good things about it, make no mistake. The writing was fine; really good at times. I adore that this is a time travel book about someone from before our time going back even further in time. It lays the ground for a dynamic that's really interesting. Especially because of the ways that Ainslie's clan is more 'modern' than what Jane expects. Jane and Ainslie's chemistry was really good, extremely hot (although I really didn't buy them falling in love as quickly as they did; more on that later). There were a fair few interesting historical titbits. Interesting to me at least, who knows nothing about Scottish history and can't say much on the accuracy here.
As for the not so great stuff. Where to begin...
Spoiler
- Unlike a lot of time travel romance, where someone ends up in a another time because of magic, in this book the main character actually builds a time machine. But don't let that fool you; this book is not science fiction. Jane builds a time machine in 1888. How does she build a time machine in 1888? None of our damned business, I assume, because Hoff literally never lets us know. Part of me begrudgingly respects that; I don't think the author really cared about the science-y bits, and so she just did not include them. But it also felt so weird to have the whole premise of the book built around time travel, to have Jane be a literal scientist and the person who created the machine, and yet give us absolutely nothing about the technical aspects of that.- This book needed editing. Or a better editor. A lot of research went into this, as I said, and the author has a lot of interesting notes at the end (I only skimmed them, because by the time I got to the end I was just ready to be done) but it seems like very little thought was put into historical fidelity with regard to language? And I don't mean the Gaelic/Scottish, which again, I can't comment on. A lot of modern words and phrasing were continuously used, and it was really counterproductive in terms of setting up that historical atmosphere and vibe. Which is something that I really enjoy in historical novels. It was a pedant's nightmare (or a pedant's dream, if you're the annoying type who likes to nitpick stuff). The POV character used words like 'cheer-leading' which didn't really come into use until 1904; 'submarine' which wasn't used in the sense of underwater vehicle until 1899; 'snow-globes' which were invented until the 1900s. And a lot more. At some point I had to stop taking note of these because again, it really didn't seem like something Hoff had bothered to care about. (And again, I kind of respect that she was just like 'yo this is about women in love, not fidelity in historical language.' She knew what she cared about.) One of the 13th century characters actually cracked a pun-based joke that was so clearly modern (something about fog and mist) that I just threw my hands up. Like, fine.
- With regard to the Scottish language though, I will say... the decision was made to phonetically spell out a LOT of the brogue and. I really wish Hoff hadn't done that LOL. It was more distracting than anything, made for a more difficult read.
- I liked the aspect of Ainslie's clan being more advanced and accepting than would be expected, but the ease with which they just accepted that Jane was a time traveller was laughable.
- The tone of this was all over the place. Sometimes serious, sometimes light, sometimes sombre, sometimes... ??? This obviously isn't to say that a book can't strike different tones as needed, but it just felt off-kilter in a way IDK how to explain. A couple times, the author says something like "because, you see, she knew all along". And like. There's a specific tone that a book needs to strike to get away with directly addressing the reader, and this was NOT IT. Part of me wishes that the book had leaned all the way into the whimsy and the humour, and been a bit lighter and sillier, and then I definitely would not have noticed all the word choice issues. It would have been like, stylistic, and in keeping with the humour.
- This was way too insta-lovey for my tastes. In the notes at the end, the author says that Jane is demi-romantic and demi-sexual, which is great, I love seeing ace rep in books but... it definitely didn't feel like she was. She and Ainslie did not build any kind of deep connection before they fell into bed and bombastic declarations were being thrown all over the place. Also, the way Ainslie lost emotional control because of Jane just didn't feel authentic to me. I thought this would have been a way slower burn.
- The sex scenes were pretty steamy, and there was a D/s element to them which I mean, BLESS, I'll never complain about that but also... it was all kinda sudden and un-negotiated, and. You hate to see it. Jane loved it and consented to it, but it got a little over the top, and the scenes where Ainslie got uber-possessive and almost abusive were too much. Jane called her out on it, and she apologised, but not enough imo. It was just kinda uncomfortable to me.
- The plot was a little garbled and confused, especially when it came to the clan rivalry, and Jane being a Campbell (which I didn't even realise until it became a thing). I got kind of bored with it.
I would love to see this book get edited for coherency and plot and language, because as far as I'm concerned, the world DESERVES good time travel Scottish lesbian romance. And this is that, just... not so much with the 'good'.
2.5 stars.
☆ Review copy provided via NetGalley.