"A Scottish sweetheart. One who was handsome and honorable and devoted to her, but conveniently never around. Maddie poured her heart into writing the imaginary Captain MacKenzie letter after letter...and by pretending to be devastated when he was (not really) killed in battle, she managed to avoid the pressures of London society entirely.
"Until years later, when this kilted Highland lover of her imaginings shows up in the flesh. The real Captain Logan MacKenzie arrives on her doorstep--handsome as anything, but not entirely honorable. He's wounded, jaded, in possession of her letters...and ready to make good on every promise Maddie never expected to keep."
You guys...something tragic has happened...I KNOW for a fact that I read the first two books in this series and I went back to read the reviews for those for fun, but they're not here!? I have both books in my Kindle account and I KNOW I read them (not only do I remember the plots rather clearly, but I can SEE that I finished them, thanks to the tracker on Kindle). What the heck?! Man that's really disheartening... I don't think I've ever just "lost" reviews like that before. I know I read these books, I know I enjoyed them; I cannot remember when I read them or all of the details. I may just have to go back and re-read them *gasp* (something I NEVER do) to be able to write decent reviews of these books.
Anyhow, off to my review of this book (hopefully it doesn't ghost on me too). I was excited to read this book because I specifically remember really enjoying the other two in the series. I devoured the 376 page paperback in 24-hours...so I think it's safe to say I really, really, really enjoyed this one too. This may well be one of my absolute favorite books by Tessa Dare. I may have chucked at a few of her books or smiled at a funny or awkward situation, but this one genuinely had me laughing and grinning like an idiot on quite a few occasions. This reason alone earns this book extremely high marks in my mind.
The plot was tremendously creative and unique. I am so impressed with Dare's daring (no pun intended) storyline. There was an enormous chance for it to go very wrong, cheesy, or way too "out there" to be at all believable, but she managed to pull it off with flying colors.
Logan MacKenzie is now up there on my list of favorite male leads. I love the way Dare wrote his dialogue (I've read quite a few books in which there are characters with Scottish brogues and the ones in this book were some of the most readable and believable ones I've ever read (also, I love the little nod Dare made to the oft over-the-top brogues some authors feel compelled to include - well played, Dare, well played)) and gave him a personality that was definitely more than meets the eye. I wondered if he would turn out like a few of the male leads in her "Spindle Cove" series (being a soldier with a very strong sense of duty and loyalty to his men), but she made him unique. I loved his banter with Maddie; it definitely seemed to fit both of their personalities, but his, especially. I got a very good sense of his character and physical appearance (something I've noted in a few of Dare's older books were a lack of physical descriptions (i.e. hair and eye color) of some of her characters, but she did a very good job of this in this book - for both characters). I will say that I wanted a tiny bit more of his backstory, but what snippets that were provided were rich enough to suffice and gave me a good sense of how he was shaped into the man he had become. I found him captivating, endearing, attractive, and a highly-enthralling male lead.
Maddie was sweet. I loved how Dare included some of the letters she wrote to the imaginary Captain Logan MacKenzie in the very beginning of the book. It really made the story come alive and said a lot about Maddie's character. Like Logan, I was a touch worried I would find Maddie, a naturalist sketch artist, too similar to Minerva in Dare's "Spindle Cove" series or Sophia in her "Toby and Isabel" series, but I am happy to report that Maddie was made unique enough so I didn't feel like Dare was "recycling" characters or plots. I will say that her "flaw" (which I will not directly give away) was a bit similar to one I encountered with a male lead in her "Stud Club" series, though it differed slightly. I enjoyed Maddie (and I liked her last name; it suited a woman who tended to be as withdrawn and quite as a church mouse - Dare has a knack for having rather appropriately-named characters) and, despite her timid personality, I still found her strong and brave in her own way.
I especially loved the setting. I got a very good sense of Scotland and the people and politics of the time. This may be a romance novel, but I can still appreciate a good setting and sense of historical time period.
Overall, I'm so pleased with this book. The banter between Logan and Maddie was definitely what made the story come to life. The plot was unique and extremely captivating. I highly recommend this book and, as always, I am absolutely in love with Dare's writing. I never want her books to end.
No comments:
Post a Comment