Thursday, August 27, 2015

Review + Giveaway: When a Scot Ties the Knot

WHEN A SCOT TIES THE KNOT
Castles Ever After #3
Tessa Dare
Historical Romance
384 pages
Avon
Available Now
Source: eARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
On the cusp of her first London season, Miss Madeline Gracechurch was shyly pretty and talented with a drawing pencil, but hopelessly awkward with gentlemen. She was certain to be a dismal failure on the London marriage mart. So Maddie did what generations of shy, awkward young ladies have done: she invented a sweetheart.

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.


MY THOUGHTS
When a Scot Ties the Knot charmingly reminds us of all the reasons we love a Tessa Dare historical romance, giving us a sweet, self-aware heroine to show our gruff, slightly damaged hero that there’s more to life than duty and loneliness. A fanciful teenage attempt at self-preservation irrevocably alters the course of both their lives, taking all of us on a journey full of laughter and heat without weighing us down with unnecessary drama and conflict.

Maddie is nothing short of adorable, inventing a fantasy suitor in order to keep her family from pushing her to attend all the social events of her first Season out, something that makes her break out in a cold sweat thanks to a traumatic crowd-related incident in her youth. Years later when he suddenly shows up at her door, she meets him head-on with humor and self-deprecation, repeatedly reprimanding herself for bathing him in a romantic light when he’s clearly not there to sweep her off her feet, and begging him to share any number of faults to aid her in her quest to keep her heart from skipping a beat in his presence. What results is a relationship that’s utterly endearing, the two of them fighting their growing affection in a way that manages to be cute rather than frustrating.

Logan has the perfect amount of alpha in him; big, imposing, and completely loyal to the men under his command, but he also undeniably has what Maddie refers to–much to his chagrin–as “squish”. She’s not put off by his attempts at intimidation, instead choosing to see the positive over the negative at every turn regardless of both their efforts to yank her rose-colored glasses from her eyes. Despite a hasty marriage of convenience and necessity, the romance is definitely of the slow burn variety, the sexual tension between them taut as a bowstring for much of the book until Ms. Dare puts all of us out of our delicious misery.

Overall, When a Scot Ties the Knot is as sweet as can be, supporting fluff with plenty of substance and a strong set of secondary characters (here’s hoping we see some Logan’s men get books of their own!) to keep us engaged on every level.

Rating: 4/5
 

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19 comments:

  1. I grabbed this book and plan to read it next week. I don't read HR very often, but this one totally yelled "pick me!" I can't wait to meet Logan and Maddie.

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  2. Oh, I do hope his men gets books..at least one!

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  3. I adored this book. Read it as soon as it showed up in my mailbox. :) The secondary characters in the Castles Ever After series have been amazing... this one is no different. Wheee!

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  4. I read this one last night and absolutely loved it! I simply adored the romance and above all, the humour!!
    And I agree I'd love to see books for Logan's men!!

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  5. Ack. Seriously, I need to get on the bandwagon for these historical romances! So many of you have loved the books.

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  6. I agree with your assessment completely, Jenny! This was absolutely sweet and fluffy and oh-so-cute so I just loooved it! Not my favorite of this series but a good one, nevertheless. Fantastic review, dear!(:

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  7. I love your review, Jenny! I loved this book so much and of course, Maddie and Logan were my favorite. It was so funny how they tried hard not to fall for each other, but end up failing. I'm ready for a re-read I think. And I 100% agree. Logan's men need their own books. :)
    Beautiful review!

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  8. I have been seeing this everywhere lately and I think it is calling my name Jenny! I know I'm going to have to read this one.
    Lovely review!

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  9. I read a review for this on Blod's blog the other day and I thought it sounded funny. I can only imagine her shock when I real live man shows up.

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  10. I'm currently reading this one and loving it, Jenny! Logan does indeed have a center full of "squish"! Tessa Dare is a fairly new author to me, but her Castles Ever After series is amazing. Wonderful review and thanks for the giveaway! :)

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  11. So Madeline didn't just make up somebody? I'm a little confused by the synopsis.

    Now I would make up a fictional character and totally forget what I've said about them and therefore be caught in a lie very early on.

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  12. I love Dare and devoured this book. So glad you enjoyed it. The mix of humor , swoon and a strong heroine were delightful.

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  13. I so can't wait to read this one. I love it when the secondary characters make an impression. You know you will get more of their stories (or usually that is the case). That means lots of swoony men! Sometimes you gots to love fluff! :D

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  14. I heard so many great things about Tessa Dare but I don't think I've tried ne of her books yet. This series sounds really good, I should try it!

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  15. I've yet to read anything by Tessa Dare, but I've heard such great things about her book. I think I will have to savor this one when the weather turns chilly.

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  16. I’ve see so much love for this series among my friends. Despite the fact that Historical romance is not my usual genre, I’m dying to read it. This sounds like something I would love. Wonderful review, Jenny!

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  17. Wonderful review, Jenny! Between your review and Nick's, I just broke down and bought a copy of the first book in the series, and made my mom buy it too - lol! :)

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