Helpful Score: 3
My first book by Amanda Scott, and part of a series, though I haven't read any of those though managed well enough without them. Reading the books in order may have helped understanding the back story though.
So...overall a decent book, though not what I was expecting...The summary makes it sound better than it was.
If you're thinking about reading this one, A few things to consider (esp if you're new to Ms Scott!):
You get both the Hero and the heroine's point of view, as well as a few other characters.. Though sometimes the other characters point of view seemed like space fillers rather than serving any actual purpose.
And the heroine barely hears anything at all, so I'm not entirely sure why it's even mentioned in the summary!
The romance is unusual, in that it's not as in your face as the ones in most Romances. It progresses slowly, but it definitely progresses. It's told alongside an action adventure story that at times seems to get more presence.
There's little sex. While it's not totally closed door, it's not nearly as graphic as I've come to expect.
It's not terribly emotional. I'm used to romances that have at least some degree of angst, or ones that made me feel for the characters... So while I wanted to feel for them in this one, the characters impassiveness made it hard.
I liked the Hero. He wasn't terribly Alpha, and in the beginning he bugged me, but for the time period he was definitely a Hero to look for.
Lastly, and I'll try to not give any spoilers, though I'll have to be vague to do it: Something happens to the heroine in her past, that was one of the main focuses of the book, but when it was explained, it was more or less glossed over. ( Ms. Scott mentions in her end notes that this event happened in another book in this series, but her writing style implies that it was barely described there as well) The other party in this event had almost no guilt, and it didn't seem to effect the heroine as much as I thought it should.
I can't decide if the author thought that that's how people react in the time period or just didn't know how to write the scene, either way, the detached-ness of the characters bothered me.
One last thing, after seeing the heroine's brother Simon Murray in this book (esp in the beginning) it's hard to believe that he warrants his own story. I think Ms Scott tried to make him seem worthy during the end of Border Lass, but I just wasn't buying it. If I ever get around to reading another of her books, I don't see myself reading that one (Border Moonlight).
So...overall a decent book, though not what I was expecting...The summary makes it sound better than it was.
If you're thinking about reading this one, A few things to consider (esp if you're new to Ms Scott!):
You get both the Hero and the heroine's point of view, as well as a few other characters.. Though sometimes the other characters point of view seemed like space fillers rather than serving any actual purpose.
And the heroine barely hears anything at all, so I'm not entirely sure why it's even mentioned in the summary!
The romance is unusual, in that it's not as in your face as the ones in most Romances. It progresses slowly, but it definitely progresses. It's told alongside an action adventure story that at times seems to get more presence.
There's little sex. While it's not totally closed door, it's not nearly as graphic as I've come to expect.
It's not terribly emotional. I'm used to romances that have at least some degree of angst, or ones that made me feel for the characters... So while I wanted to feel for them in this one, the characters impassiveness made it hard.
I liked the Hero. He wasn't terribly Alpha, and in the beginning he bugged me, but for the time period he was definitely a Hero to look for.
Lastly, and I'll try to not give any spoilers, though I'll have to be vague to do it: Something happens to the heroine in her past, that was one of the main focuses of the book, but when it was explained, it was more or less glossed over. ( Ms. Scott mentions in her end notes that this event happened in another book in this series, but her writing style implies that it was barely described there as well) The other party in this event had almost no guilt, and it didn't seem to effect the heroine as much as I thought it should.
I can't decide if the author thought that that's how people react in the time period or just didn't know how to write the scene, either way, the detached-ness of the characters bothered me.
One last thing, after seeing the heroine's brother Simon Murray in this book (esp in the beginning) it's hard to believe that he warrants his own story. I think Ms Scott tried to make him seem worthy during the end of Border Lass, but I just wasn't buying it. If I ever get around to reading another of her books, I don't see myself reading that one (Border Moonlight).
Helpful Score: 1
A little slow in places. I adored the hero - he's a man's man who is not super alpha or mean to the heroine. The back story was a bit tedious - the author could have done more to speed things along I think.
Helpful Score: 1
I'll preface this review by saying I've recently started reading a bunch of romance books based in this area (scotland) and in this era.
I liked this book enough that I really wanted to know what happened at the end and read it quite quickly for that reason. However I did not really feel for the characters as much as I have experienced in other books with similar stories. Also, and this may have been because I did not read the first book in the series, I thought that the relationships between all of the characters was very confusing in the beginning. I kept having to go back and see who was related to who and how this person was related to that one (I eventually broke down and wrote names on a piece of paper with arrows showing how each character related to eachother - I'm a visual learner what can I say) After a while I got the hang of it though.
I also agree with what another posted commented about how the description of the main character's past was somewhat vague and not fully explained.
Overall, after all these comments, I did like the book...I just didn't love it as much as I have others - such some of Judy Garwood's. I would recommend that one read it if they're interested in this category of book.
I liked this book enough that I really wanted to know what happened at the end and read it quite quickly for that reason. However I did not really feel for the characters as much as I have experienced in other books with similar stories. Also, and this may have been because I did not read the first book in the series, I thought that the relationships between all of the characters was very confusing in the beginning. I kept having to go back and see who was related to who and how this person was related to that one (I eventually broke down and wrote names on a piece of paper with arrows showing how each character related to eachother - I'm a visual learner what can I say) After a while I got the hang of it though.
I also agree with what another posted commented about how the description of the main character's past was somewhat vague and not fully explained.
Overall, after all these comments, I did like the book...I just didn't love it as much as I have others - such some of Judy Garwood's. I would recommend that one read it if they're interested in this category of book.
