To Tempt a Scotsman

- Victoria Dahl-

Decided to try this one based on how much I enjoyed 'Talk Me Down', the first contemporary romance by this author.

I haven't really read historical romances much (unless "The Other Boleyn Girl" counts) since my early teens, and the one that stands out in memory there featured a hysterical horse/man penis logistical comparison that still makes me laugh. Man, I'd love to get my hands on that books again for the sheer laugh out loud factor.

But anyway, so historical fiction: not really my thing. But if this book is a good example of modern historical fiction, I might have to change my mind.

First of all, the writing was great - no reliance on crappy "Olde English, this is how they talked then" style conversation, which I have read before and drives me INSANE (ie: the entire thing being all "och, the wee lassie" blah blah). The language used was contextual, as in no "do me now, big boy" and other modern expressions, and the relationships and social structures were all period appropriate, but there was still a sense of modernity that I really enjoyed. I think that came from well realised characters, who acknowledged the restrictions and boundaries of the society they were born into, but weren't afraid to challenge them and go after what they wanted.

Alexandra is the best example of this: a so called "fallen woman", she decides that since society sees her as damaged goods, she can live life exactly as she wants. This means throwing herself into managing her brother's estate and, when Collin appears on the scene, pursuing him because she wants to and she can.

As for Collin: I need to read more books with sext Scotsman in them, because damn. Yum. He is believeable in that he is challenged by Alexandra's openess (with men particularly) and threatened by it in some ways, but it works so well as a problem in their relationship because it makes sense that a man of this time period, who are taught to view women a certain way, would be troubled by a woman who doesn't conform. And while jealousy turns him into a raging arse, it also is something he works through and ultimately acknowledges the wrongness of, so it doesn't seem like an over the top or unbelievable character trait or situation.

There were some things that didn't work for me, or maybe just weren't developed as much as they could have been:
- I would have liked to see more of Alexandra's relationship with her brother, because it was so well done and shown to be so loving, yet flawed. Actually I just want to see more of the brother. Hope he gets a story of his own someday.

- I wish Fergus and Jeanie's story hadn't been quite as secondary as it was. I would have loved to see more interaction development between them, rather than straight from Jeanie's confession to Alex telling Fergus to get over himself to oh, look - they are together. More one and one stuff with Fergus and Jeannie would have been awesome.

- I hated, HAAATED it ending on the note it did - nominally triumphant, but really they have both just been through the most terrible ordeal ever (the villian kidnapping them both and almost raping (or raping. Wasn't entirely clear) her while Collin is forced to listen, before Alex kills him. I hated that they had to go through something so horrific at that stage of the story, and I wanted a little bit more of the recovery and the homecoming after that, not just the jump to the happily ever after epilogue.

Overall though, really enjoyed the story and can't wait to read more from this author, and maybe more historical romances in general.