Cheri Champagne Author
  • Home
  • Bookshelf
    • The Bow Street Wallflowers Trilogy
    • The Seductive Spies Series
    • The Mason Siblings Series
    • Short Stories and Novellas
    • Audiobooks!
  • About Cheri
  • Links and References
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • News
  • Newsletter Signup

Book Review: To Marry A Scottish Laird by Lynsay Sands

6/1/2018

 
To Marry a Scottish Laird (Highlanders, #2)To Marry a Scottish Laird by Lynsay Sands
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I have no complaints about the author's voice or the characterization, but the plot was irksome, to say the least. The first 1/3 of the book was full of romance, anticipation, sex, and some heart-pounding, worrisome moments, but the last 2/3 of the book felt like a completely different story. The sex and romance disappeared and a new villain, new problems, and new motivations were introduced. It felt disjointed.

I feel like Cam found out that Joan was a woman far too early. There were so many missed opportunities for humour between the two of them. Also, Joan gave up her virginity *really* easily for someone that's petrified of becoming pregnant. I realize that they were in the moment, but as a healer who has seen all sorts of gruesome births, how could that not have popped into her mind?

The latter 2/3 of the novel was painfully predictable, and as soon as the ladies are poisoned by the cider, it's obvious who the culprit is. I don't get why it's a mystery, and I certainly don't get why these obtuse characters can't figure it out from the onset.

The epilogue is heartily disappointing. Why waste all this time on a new villain and new problems in the latter 2/3 of the book, when there was a perfectly good problem *right there*, plugged in from the beginning? Both had horrible fears of a pregnancy! Shortly after marrying, they could have found out that she was with child, and they could have spent time initially grieving, then deciding to go on mini adventures, or picnics (etc) on their "last days" together, realizing that all they wanted before she (potentially) died was to spend every moment together. It would have been heart-wrenching and beautiful, and it would have made the ending that much more impactful.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good adventure in my historical romance. I love nasty villains and devious plots, but this one was introduced so late that it felt like it was the beginning of a totally different story. If the author was so keen on having a villain appear in the latter 2/3 of the book, then my advice would have been to sneak a few peeks into the villain's head in the beginning 1/3. We needn't know their name, but just having a few thoughts, like "when is Cam going to be back? I've been waiting with these awful women for too long!", then at least a villain has been introduced, and the book flows from beginning to finish without feeling so disjointed.

This was my first Lynsay Sands book, and I'm very disappointed. I've heard good things about her other books, though, so I might give her work another shot. Fingers crossed that this one was just a fluke!

View all my reviews

Comments are closed.

    Cheri Champagne

    Award winning queer and autistic historical romance author. Chronically ill wife, and sahm of four neuro-spicy kids. Nerd & mug enthusiast. She/they.

    Archives

    May 2024
    July 2022
    March 2022
    October 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017

    Categories

    All
    Announcement
    Author Interview
    Author Update
    Book Reviews
    Cover Reveals
    MomLife
    Personal Post
    The Champagnes Do
    This Author's Ponderings
    Writing Tips
    Writing Update

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Bookshelf
    • The Bow Street Wallflowers Trilogy
    • The Seductive Spies Series
    • The Mason Siblings Series
    • Short Stories and Novellas
    • Audiobooks!
  • About Cheri
  • Links and References
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • News
  • Newsletter Signup