Tag: Scotland

Posted in audio books, Book Review

Audiobook Review When a Scot Ties the Knot

Posted on by Sherri

When a Scot Ties The Knot by Tessa Dare, Read by Carmen Rose

Another Chirp audiobook.

I forgot how good a story-teller Tessa Dare is, but When a Scot Ties The Knot reminded me of why I love her books. Madeline Gracechurch and Logan McKenzie step out of the pages and into our hearts as their story is brought to life through Carmen Rose’s gentle voice. The story is powerful enough on its own but add in Carmen Rose’s dramatic reading and it becomes cinematic.

Painfully shy and facing her first London season, Madeline Gracechurch invents a love interest, highland Captain Logan McKenzie to spare her from being a dismal failure on the London marriage mart.

To keep her family at bay, she writes letters telling Captain McKenzie of her folly, her family and her deepest thoughts and desires. In these letters she pours out her heart but after ten years of the charade, she decides it is time to kill off her imaginary lover.

What started out as a little white lie grew into something real and ten years later, Captain Logan McKenzie shows up on her doorstep ready to claim his bride.

Logan McKenzie was just looking for a way to take care of his men. He promised them if they would fight Napoleon, he’d see they came home to their families and Scotland. Upon returning home, the men discovered they had no home and no family waiting. Doing his best to keep his promise, Logan turns to the only other option he can think of, blackmailing the girl who’d wrote him all those letters. All he wants is a place to call home, for his men, because he has never had a home of his own.

Can true love grow out of a lie?

Be prepared to lose sleep because this is one of those books you won’t want to stop reading or listening to. I think I’ll listen to it again.

Posted in Book Review

The Prince by Katharine Ashe

Posted on by Sherri

Happy Release Day, Katharine!

History professor/historical romance author, Katharine Ashe brings the past into the contemporary with an understanding of human nature and historical facts. Her novels are rich in history with a modern relevance.

The Prince is a timeless story of the heart versus dreams and responsibility.

Mr. Kent (The Prince Ziyaeddin of Tabir) is in exile, making his way in the world as a renowned artist. He meets the inexhaustible Libby/Elizabeth Shaw at the devil duke’s home in The Duke and he has never forgotten her.

Dressed as Mr. Smart, Libby sits among the medical students during a public dissection. No one realizes the boy with the wild whiskers isn’t a lad at all. She has accomplished the impossible, a woman in the operating theater in Edinburg. Until she sees Mr. Kent and realizes he recognizes her.

The daughter of a doctor, it is Libby’s dream to become as surgeon but no one will accept a woman as a surgical apprentice. Women aren’t even allowed to study medicine.

Mr. Kent is awaiting the moment when he can return home and free his sister and his country from the people who assassinated his parents.

The Prince is a story about people risking everything to accomplish a dream and forfeiting it all for love. It is a story of friendship, respect and following your heart despite others’ expectations. These extraordinary characters face insurmountable odds.

This is Katharine’s best work so far. These characters are unique yet familiar. As a reader, I’m rooting for Kent and Shaw to get together yet that seems impossible. How can they accomplish their dreams and responsibilities if they give into their desires? The emotional rollercoaster ride brings us closer to this amazing couple and the other characters who support their story.

I’m so thankful for happy endings but it wasn’t the ending I expected.

If you’re a history buff like I am, reading the historical notes Katharine provides for readers is just as much fun as the stories they inspired. It is one of my favorite things about reading her books.