Series: Wild Wicked Highlanders (Book 1)
HAPPILY-EVER-AFTER
London socialite Amelia-Rose Baxter is nobody’s fool. Her parents may want her to catch a title, but she will never change who she is for the promise of marriage. Her husband will be a man who can appreciate her sharp mind as well as her body. A sophisticated man who loves life in London. A man who considers her his equal―and won’t try to tame her wild heart...
IN THE HIGHLANDS
Rough, rugged Highlander Niall MacTaggert and his brothers know the rules: the eldest must marry or lose the ancestral estate, period. But Niall’s eldest brother just isn’t interested in the lady his mother selected. Is it because Amelia-Rose is just too ... Free-spirited? Yes. Brazen? Aye. Surely Niall can find a way to soften up the whip-smart lass and make her the perfect match for his brother for the sake of the family.
JUST GOT A WHOLE LOT HOTTER.
Instead it’s Niall who tempts Amelia-Rose, despite her reservations about barbarian Highlanders. Niall finds the lass nigh irresistible as well, but he won’t make the mistake his father did in marrying an Englishwoman who doesn’t like the Highlands. Does he have what it takes to win her heart? There is only one way to find out...
Overall this was a very fun book to read. There were a few spots where it dragged a little, but the rest more than made up for it. The three MacTaggert brothers have grown up in Scotland without the benefit of their mother's presence. Seventeen years earlier, Francesca had had enough of the isolation and left her husband and three sons behind, taking only her infant daughter with her to London. There had been no contact in all that time, until a letter arrived, informing them of their sister's upcoming wedding. At that point, an agreement made between their parents came to light. The three sons must marry before their sister, and they must marry English brides, or lose the funds that Francesca provides to keep the estate running.
I enjoyed the introduction to the boys. Coll is the oldest, heir to the earldom, and the most taciturn of the trio. Aden is the one in the middle, the free-spirited one. Niall is the youngest and the family peacemaker. He is the one who watches out for everyone and tries to find a solution for any problems. To say that they are not happy about the agreement would be putting it mildly, but they know that they have no choice if they want to protect their people. They decided that they would find their meek, empty-headed English brides, marry them, and leave them in England while they returned to their lives in Scotland. After all, it had worked for their parents, hadn't it? Their arrival in London was pretty amusing, especially the inclusion of their "friend" Rory. Their meeting with Francesca made it clear that they were there under protest.
Amelia-Rose is the girl that their mother has picked for Coll. She is smart and sassy and knows what she wants. Unfortunately for her, her mother is fixated on Amelia-Rose marrying a title, and nothing else matters. Victoria made it clear that Amelia-Rose was to tone down her attitude and not create trouble. Amelia-Rose wants to marry and get away from her overbearing mother, but she also wants a husband that will appreciate who she is and give her the life she wants in London.
The first meeting between Coll and Amelia-Rose did not go well. He was surly and resentful and managed to tick off Amelia-Rose in the first five minutes he was there. Then he got offended by her response and walked out of the theater, leaving her there to face Society gossips on her own. I liked how Niall stepped in to try to smooth things over. He is determined to show Coll in the best light possible and keep the agreement viable. What he didn't expect was to be drawn to her himself.
I enjoyed the development of the relationship between Niall and Amelia-Rose. It started as more of a friendship, as Niall attempted to cover for his brother, and Amelia-Rose just wanted away from her mother. Because Niall wasn't the one that she needed to impress, Amelia- Rose found it easy to be herself when she was with him. It didn't take long for Niall to discover that he wanted her for himself, and picturing her with Coll was painful. Meanwhile, Amelia-Rose began to realize that bowing to her mother's wishes was becoming more difficult. I loved the interactions between Niall and Amelia-Rose. They were fun and honest. When Coll made a particularly obnoxious scene at a ball, it was Niall who stepped in to prevent a scandal. I loved watching him stand up to both mothers and insist that Amelia-Rose is given a choice and that he would win her on his own actions. Things got a bit complicated when her mother made her own plans for Amelia-Rose's future. Amelia-Rose had to take a good look at what she really wanted and make some decisions. I loved Niall's solution to the whole issue and laughed and cheered as he and his brothers put it in motion. I was on the edge of my seat until Niall and Amelia-Rose were successful in their endeavor. There was an unexpected twist at the end that made for an even happier ending.
There were plenty of secondary characters to liven up the action. Niall's brother Coll, as Amelia-Rose's supposed intended, was a royal pain. He was surly to the point of rudeness and treated Amelia-Rose very badly. His motivation was made clear later in the book, but he could have handled things much better. He is also a bit on the arrogant side, and I am looking forward to seeing him meet his match. He did redeem himself somewhat at the end of the book. I didn't get much of an impression of Aden, other than his willingness to support his brothers. Their mother Francesca was something of a force of nature. I didn't like her much at the beginning, because of the way she abandoned her sons, with no contact in the intervening years. Her method of getting them to London was manipulative and seemed to show a lack of caring about their happiness. However, she grew on me a little bit as the book progressed. While I don't consider her redeemed, she did make progress toward it with her actions at the end of the book. Amelia-Rose's mother was a straight-out stinker. I hated the way she treated Amelia-Rose, never satisfied with her no matter what she did. Her fixation on gaining a titled husband for her daughter had nothing to do with Amelia-Rose's happiness, only with her own ambitions. I did like Amelia-Rose's cousin/chaperone, Jane. She was uptight and critical at the beginning, but she really did look out for Amelia-Rose's best interests. She was plain-spoken and gave Amelia-Rose some good points to think about. I loved her part at the end and suspect that we haven't seen the last of her.
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