Experience the Magic of a Scottish Castle Wedding with 'When a Scot Ties the Knot: Castles Ever After'

Katie S.: 2/5 🌶️

Marriage of convenience which turns into the slow burn of the will-they-won't-they-consummate, this made me laugh out loud a couple of times which is saying a lot! Short and sweet with a bit of spice.

United States on Nov 17, 2023

byrdloves2read: Of course the premise is ridiculous, but it was a lovely journey. Maddie was an unusual heroine which was fun. I’ll admit I skimmed the sex scenes, I didn’t need to join them in the bedroom to feel the emotion of their journey together. Just delightful.

United States on Oct 28, 2023

ryzen: I have gone through a drought of 5-starred historical romance reads. Gone with the Wind, any of Jane Austen's, most of Georgette Heyer's, several of Barbara Metzger's--they were recently joined by Emily Larkin's The Earl's Dilemma. I didn't expect to find another candidate so soon.

Tessa Dare's When a Scot Ties the Knot had many of the things I love: angst, humor, an engaging plot, wonderful characters. I was even rooting for Fluffy and Rex, the lobsters!

Yes, there are pet lobsters in this novel. And a fictious boyfriend who turned out not to be so fictious or hard to dispatch as she did in her letters to him.

The letters and lobsters were part of my favorite plots in this story, and I am glad to see they weren't just window dressing. They were also prime sources of humor.

But not the only sources.

There were running gags, which sometimes turned toward heart-melting moments. And there was plenty of angst with the hero fighting tooth and nail against the dangers of love for himself.

The novel kept me engaged all the way to the end, one of the criteria for joining my exclusive Five-Star Club. The characters, the plot, the emotions, the...

United States on Oct 22, 2023

Nancy Cerino: Loved the two main characters! I don’t want to spoil a thing but this is a one of a kind almost a fairy tale story, except for the sex.

Enjoy it yourself. You won’t be disappointed.

United States on Oct 14, 2023

Cliente Amazon: Consiglio questo libro agli appassionati di libri rosa. Classico romanzo d' amore avrei preferito qualche colpo di scena e più movimento nella storia stessa. Si concentra perlopiù su cosa prova la protagonista e gli altri personaggi sono solo da contorno e anche a toglierli la trama non cambierebbe di molto.

Italy on May 07, 2023

Devonshire Lass: Self deprecating heroine, plenty of humour, romance. protagonist is likeable. Book has a few moments which makes it a page turner and a few laugh-out-loud moments. As the story develops it becomes a more predictably and typical romance, focusing largely on sex (lots of clichè) and the 'will they won't they?' and it begins to lose some of its uniqueness. Still a fairly enjoyable story.

United Kingdom on Oct 16, 2022

Rani: From the first page to the very last this book was a fun/adorable, charming and engaging read – one that had me absorbed. Madeline, shy and desperately desiring to avoid having to partake in a season and any social gatherings decides to fabricate a tale about meeting and becoming betrothed to a man named Captain Logan MacKenzie. Now as a part of her elaborate ruse she mails letters to him regularly, assuming that they will gather dust somewhere or give some soldiers a good laugh, she shares with her imaginary Captain her unfiltered thoughts, desires and the goings-on in her life. What she never expects is that there exists a real Captain Logan MacKenzie, and he has her letters, back from war he comes to her door, and so begins an unexpected but delightful shift in the life she leads.

The letters were funny and had me smiling like a loon at times. Maddie was a wonderfully cultivated heroine whom I thoroughly enjoyed, and let’s not forget Logan, he is one Scot/Highlander that will have you smiling and swooning throughout this story. I have to say I do think Logan was deluded in thinking Madeline owed him anything. Yes, I sympathized with him and his men's situation but...

United Kingdom on Jun 29, 2019

Malin Engdahl: Shy and scientifically-minded Miss Madeline Gracechurch suffers from anxiety attacks and couldn't bear the thought of having to be out in society during the Season. So she comes up with a fictional suitor, a strapping and handsome Scotsman that she met on the beach in Brighton and who's unfortunately gone off to fight Napoleon. She keeps writing letters to the brave Captain Logan MacKenzie to keep up with the fiction that their feelings for one another are so strong that she couldn't possibly interact with other men and jilt her absentee beau. As the years go by, the letters become a diary of sorts for Madeline, where she confesses her hopes, fears and dreams and shares tales of her family and her scientific explorations. Her godfather even bequeaths her a castle in the Scottish highlands so she and her future husband will have somewhere to live when he returns from the war.

In time, Madeline is unable to continue her fiction, and kills off her fictional fiancee, going into deep mourning instead. She moves with her great aunt to the Scottish castle, content to go about her quiet life, tending to the tenants, using her artistic skills to make a living illustrating scientific...

United States on Jan 26, 2016

Peridot Humphries: This was such a great plot!

A powerfully shy girl comes up with creating a gentleman suitor, and then finds herself forging a correspondence over the years to 'prove' it to her family, and save herself having to go out in society. Only the gentleman does actually exist, and has been receiving her letters!

The humour and embarrassment of this idea won me over from the start! I really liked Madeline's shy and humble character, and what I especially like (which Tessa Dare is very good at writing), is her passion for her job - illustrating wildlife. Only in a Tessa Dare romance book would you find the heroine drawing the mating cycle of lobsters...which is very slow going when you've got to wait for the female to molt!

Logan is a very likeable character, and his motivations are clear from the start so I didn't have any problems with thinking he was selfish or unfeeling (which I think some reviewers mentioned). One thing I did have difficulty with though, was the implication that Madeline had managed to hurt him by 'killing him off'. Even if her letters had made him feel close to her, I couldn't quite buy the idea that they both 'felt' a real connection through...

United Kingdom on Jan 19, 2016

Silvia: This is a book I've patiently waited for. Well, not-so-patiently, really, but I waited for it. Looked forward to it. I've come to really really like Tessa Dare's novels and novellas, and when I saw it had gone live, it went to my Kindle straight away.

For me, this is what a modern historical/Regency romance should be like, and I don't care if it sounds like a contradiction - modern? Historical? Well, yeah. Don't try to be a 21st century Jane Austen. Don't even try to be a 21st century Georgette Heyer. Take heart and find your own voice. Combine it with a proper Regency feel (i.e. get the facts right) and a modern twist to make it delicious for nowadays' readers. I don't pick up a romance novel with the expectation of receiving a history lesson. I want to read an enjoyable + believable romance, nothing more, nothing less. Otherwise I'd pick up a non-fiction book.

So maybe Tessa Dare's heroines are a little more daring and a little less prim and proper. So maybe her heroes are a little more open-minded and a little less stiff-upper-lip. But it's all being delivered with wit and heart and charms and brilliant dialogues, with believable main characters and fleshed-out...

Germany on Sep 06, 2015