As always, I give an honest and fair review in return for this ARC. Who doesn't love a great tale of Scotland during the time of The Bruce? So many great mental images of braw Scots and the fierceness of the time. When so many lives were lost, there was something found. Loved this story.

According to the publishing information listed at the front of this book, this version of The Scotsman by Virginia Brown is a re-release from a 1998 publication. So check your shelves and your memory banks, folks, because if you are a fan of this author, you might already own it.

With that said, it’s a classic, plain and simple, my fellow Scottish romance book loving friends. With its old school Scotland vs England/Montague vs Capulet type story line, authentic dialect, detailed references to battles/allegiances/alliances and the never ending back and forth carnage resulting from the inevitable fallout of adversaries fighting in retaliation in support of their king, this author captured the feel for this era along with a main couple caught in the middle of it all. Yes, that would include Catherine, a feisty damsel in distress being held for ransom but desperate to be free of her cold-hearted warrior father, and Alex, a hero who is determined not to let his heart get involved in what must be done (ransom her in exchange for his brother and a fellow soldier).

Don’t get me wrong. I had quite a few bones to pick with Alex. He didn’t exactly come across as a Romeo Montague, folks. In fact, he stubbornly refused he felt anything but lust for Catherine, the heroine, throughout most of the book. Eventually taking her for his own, while she was being held captive, but knowing he would hand her over in a heartbeat in exchange for his demands didn’t put him high on my hero totem pole list. I’m still thinking he should have kept his hands and lips to himself until he was willing to throw his heart into the mix. I also didn’t feel it was necessary to include the baby mamma dramas (yes, its plural). However, that likely was a common occurrence back then.

Descriptive writing effectively visually drew me in the storyline. Though I was frustrated at the pace of these two knuckleheads admitting their feelings, you can’t help but feel sorry for the fact each one of them felt stuck between a rock and a hard place.

For someone who stays focused on romance, it did start to feel overly long. I must admit by the end I was more than ready for things to be wrapped up. Though there was enough drama and intrigue to keep me engaged enough to want to stick around and see them get their HEA.

Title: The Scotsman, Author: Virginia Brown, Pages: 299, 1st released in 1998, new to me author, stand-alone, dialect takes a little getting used to, enemies to lovers, VERY graphic steamy scenes, lust to love, some violence, one attempted rape scene.

(This review is based on advanced reader copy provided via NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. There was no compensation provided to the reviewer, nor is there any affiliation between the reviewer and author/publisher/NetGalley.)

This book was nice but also rather foreseeable. I know, many of those books are foreseeable and that*s exactly why we read them but I felt as if something unique was missing. Oh, the hero and the heroine deal well with each other and their problems are tough and very real but somehow it couldn*t hold my attention. Maybe, if I read it again another time, I might be more captivated but somehow I doubt that. Oh, the story is fine and the characters are nice but... Of course, not everything was foreseeable but it was lacking some kind of spark and something that makes it different.
I liked it well enough but I'm not sure that I will ever read it again.