The Scot Who Loved Me by Gina Conkle is the first of the Scottish Treasures series. Will MacDonald is in an English prison simply for wearing a kilt. A mysterious woman who actually is a blast from his past offers him freedom if he agrees to help her with a mission. That woman is Anne Fletcher, Will’s former lover. She’s now part of a league that steals Scottish treasures from the English and returns them to the Highlands. She has her sights set on gold this time. If Will can just focus on the mission and not Anne’s re-entry into his life, they’ll successfully accomplish their goal. However, that chemistry is right there.

Honestly, I think my focus is off a little bit nowadays. It felt to me like this book was a little overlong. I ended up getting bored in the middle. Also, I felt so sad for Anne at one point and just didn’t get why she’d be open to rekindling things with Will. Granted, not his fault, but still. I do like heist books though and this did indeed have a heist involved. Still, I don’t think I can see myself checking out more from this series — maybe later when my kids are older and I have more attention to dedicate. The audiobook is narrated by Marian Hussey. It is 10 hours and 10 minutes long and I could for sure feel the minutes ticking by.

It was an interesting story but the romance didn’t really work for me. There was too much happening and not enough opportunity for focus. I might try other books by this author, but this one was a miss.

Set in Edinburgh not long after the Rising, Ann Fletcher is determined to find the lost Jackobite gold and deliver it to Clam MacRanold. She needs help, so she buys the freedom of one Will MacDonald. She and Will had fallen in love years before when he was hired to escort her to her fiancé, the Rising separated them, but Ann never stopped loving him. Can she get both the gold and the man? Or will she have to choose?

This book was…fine. It was more historical fiction than romance, though, and I was expecting a romance. The sexy parts were mild at best and when Will starts talking about the clitoris…yeah. No thank you. It also took them far too long (for my liking) to get down to business. As a historical fiction, this would be a fine book, but I was sold a romance and so I wanted romance, dammit. I guess it’s true, it’s really hard to write a good second chance romance.

I’m fairly new to the historical Romance genre, but I was excited to read THE SCOT WHO LOVED ME.

The first in the series, it had both mystery and romance, but unfortunately the slow pacing didn’t work for me.

*many thanks to Avon for the gifted copy for review

I think this was the first book that I read from Gina Conkle, it was really not my style. I think it was too long-winded but I might try to read another book from her in the future.

I gave this a try but it just didn’t work for me. I found the characters difficult to connect with and the story hard to follow.

Thank you to Avon for gifting this title to me.

If you are looking for a historical romance that is bigger on historical than romance then this might be for you. This book starts out fun with our lead Anne going to remove former love Will from prison to help with a scheme of her own. This part totally reminded me of the beginning of that great American movie The Mummy where Rick O'Connel is rescued from a dirty prison to help on an adventure by Evie the librarian. You know you love it. We are then led to Anne's house where we meet her rag tag group of women who are also helping out with the scheme to recover Scottish gold from a certain English household.

I thought with this fun introduction we would get a true adventure/heist story with our leads reigniting their passion but instead this felt like a slow jaunt through history. I barely felt any urgency or peril. The romance is somewhat present but is not fleshed out in a way that inspired me and in fact this whole book just felt soo long. They mention their past and I felt like it was asking me to think of them as a great love story without showing me anything besides attraction. I was just not that interested and I love historical romance, including Scottish romance. The characters were mostly flat and the romance had no truly romantic moments and the way the plot moved along felt uneven. I wanted to love this more and indeed there was 1 character I was intrigued by so maybe she will get her own book but otherwise this was a miss for me sadly.

This was my first from Gina Conkle, I was really excited to try it after reading the synopsis. Unfortunately I didn't feel attached to the characters or the plot enough to finish. DNF at 20%

I recently started reading historical romance and I really enjoy the scottish historical romances. this was a good start to a new series.

I was really excited to read this, not only was it a second chance romance, but it was a historical romance where the female MC, Anne Neville, and her accomplices to steal back their Jacobite gold. It had so much promise but while the aspects of the guest were well written, the romance felt stilted and I didn’t connects with the MC
Received an ARC from NetGalley for honest review.

This book seemed to me to start a little slow. The characters were at odds for some time in the beginning. It's filled with many twists and and a second chance at love. The ending was excellent. For those who like a sexy scot you will enjoy this book.

This book had so much potential but it fell so short for me. The characters were not developed very well, so I wasn't able to connect with or picture any of them. The same for the plot...it was just "ehh".

this book provides it all a mystery stolen treasure, a lost love and electrifying drama that could lead to perilous death. Anne Fletcher knows that the man she needs is sitting in prison for not abiding by the English rule of putting away the Scottish Kilt. However, that man is also the one man that may not help her in the mission in getting back the treasure that belongs to the Scottish people. Will MacDonald is a man of his own free will and he does not abide fools. He wears his kilt proudly and he is swayed to getting this treasure, but at what price? His life or his or possibly his family or Anne?

I really looked forward to this book, but found it to move very slowly and I loved the character of Will. I just kept putting the book down and couldn't keep my interest for very long.

I received a free advanced copy from Netgalley and these are my willingly given thoughts and opinions.

Ok, the parts of this book that I liked, I REALLY LIKED! There was quite a bit that didn't work for me though.
I feel like this is another historical that has the romance take a back seat to the plot. Though the heist plot of this story was interesting, I was really looking forward to the second chance romance, and what usually comes with that.
I would potentially try another book in this series, now that there are some things and characters established, but I was looking forward to the romance more than the plot.

I went into this anticipating more of a love story. The cover is beautiful, the two main characters are interesting, and the plot is intriguing. The romance just wasn't there for me.

I think that the book has potential to be a great series. I would enjoy reading the story of when they met and originally fell in love. I think that would be an interesting read.

I received an e-arc, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

The has promise with the plot. In reading book, I could feel the suspense and mystery and some of the words from the story. The drama was timid. Perhaps after releasing Will, as he whore his kilt the two could hidden behind the dark shadows, avoiding the officers to the crown, on the way to her cottage.

Stealing Treasure

She freed him from prison because she wanted his help to steal treasure. Was that the whole story? Anne knew Will many years ago, and their story was a sad one. Could they get their second chance? The road they must travel was fraught with danger, and they would encounter a villain that would do anything to thwart them, including murder.

As Anne and Will embark on their dangerous journey, they find themselves seeking more than gold. They are seeking the most precious, and perhaps the most elusive treasure of all, love. Will they get their treasure in the end, and can they gain what they lost? I enjoyed the romance, suspense, and history in this story. If you like Scottish historical romance with danger and a dash of suspense, you might enjoy this tale. It was my first book by this author, and I look forward to reading more.

I thought this book had a strong plot, good writing and a array of intriguing secondary characters. I liked the premise behind this book and was excited to read it. For me personally, the end product just came up short for me. I never really connected with the characters and while I certainly felt bad for Will and fiercely believed he deserved so much better all the way around than what he actually got, I never felt fully invested. If I'm one hundred percent honest, I felt a strong dislike for Anne. She was very mean spirited and the type that had no problem using anyone to the point of being more than willing to throw even those she supposedly loved under the bus if it served her purpose at the time. In the end I'd call this a split decision for me. It was not a winner for me and I struggled to finish it but I would still give the next entry in this series a read in hopes that different lead characters made all the difference.

I reviewed this book for Fresh Fiction. My review can be found published at this link:
https://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=73985

I really wanted to like this book. I tried reading it three separate times. However, I just could not finish the story. I found the writing to be choppy, the story did not flow easily - instead it felt like I had to drag it a long. I am not sure if this book is a part of a series or if there is just a lot of background info not told upfront- either way it made it difficult to enjoy. What I did read I am rating at 2 stars - marking book as DNF.