I love Evie Dunmore's previous books and this one fell just a little bit short. I didn't feel that the romance between Hattie and Lucien was well-developed and the plot sometimes dragged. It's not as engaging as the previous two books in the series.

This is a likely purchase for my library becuase the first book has been popular. Unfortunately, I don't feel like this book and the 2nd book are as strong as the first.

Portrait of a Scotsman is the third installment in the League of Extraordinary Women series and
I hope this series of books goes on forever. Banter, romance, strong-willed heroines, men with depth (and flaws!) and bonnie old Scotland help make Hattie & Lucian’s story come alive. The focus on societal, political, and gender issues during the time is woven wonderfully into the story and if there is ever a category in Jeopardy about 19th Century Women’s Issues, I feel these books will have prepared me well.

Yes, there are tropes as old as time (There’s only one bed! The man is dark and scary! Compromised woman must marry!) but they come alive in new ways thanks to Dunmore’s masterful ability to write exciting, sexy and engaging characters and prose full of rich historical detail.

I will read anything Evie Dunmore writes and you should too! Utterly delightful.

Where do I start with this book?
Honestly if you ask me what happened in the first 50% of this book I’d tell you absolutely nothing. And that’s when it started to go off for me. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that this a “historical romance” but there was a little too much history for me.
By the time I got to the part of the book I was interested in, I was already losing interest.
Things I liked: I liked that even after trapping Hattie in to the marriage, not once did Lucian pushed her into bed. There was a minute there when these two actually spent some time to get to know each other and I really appreciate it. I really liked that we got to see a dysgraphic character (I’m dysgraphic) and how it didn’t control her life. She would that she can do what she loves and work around her disability.

What I didn’t like is the fact that Hattie got it in to her head that Lucian would change overnight. For me, it totally made sense that Lucian caused Ruskin’s death because it made his realized that revenge is never the answer. But Hattie running away just showed how little she actually knows about men and Lucian.
Also, what really annoyed me that after they finally figured it out and realized that they love each other, even after all the craziness of how they got married, instead of staying and figuring out how they can make it work together, Hattie just divorces him and leaves for 6 months????? Lucian would clearly given her all the space she needed to figure everything out and found her place because guess for? By the end of the story she’s going to married again and be in the same situation where she started.
Unfortunately, this book just didn’t work me and it makes me soooo sad 😭

Hattie is a banking heiress, art student at Oxford, and suffragist. One day she made the mistake of "leaning in" for a kiss with Lucian in his art gallery. This was enough to shatter her life. Lucian, shady but extremely wealthy, with no real power because of his poor background wanted a society wife to improve his social standing. He staged the kiss so there would be plenty of witnesses. With no input from Hattie, her father accepted a large payoff and sold her in marriage to a stranger. With the law of coverture, Hattie had no legal identity, first as a daughter, now as a wife. She planned her escape but Lucian found out and bodily dragged her away to Scotland. Here we see the hard life of coal miners and learn Lucian worked in the mines as a young child. He's haunted by the memories of what he endured. He does have good intentions to improve the life of the poor working class with his new status among the rich and powerful but his execution leaves a lot to be desired. Many injustices in the laws are addressed. The hoped for passage of the Married Women's Property Act is mentioned from the previous books. The terrible start to the marriage and each other's expectations of one another must be overcome to stay together. Not a light, happy read but a book that shows how far we've come and how much farther we need to go.

Evie Dunmore's best book yet! This series has been such a delight. Will be shouting about this one for a long time to come! I really love how this delved into the labor movement as well and the frictions between it and women's suffrage. Hattie has been my favorite since book one, so this was such a delight. The ending surprised me, but I love how ultimately it was her choice in the end.

So glad to have Hattie’s story but this one frustrated me a bit. So much could be solved with just a tiny fraction more communication. This was very beauty and the beast - which I did appreciate. I hoped for a tad more steaminess too

Ah, Evie Dunmore has done it again. An 'auto buy' for me, I was thrilled to get access to the ARC via Netgalley and I tore through the latest League of Extraordinary Women in a day. Give me a romance with a brooding Scotsman ANYDAY of the week and Portrait of a Scotsman delivers not just on the romance, but on a deeper dive into yet another extraordinary and independent heroine. I loved the surprising, but heartfelt conclusion, and as always, am appreciative of Dunmore's incredible historical details and research!

This is my first read in the series and while I did finally get invested In the story, it took a while to appreciate Lucien and Hattie’s plight in the suffragist movement and fair worker’s rights for miners. Hattie seemed a bit indecisive and naive especially after telling the miner’s she would photograph them all but returned to Scotland after Lucien broke a promise which he said he would “try”. Also, the ending where Hattie decides to venture out on her own after Lucien tells her he loves her, just didn’t seem like something Hattie would do. From everything Hattie learned about Lucien, it seems she would know how much Lucien would have done to make her dreams a reality without leaving for France.

I enjoyed reading about the politics involved during this historical time and how it impacted the suffragist movement and worker’s right. But again, it did take a while for me to get invested. Most of the dialogue was internal and I prefer characters that exchange dialogue. If Lucien and Hattie had spoke more to each other, the story could have progressed a bit faster.

I LOVE this series and this was such a great addition to it! I loved Hattie and I think Lucian is the perfect match for her. They feed off of each other and don't back down. An excellent read!!

I knew I was going to love this book since Evie's previous books were SO DAMN GOOD. But, this one might be my favorite! I love how introverted and yet ambitious Hattie is! I also admire Evie for how much research I can tell goes into these books. She weaves in real world history but it never feels like work. It was just swoony and smart and totally absorbing!

Put this one on your lists, historical romance fans!

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the advanced read in exchanged for an honest review!

I was disappointed in this book, which makes me sad because Bringing Down the Duke was four stars and A Rogue of One's Own was five stars for me, but I struggled through this one. Harriet Greenfield is a bluestocking who longs for a man who would die for her, and Lucian Blackstone seems to be a man driven only by his desire for money. Lucian's backstory unfolded nicely, but Hattie I did not care for at all. She was wishy-washy and made decisions that made little sense and what she did in the last 10% nearly ruined the entire book. And Lucian, who was alluded to in the other books as being a blackguard didn't seem all that bad to me. Also, I could not find him sexy, especially not when descriptions of him kept mentioning his chipped tooth. That's not sexy. Would I recommend this book? On its own, maybe. As a series, definitely. But I would suggest starting at the beginning even though technically they can be read as stand-alones. If I hadn't read the previous two, I would probably not have rated this as high as I did. I am still looking forward to Catriona's book and think this series is a great addition to the historical romance genre.

I stayed up way to late to read more than half of this in a single sitting. The author's note at the end, like so many I've read this year, explains that it was written during the pandemic. I'd love to see all pandemic-published books get a second edition in a year or two, because who could possibly be in the best head space?

I loved this for the potential of the main characters, and especially for the social commentary that feels historically accurate but still infuriatingly applicable. Between the characters' issues, their backstories, the business trip, the political issues, and, oh yeah, the burglary, it's too full to adequately address most of these issues. The heroine is a short, larger, left-handed artist with dysgraphia, and, like, none of those get much screen time! She and the hero both (purposefully?) overreact several times, attempting to out-do and hurt each other, which is a big turn-off for me-- a real shame, because the hero's realistic frustration but firm stance on consent is very hot! What's not hot was that he purposefully trapped the heroine, for status and money. It's ok to force her into marriage, but not force her in bed? There's a disconnect here I couldn't get behind.

The most unrealistic thing, though, was a shopping trip. The hero quasi-kidnaps his wife, bringing her on a trip for which she hasn't packed, so he goes to a dress shop and buys her a selection of dresses off the rack. She's a bit scandalized, but come on-- a shorter, larger, woman who can wear a floor-length dress without a single alteration? As a shorter, sometimes-larger woman, I call BS!

Worth a read if readers are invested in the series' friend group and interested in the myriad period details of the Suffrage movement that are included.

The third title in this series was fantastic. The change of scenery was refreshing. The addition of focusing on worker's rights added further depth. Both main characters were really loveable! Great book!

This was the third book in the series that I've read and I think it might be my favourite. Although, I can understand why some people had issues with it, particularly the ending. There was lots of foreshadowing that was making me nervous while reading, which probably also shows that I was getting invested in these characters. I went back re-read some parts and I think you get a better understanding of the characters. I liked the slow burn and how they got know each and fall in love.

This book also had a heavier feel than the previous two books by delving into the working class issues along with the feminists issues. I love the light and dark feel of it and the foil between Hattie and Lucien, as well as the Hades/Persephone and Beauty and the Beast comparison. It was both lovely and heartbreaking to read. I would love to see an extra chapter that shows the courtship/wooing or maybe vow renewal where she gets to pick out her own wedding dress and he wears a kilt.

This is the third book in this series, but I think it could also be read as a standalone! I loved following Hattie and Lucien - what an interesting storyline as well with the coal mines.

This book was everything. I didn’t know what to expect going into the story because Hattie was not a favorite character of mine from the previous two books, but she is a favorite of mine now! I thought Hattie was written to perfection in this story - her insecurities, her successes, her feelings were all on display throughout the story to perfection. I also completely fell in love with Lucian in this story. He is the perfect rogue, a Rochestor or a Heathcliff depending on your viewpoint to some, but for me, he is a rough around the edges Darcy. Lucian is rough and tumble, but he’s also real, brutally honest, and puts the best interest of his family before anyone else. I thought Lucian’s character growth was written in a raw and beautiful way, and I was simply delighted with him by the end of the story.

This is the best book yet in this series, and the political and historical information about the Scottish miners is really interesting and well-developed. The characters have great chemistry and the blend of romance and history is seamless.

Evie Dunmore continues to wow me with her perceptive, beautiful love stories. She does an excellent job linking Victorian women with women today.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought the characters were well flushed out and interesting. It was a fast read!