Evie Dunmore has created a beautiful, nuanced group of characters in her League of Extraordinary Women series. Hattie's journey made for an incredible story and Lucien felt like a fully fleshed out male counterpart that suited her perfectly. I really enjoyed this book. The author takes steps to transport the reader through time and along the way learn more about history. For her effort, the books stand out amongst the sea of historical romance novels and are elevated into stories that both captivate and impart knowledge to its readers, a rare feat.

I had such an enjoyable time reading this book! I'm so happy with how the author chose to accentuate the story by giving each individual character a unique voice while also carrying a sweet romance between said characters. The overall arc connecting every story is perfectly executed and I cannot wait to read more of this author's work. A beautiful light read for anyone who loves historical romance with a tinge of humor.

Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley, and Ms. Dunmore for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

Full disclosure, I LOVED book #1 (Annabelle and her Duke) and enjoyed Lucie's and Tristan's book almost equally; both were five-star books for me. This, despite the slow start (both to the book itself and to the relationship between the MCs) and the surprisingly large amount of historical detail regarding poverty, wage inequity, period art and photography, women's suffrage, Scottish history, early British industrialism and politics, etc., etc., SHOULD have been yet another five star book for me.

Hattie was such a doll of a character. I enjoyed her honesty about her convictions: she was happy enough to go along with her friends even though their issues were conceptual to her and not personal (we've all been there to some extent, amiright?) but refused to feel ashamed of liking "frivolous" things like art and fashion and beauty. She showed heart, tenacity and focus in pursuing an Oxford education especially in the face of discouragement. Lucian was also a superb character, with lots of onion-y Shreklike layers hiding a vulnerable core. These two reminded me (slightly) of Evie and St. Vincent in couple dynamics.

I really liked the forced-marriage trope being employed here and I liked the forced-proximity (because, of course) and I ESPECIALLY liked that it was in Scotland, in a poor area, in an "older" (aka, "seen better days") inn. I was fully prepared to absolutely love this book despite its occasional preachy moments.

BUT THEN. I'm sorry to say this book lost a full star for That Ending. WHHAAAAATTTTTT. I will not digress. I don't wish to spoil. Suffice to say that my iPad now has a new glass screen cover arriving in two days via Amazon Prime. Another star died a swift death due to Hattie's failure to finish what she started (you'll know what I mean, when you get there). Hattie! You KNEW how much that project meant! And yet you blithely abandoned it because - seriously, this is a spoiler - your "self-discovery" journey of teaching runaway girls about photography basics was more important?!?!?!?!?! FOR SHAME. Those coal mining families, not to mention Lucian, deserved 1000% better from you. SHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME. IDK. I really love Ms. Dunmore's writing. I love her dialogue. I love her characters. I love the historical details. I DID NOT love that ending.

I will happily re-read books #1 and 2, and I look forward (very much!) to book #4, which I have high hopes for. This one has a lot to offer if you can get past the ending.

One of the best books I've read all year.

It's not often that a book takes a chance and has you guessing on how its going to turn out. And Portrait of a Scotsman did just that. Deeply moving romance between two people caught in their own stereotypes and societal expectations, and finding themselves and each other despite it all.

Full review to be posted on the blog by release day.

4.5⭐

I have such a hard time choosing a favorite of this series (because they're all amazing) but this one just might be in the lead. Evie Dunmore balances her books so expertly with hard hitting moments, a swoon-worthy romance, and important themes.

First of all - Hattie as a main character is absolutely everything I've ever wanted in a historical romance heroine. Her personal journey and growth was astounding throughout this. What I loved most is that Hattie is flawed and strong without feeling like a caricature of a Victorian woman. Hattie embodies the struggle of women in any time period.

She struggles with balancing her kindness and softness with strong beliefs and desires for herself. She fights against being placed into a box while also acknowledging that she wants to do so while simultaneously wanted to please people. This juxtaposition so wonderfully encapsulates what it is to be human and how hard it was (and still is) for minority groups to be given that type of freedom.

Hattie is a new all-time favorite character and I won't soon forget her.

Of course, Evie Dunmore also delivered the most heart-stopping slow-burn romance. There were so many moments that left my heart swimming. I loved getting the chance to watch love grow throughout a story. And this captured that perfectly. Hattie and Lucian are thrown straight into the deep end and we get to watch them grow together over a long period of time. I loved watching their love story and I'm wholly in love with them together.

And on top of all of that, Dunmore managed to pack in so much more. There's commentary on social divides, the economic imbalance of the Suffragette movement, and more. This line will forever be imprinted on me"

..such masterful feats of engineering allowed people to move freely and quickly across vast distances and uninhabitable terrains, and yet a woman must not go shopping or to gallery by herself. It was too dangerous, they said, for her reputation, her virtue. But who did the endangering? Men.


I loved this book with my whole heart and can't wait for Catorina's story next. I will forever read anything and everything Evie Dunmore writes!

I love this series. Evie Dunmore has such a talent for making regency romance feel modern and fun. Hattie is a character I was so excited to get more of and this book didn't disappoint. My only complaint was that I didn't LOVE the ending, which made this #3 for me in terms of how I'd rank it within the series.

If you loved Bringing Down the Duke and/or A Rogue of One's Own, definitely pick this up!

I enjoyed this book more than A Rogue of One's Own, but not as much as Bringing Down the Duke.
I kept getting annoyed at Hattie, even though her heart was in the right place. I didn't like the way the book ended much, but it was a HEA in the end.

Hattie Greenfield doesn't want much out of life. Just three things, really. To be a famous artist, to have and fight for a noble cause, and marriage to a young peer of the realm who puts the "gentle" in gentleman and will sweep her off her feet. You know. Romantically.

So how, exactly, did she end up at the altar, marrying grumpy, whip-smart, cold-hearted Scottish businessman, Lucien Blackstone?

Lucien's life has been centered on one thing and one thing only: revenge. And marrying sweet, innocent, naïve Hattie Greenfield puts him one step closer to meeting his goal. He doesn't want a wife, not really; Hattie is just a means to an end. He definitely can't be the knight in shining armor she craves, so why bother?

But when the newlyweds take an unexpected trip to Scotland, it may just be what they need in order to better understand each other, themselves, and shine a ight of hope on their marriage.

Since book 1, readers have known Hattie as an artist and a fashion lover, though nonetheless a determined fighter in the suffragette movement. But she has also been sheltered, and through her eyes we get to see and understand her a little more. She wants to do something great, to contribute to greatness, and be recognized for her greatness as an artist... but expectations put upon her by her family as well as their assumptions about what she can do based off of her learning disability and gender make it difficult for her to feel like she can succeed. Hattie has some growing up to do in order to truly find herself, and--for better or worse (pun intended?)--she can't do that where she was planted, in her family home, or even really at Oxford.

And Lucien. Lucien, Lucien, Lucien... You make me want to bash you over the head with a vase, or hug you, or both. Lucien has been walking down a path of vengeance, but he's like an emo version of Inigo Montoya with a Scottish brogue. He's gone through so much darkness in life that he doesn't know what to do when light walks into his house and starts looking at his art collection. But he'll get there. All he needs is a little bit of time...

A brilliant addition to the "League of Extraordinary Women" series, whether they've read the series for the beginning or if this is their first foray into this circle of suffragettes!

Evie Dunmore’s series about a group of young women activists in late Victorian Britain continues with Hattie’s story, Portrait of a Scotsman.  Like the previous two novels in the set, this one is extremely well written and strongly characterised; the lack of agency of well-bred young ladies of the period is again critically examined, and the very genuine struggles they face in trying to reconcile rigidly traditional upbringings with their own emerging sense of self and a desire for something more are articulated with a great deal of insight.  If you enjoyed the author’s previous work, chances are you’ll enjoy this, too; all the things you’ll have come to expect of her books – strong heroines and heroes who actively support them and understand their worth, themes of female empowerment and sexy, well-written romances are to be found here.  BUT.  In spite of all that, I have mixed feelings about this novel as a whole - mostly because I wasn’t wild about the heroine and I really disliked the ending.

Hattie Greenfield is studying art at Oxford University, but is frustrated at not being taken seriously – even by her professors, who are condescending to all the female students.  She longs to create more meaningful work and paint more challenging subjects – and hopes to gain some inspiration from the work of the Pre-Raphaelites.  To this end, she arranges to join a tour to view John Everett Millais’ famous painting of Ophelia, which is currently in the collection belonging to one Mr. Blackstone – a man with a reputation so black society has dubbed him “Beelzebub”, and who happens to be one of her father’s business rivals - but when she arrives at the gallery at the appointed time, she’s concerned to discover that either she’s late for the tour, or that nobody else has arrived.  While she’s waiting to view the painting, a man enters the room – a darkly attractive man with hard grey eyes and unruly black hair – who offers to give her the whole tour… and promptly kisses her instead.

Lucian Blackstone (whom we met briefly in A Rogue of One’s Own) is a self-made man with a reputation for cold-blooded ruthlessness in his business dealings.  Born into a Scottish mining community, he’s survived real hardship and suffering, but has pulled himself up from nothing to become a captain of industry and amass a fortune along the way.  He never forgets where he came from though, and is determined to do whatever he can to improve the lots of the people who work for him.  But while he’s very wealthy, he has little real power or influence, and he needs both if he’s going to be able to bring about the changes he wants to effect; so in order to make himself more… acceptable to society, he has begun the attempt to rehabilitate his fearsome reputation.  Unfortunately, he hasn’t met with much success so far, but his brief meeting with Greenfield’s daughter has given him the germ of an idea as to what his next move should be.  And while there are a number of well-bred young ladies in society who would suit his purpose, he’s rather surprised to find there’s really only one of them he wants.

It’s not a spoiler – it’s in the blurb – to say that it’s not long before Hattie and Blackstone are married, and even though Hattie is wildly attracted to her new husband, it’s far from the sort of marriage she had envisioned for herself.  She’d wanted to find a true life-partner, someone who would share his time – and himself – with her, someone she deeply loved and who would love her the same way, and I liked that about her, that she wants love and affection and family and doesn’t see that desire as somehow ‘lesser’ – while at the same time being determined to attain her independence and be herself.

Up until this point, I was enjoying the story a lot; it’s perhaps a little slow to start, but that meant there was plenty of time for the author to establish the personalities and motivations of her characters and to round them out so they came to life on the page.  But then, Hattie discovers something unpalatable and starts behaving like an immature brat rather than trying to address it, and I lost sympathy with her.

Fortunately however, the author managed to regain some of that in the second half of the book, in which the newly-weds make their way to Scotland so that Blackstone can take care of various business concerns there.  Maybe it’s not the most romantic honeymoon, but the time they spend together here slowly brings them to a closer understanding of one another, and the slow-burning attraction that’s been there since their first meeting and first kiss builds into an intense desire.   Running alongside the romance is a fascinating storyline about Blackstone’s desire to improve the working conditions for the people working in his mine (which also goes some way towards explaining the unpalatable thing I mentioned earlier) and to invest in new infrastructure and technologies to increase profits rather than just working the miners to death.  As Hattie learns more about her husband’s past and gets to know the real man behind the reputation, she finds much to admire and a worldview similar to her own in many ways.  She finds herself abandoning the resentment she’d determined to harbour against him, while Blackstone is coming to realise that the woman he’s married is far more than the nervous chatterbox he’d first thought her, and that he enjoys talking and debating with her as much as he enjoys thinking about how to get her into bed.  This section is easily the best part of the book; the relationship development, as they take the time to learn about each other’s aspirations and ambitions, to learn why they are the people they are now, is extremely well done.

But then judgmental Hattie returns and jumps to a conclusion about something that may or may not be true –  she has no way of knowing – and the author undid all the good work she’d done in getting me to like Hattie again.  And then… the ending.  Okay, so first of all, let me assure you that this book DOES have an HEA, so no worries on that score.  And actually, what happens makes sense in terms of the way Hattie is characterised as someone who wants to make her own choices in life and, just as importantly, wants to be chosen.  But even though I understood that, and could see the sense in it – I still thoroughly disliked it.

Hattie and Blackstone have good chemistry and they work well as a couple, but while he’s a terrific hero – a bit dangerous and somewhat morally ambiguous, but with a heart very much in the right place and a strong desire to enact change for the better –  Hattie is inconsistent.  I liked a lot about her and felt a lot of sympathy for her to begin with; she’s talented and smart and determined to succeed on her own terms, but unfortunately, nobody in her family sees her or appreciates her for who she truly is, and her frustration at always being the odd one out comes across really strongly.  But when she became judgmental and jumped to unwarranted conclusions – I liked her a lot less.

Portrait of a Scotsman is undoubtedly entertaining and well-written, although if you’re expecting another story about women fighting for universal suffrage, you may be disappointed as this one is more about Hattie’s personal struggle to find herself and live life on her own terms.  The author’s research is impeccable as always, her social commentary is insightful and razor sharp, and the central romance is a passionate and sexy slow-burn, but overall, it lacks some of the charm of the previous instalments, and my disappointment with the ending meant I came away from the book on a downer.  It turned out to be one of those books I could appreciate but didn’t really feel – although I’m sure there will be many readers who disagree with me!

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Hattie and Blackstone's story has shot to my favorite of the series. Their romance was highly unlikely but due to true determination and animal like chemistry, they won each other over. There is much more of a historical exploration here with most of the setting happening in a mining community in Scotland. What was missing was the comradery of the fast friends as Hattie is thrust into a new world. As one of the richest of the group, she was faced with harsh realities. The development of her character was one of the best parts of the story as she realizes how naïve she's been. Blackstone while being described as a brut gently helps guide her through a new world that she feels vastly unfamiliar in. My biggest gripe about the book is that final conflict at like 90%. WHY MUST WE DO THIS. WE WERE DOING SO WELL. There was so much angst and unsaid feelings already and then it was quickly resolved. However, I still REALLY enjoyed the story not just Hattie and Blackstone and their slow burn romance but all of the new secondary characters in the mining community.

I have been enjoying Dunmore's A League of Extraordinary Women since the first book in the series, and Portrait of a Scotsman doesn't disappoint. Dunmore's writing is strong, and she has an interesting way of both employing the classic tropes and subverting them. When the second book came out last year, my book group on Reddit hotly debated which of the two they preferred, which surprised me because Dunmore is one of the most consistent authors in tone and structure that I've come across. I was especially partial to Lucie and Tristan's dynamic in the second book, but all the books are of equal quality, including this latest.

Hattie and Lucian feel a little more traditional than the series' previous couples, with Hattie being a sheltered well-brought-up middle daughter, lover of romance novels and a studying artist, and Lucian being the hardened business man with a murky past that everyone is afraid to cross. We've had a peek at them both in the earlier novels, but Lucian has quite the backstory and Hattie (who has always been portrayed as the most frivolous of the suffragettes) is far more insightful than any of her friends give her credit for.

This book goes hard for the marriage of convenience and shared bed tropes, and balances humor with some intense historical research. Dunmore's particular talent seems to be taking a practical look at how these tropes would REALLY play out under the laws of the time, and she does that here. It's a Beauty and the Beast story that gets turned a bit on its head. Highly recommend.

Will she see past her own prejudices…

After the first two books’ heroines, Hattie appears so much foolish and sheltered. Her life’s experience is close to zero. She flutters and falls on her knees at the mere sight of a naked forearm. So compared she appears foolish and childish.A grown woman of twenty something but easily lost in a teacup. Yet she judges and orders.
Lucian was much easier to like, the brooding man with a torturous past, on a mission to right many wrongs, to clean the slate of his past pain. He is set on his revenge scheme all the while trying to find a way to better those he feels like kinship’s harsh life.

But as the story unraveled, Hattie demonstrates she has more depth than I expected. And while her struggles will never reach Lucien’s owns, she too had to make do with her own failing and scars. I mourned with her part of her lost dreams all the while being upset at her inability to understand how the world works and to be so demanding while never listening to her husband’s own plights. After all she tempted on her own the devil, so in some way she has to settle the invoice.
Why she is in for a gargantuan earthquaking awakening. At a time, I felt for her, still she kept her black and white view of the world, blind to how it does not turn only around herself, deaf to others’ pain.
Sure, what ensues the early days of her marriage is one eyes opening journey. But she wants to change her husband again and again to suit her own lost dreams, making him the Galahad she wants for her, not the man he is.
I struggled to accept her last decision, I still see it as her way to make him pay for the beginning of their marriage, a hard handed mean to shape him into who he is not, but whom she desires. So much she demands he releases the villain of the story. From there, I truly wondered what Lucian saw in her, as at every turn, she leaves him, hurts him with poison fueled words or wants to mold him into someone else, to me they are largely even. Is it because she is his total opposite, raised in a gilded cage, sheltered to the point she is blind to others’ hardship, so very naive when he is jaded..

The author delivers once more a flawless tale, widely researched, full of heartbreaks. I just never really came to care for Hattie and her ways to get what she wanted.
3.5 stars

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 onscreen lovemaking scenes

I have been granted an advance copy by the publisher Berkley, here is my true and unbiased opinion.

I feel a little bad only giving three stars because Evie Dunmore adds a lot more depth than you expect in a typical historical romance. But there still has to be romance, pacing and chemistry and this book didn't succeed on all fronts. Hattie Greenfield and her group of friends are suffragists specifically fighting for the Married Women's Property Act. The friends meet at Oxford where they are one of the first classes of women allowed. But this story mostly takes place away from her education and friends. She is trapped into a marriage by being caught unchaperoned by the rakish Lucian Blackstone. Luke is wealthy but her family connections will open doors that otherwise would remain shut to him.

She is young and has been sheltered and has no choice but to accept the hastily arranged marriage. Once married she is hurt when she learns that he had planned his actions while she was naive. He insists she accompany him to visit one of his mines that is in need of help. Once there she learns about the dangers in mining and that poverty forces women and children into the mines. She also learns about his hard past. I missed her love of painting as she switches to the new medium of using a camera to capture images. There are so many different challenges discussed that the book becomes rather slow and bleak.

I like the sleeping in one bed at the haunted inn trope but it is almost 60 percent before the chemistry heats up between the two MC's. There are happy moments too, like when Hattie joyfully realizes they are discussing literature. But overall I felt dragged down more than having a escapist read. I also did not understand her choice at the end. I always like that Dunmore includes factual information explaining where some aspects of her story come from. Three stars from me but I will look forward to the next adventure. Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I really struggle with historical fiction. It's difficult to relate to the heroines, given the outdated gender norms in play. While Dunmore's books are undoubtedly feminist for their time period--notably, all their leads are suffragists--there's just this underlying current of properness and expectations and such that makes me feel icky. So it's not Dunmore, it's me, but I wish Dunmore could have changed my mind.

In this story, upper class women and aspiring artist Hattie feels an attraction so strong to the mysterious Mr. Blackmore that she commits a minor indiscretion that results in her being forced to marry him or face societal ruin. The two navigate lives as newlyweds, learning more about each other, and fighting between annulment and the bedroom

Thanks to Berkley for my eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

4 stars - 7/10

Warning! This is a bit more sobering and bittersweet story than the previous two in Evie Dunsmore's Suffragist Ladies series. It's still decent for what it is, but perhaps not quite enjoyable.

I think there are a couple reasons for this, the first being our protagonist Hattie. While the previous two novels featured women who had a bit of trauma in their past or cynicism based on experience, Hattie is a sheltered and privileged society lady. Sure, her family doesn't treat her as well as her smart siblings, but she's never really known suffering or despair, even if she's demonstrated with the suffragists. Therefore, this novel requires that she learn quite a bit in order to walk the walk as it were.

That requires a marriage to self-made Scotsman Lucian Blackstone, who is painted to be quite a beast (and this feels a little gross to me at times... as if he's not a person? I get they're trying to play up the animal magnetism to make Hattie less stuffy but still.) Of course he actually is ruthless when it comes to certain business decisions, but a trip to Scotland gives Hattie perspective about his traumatic past as well as what the miners there face.

Not gonna lie. It's pretty damn bleak, which is why this novel feels like a departure from the other two, which have the vibrancy of society to buoy them. This goes deep into photography (which was fun, but also, less about Hattie's painting), labor issues and includes some death as well. If you're the kind of person who likes to look into the darkness of your heart, then this is for you.

How it plays as a romance, well, it felt a bit disjointed to me. There are some lovely moments, but overall I had issues with their dynamic, which felt toxic at times. Not great when it comes to a Suffragist novel.

Review based on an ARC provided by Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest thoughts!

I didn’t love this one. Which is sad because I loved her other books. A LOT was packed in to the last 15%. I think if she had picked a couple of major events rather than all of the major events that ever existed, it would have ended on a stronger note. However, it was just one right after the other and you didn’t have time to really react because of that.

I however love Hattie. I think she’s a fun protagonist! This one just felt a little more forced.

This series continues to be both entertaining and educational, providing a glimpse into British history alongside a charming romance. Hattie and Lucien are an interesting match as they find themselves married well before they know much about the other at all, and they have different upbringings and backgrounds- but that gives them a lot of room to teach each other and learn.

I don't love historicals, but Evie is such a good writer that I had to dive back in. This one is a slow burn that gets super steamy in the second half, and has a HEA. It's heavy on the historical context, which is welcome because she's talented, but (again) isn't my thing. I'll still be recommending it instore, as this is a great series.

Yes - read it.

Another good read in the series. They don't really need to be read in order but it is fun.

It's a typical romance but I enjoy learning more about the political and social environments of the time. It makes for a much more intriguing read.

I received an ARC from Netgalley & Berkley Publishing to prepare for my honest review.

Hattie Greenfield is a woman of simple needs. She needs time to dedicate to her art. She needs to be out from her family's thumb. Finally she needs husband who will be the perfect gentlemen. Everything Lucian Blackstone is not. The financier turned almost-lord is looking for a wife to elevate his station and Hattie Greenfield will do very nicely. He does not intend to fall for her wide brown eyes and her hopeful demeanor and yet he finds himself doing just that. Will Hattie be able to look past his sordid past to see the good in him? Or will she be the talk of the town scandal mongers.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. While I enjoy a good historical romance as much as the next person, Evie Dunmore knocks them out of the park. Her continual additions to A League of Extraordinary Women are a delight and joy to read.

Pros: I enjoyed the flirtations between Lucian and Hattie and how their relationship went through a lot of highs and lows throughout the book. Big fan of the single bed and two unwilling lovers trope. Her writing has gained strength throughout her last book, her voice coming on clear and strong. The ending was the most surprising part to this entire book. Truly, I loved the agency she gave Hattie, the sheer thought of a romance lead having such agency is wild to me (clearly I need to be reading more).

Cons: I'm not a fan of the forced marriage due to scandal trope, so their entire start to the marriage was a lot of pained sighs from me. While I read the other two books in the series, I had trouble remembering who was who in terms of the supporting cast.

9/10 would recommend for those who love historical romances, rougher than normal regency love, Highlanders in disguise, and a love that lets you grow.