The cover is cute and what initially attracted me to this book. It definitely isn't like the usual historical romance covers we are seeing, but other than that, this book ain't it for me. When I read historical romance books, I expect it to be dry at some point in the process (either in the storyline or the writing of the author). Surprisingly, this book had both ALL two throughout the entire reading experience and it definitely made me bored most of the times and almost caused me to have a reading slump. There's no tension in the storyline and the main characters don't have chemistry together. Our MMC also was so awkward and it's painful to read some of his dialogue sometimes because I am getting that secondhand embarrassment from him.

I always love books set in Scotland, and this was no different. Jory was a wonderful heroine: Unique because of her scoliosis, which is rarely depicted in fiction, and strong because she's had to depend on herself for so long. I really enjoyed watching her learn to trust and lean on Finn.

For his part, Finn was a complete sweetheart. He underestimated himself because of his past and the way other people treat him, but accompanying Jory on her journey helped him realize he actually is a capable man. He's caring and protective and gentle, and the gentleness in particular was a nice counterpoint to the harshness of most of the other male characters. I thought his past mistakes weighed on him so much and then were sort of quickly and anticlimactically resolved. But I loved the way he treated Jory, always with respect.

I really appreciated that the book had a little content warning for the mention of attempted sexual assault. I think it's really great that more people are able to go into the reading experience without the surprise of something that might trigger a past trauma for them. But I think the plot here relied just a little too heavily on the mistreatment of women. Jory and Finn were absolutely lovely together, but outside their little bubble, there was too much of a threat of violence and menace hanging over all the female characters for me to like this book as fully as I wanted.

A fun and adventurous read in the highlands with loveable characters, a rare heroine with a disability and a handsome hero to swoon over.

I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ARC provided by Eridani Press and Xpresso Book Tours.

In 1725, a secret convent has been established on the Aberdeenshire coast.

Jory Mackintosh is more excited by healing herbs than husbands or holy prayers. She craves freedom—and a chance to sneak into medical school. Instead, on the eve of her escape, she becomes an unwilling pawn in her family’s schemes with a rival clan.

Finlay Shaw, the disgraced younger brother of the laird, has spent ten long years atoning for his past failures, but nothing can wash away the stain of fratricide. When the clans order him to escort Jory to her new life as a nun, thus securing an alliance with the freshly formed Black Watch, it is his last chance for redemption. Too bad for Finn, Jory has no intention of following orders.

Trapped on the road together, often with only one bed between them, the two butt heads and match wits, forced to acknowledge the dark shadows that have haunted them both for years. Can they learn to trust each other, and themselves, to fly in the face of their families’ wishes, or will they choose the solitary futures they always believed they deserve in this unorthodox runaway bride story?

Jory is the absolute worst. I think she's meant to be a "s trong, independent woman" but really she comes across as whiny, childish, ungrateful, and honestly just super unpleasant to the people around her. She treats Finlay like trash. I think this book is supposed to show a relationship where the woman is empowered and respected, but really it just shows a very immature woman and the man who is patient enough to deal with her. I also saw zero chemistry between the pair, even when I was hoping Jory would appreciate all that Finlay was doing for her. No matter how much I thought about it, the pairing just made no sense at all. I did enjoy the story but I did get lost in the dialogue from time to time which made it hard to follow, the use of Scottish language was a nice touch but also hard to follow, which at times I was confused where I was in the story and writing. I really struggled to connect with the story and the characters and unfortunately, this was a miss for me.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mistress MacKintosh And The Shaw Wretch is a fun, quick, romantic journey that left me smiling. Finley Shaw, the disgraced heir to his older brother, is tasked with escorting Jury to a convent. Jury has dedicated her life to healing and has no intention of being a wife or a nun. Finn and Jurys set out on a road trip to the convent fraught with danger, passion, and runaways.

Both Finn and Jury are lovable, warm, sparkling characters. Both are atoning for past decisions. I loved the journey of Finn and Jury finding kindred spirits and a passionate connection. The story unfolded in a way that developed the characters well and was easy to read. There were a few times the flow of the story wavered. However, the plot was entertaining and kept my interest. I loved the dialogue between Finn and Jury; their verbal battles were fun to read. Mistress MacKintosh And The Shaw Wretch is the first book in the Brides Of Chattan series. Rose Prendeville has done an amazing job creating characters I cared about and a story I couldn’t put down. This is an excellent start to a promising series.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book through Netgalley and the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Mistress Mackintosh and the Shaw Wretch is the first book I have read by Rose Prendeville, I was tempted to pick up the book not only for the adorable cover but also I love a road trip romance. I did not really have any expectations when going into this novel, I was curious and expected to have a fun and charming read based off of the cute cover. Prendeville's writing has an easy tone, making the novel easily accessible, and I would say maybe a good first historical romance novel for someone. The novel is moderately paced through out the start and middle and swiftly ramps up when we breach into the action of the story at the conclusion. Overall with was a gently enjoyable novel, but it was overall lacking in a true romantic development through out for me to fully be head over heels for our couple.

Jory has more interest in the art of healing than she does to find a husband, so the novel starts off with her trying to escape and run away to medical school. Her plans are swiftly overturned when she becomes an unwilling pawn in her family's scheme against a rival clan. Finn is a disgraced brother of a laird, who has spent the last ten years trying to atone. So when he is tasked with escorting Jory to her new life as a nun and securing an alliance with the black watch, he takes up the task, expecting it to be easy, but Jory has other plans.

I think Jory as the heroine is interesting and fun, she is bold, smart and is willing to risk all to secure her dowery and her dreams (which can also put her into some pretty precarious situations). Finn is also a really good hero, he is a hard worker, he wants to do what is right and he wants to protect others. Together these two should be fire, and we do get to start to see this in the last twenty percent when they truly start to work together and trust the other. I think what I found lacking in this novel was a true building up of chemistry between these two, I felt like their true progression was from "rivals" to friends, I was then told that they both were "in love", but I did not truly believe that. I think there was a lack of building up of chemistry and tension between them that made me feel the attract between each other. The building of subtle moments and touches between them were missing for me to see them falling for each other. There is also very little steam in this novel, while not officially closed door, it is very subtle. I know this moment was to show us that they do understand and trust each other but with the lack of build up of their chemistry left this moment lacking for me. After this moment we are truly in the heart of the action of the story which deal with the rival clan and sexual abuse of the women who think they are entering into a nunnery (so trigger/content warnings around this). It is enjoyable to watch these two work together in these last moments, a know that they trust each other.

Overall a well written story that feels like a great first historical romance for someone interested in reading one. Also a great option if you are more of a plot driven reader who likes low steam.

3.5 Stars rounding up to 4.

I really struggled to maintain focus and finish this book. I struggled to like the FMC and that made it really hard for me to push myself to finish this. There was also the fact that there was no chemistry between the MC's. No matter how much I thought about it, the pairing just made no sense at all. Basically, I really struggled to connect with the story and the characters and unfortunately, this was a miss for me.

Thank you to the publisher for kindly providing me with an ARC via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The cover of this book is amazing! Unfortunately Joey is quite the opposite. She was hard to like and having your protagonist unlikeable makes for a hard read.

SPOILERS AHEAD

This is one of those books that had such promise, if not for one key factor - the heroine who couldn't stop being a disagreeable, rude, obnoxious, immature wretch of a person. Indeed, I was thinking that the "Shaw Wretch" might actually refer to her until I looked back at the title, and I realized that nope, the lovely, pleasant, considerate, kind hero was supposed to be the wretch in this tale. At least, according to rumor, since it was the people around him who referred to him as such. I never was able to figure out why with great detail, because I had to stop reading after 50% for the sake of my blood pressure.

The book opens with a scene a la Titanic, with the heroine perched on the precipice of a wall overlooking the loch, and the hero comes upon her, insisting she come down or he would jump in with her. I swooned internally, thinking this was a very promising start to the relationship. Sadly, I was very, very wrong. The heroine soon learns she is to be sent off to be a nun, considering she is unmarriageable due to what appears to be scoliosis. She is, naturally, disinclined to submit to such a future, and she begins to think about living in hiding as a man, finding work, etc. The hero is to escort her to where is to live as a nun, and quite quickly things turn sour. Our heroine, Jory, first tries to trick him out of the dowry she is sure he is carrying, leaving him naked, without his horse, in the middle of the forest. She races away, only for her horse to throw a shoe, and our hero, Finlay, must then rescue her. Despite her causing him such grief, he actually gives her a full body massage when they arrive at the cabin. The story progresses with similar actions - Jory does or says something awful, Finlay takes it like the absolute doormat that he is and waits on her hand and foot. Jory feels some shame for a fraction of a second before shrugging off her humanity and doing something crappy all over again. I felt like I was reading a YA book...until we got to Jory suddenly feeling desire for Finlay and masturbating in bed with Finlay asleep on the FLOOR beside her. Because heaven forbid she allow him to sleep on the bed, after all she has put him through. And did I mention she hates all men? She says it quite frequently, and despite Finlay giving her no reason to fear him, she constantly reacts as if he's this monster who is going to hurt her in retaliation for all she keeps doing, despite the fact that he has been the soul of kindness the whole time.

I saw zero chemistry between the pair, even when I was hoping Jory would appreciate all that FInley was doing for her. He even got her shoes with LIFTS, to help with her pain, and still - he was not worth her kindness or consideration. I don't need to read about that kind of heroine getting a happy ending. No, thank you.

i liked this book a lot! it's been quite some time now that i wanted to read historical romance, and this book came at the perfect time. we have history, we have the Scottish Highlands, we have two lovable characters and we have slowburn. i liked the way the story unfold and the characters had a lot of chemistry between them, but sometimes the writing style wouldn't sit well with me, and that's why I couldn't enjoy this book to the fullest. nevertheless it was a really good read!

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book
I DNF at about 40% because I just could not get into the story and found the main characters extremely annoying. I didn’t particularly care what happened to any of the characters and was not emotionally attached to any of them.

This book is a historical fiction set in Highlands of Scotland back in the 1700s. It follows 22 year old Jory Mackintosh who is being sent to a convent to become a nun by her uncle and who must be escorted there by Finlay Shaw, who had fallen into disgrace and earned the nickname of the Shaw Wretch.

The journey to the convent is filled with adventure, deceit and passion. The banter and interaction between these two was amazing to read and I absolutely fell in love with both.

Jory is headstrong and knows her own mind, which during those times put a woman at a disadvantage. She didn’t let physical attributes or the fact that she was a woman stop her from speaking her mind, a trait I love seeing in historic female characters.

Shaw was the absolute sweetest and most chivalrous chaperone but well equipped to go toe to toe with Jory and treating her as an equal rather than a fragile woman.

The conversations throughout the book were filled with Scottish dialect that took me a while to get used to but that made me even more invested in the story and feel as though I was right there in the Highlands.

In 1725, a secret convent has been established on the Aberdeenshire coast.

Jory Mackintosh is more excited by healing herbs than husbands or holy prayers. She craves freedom—and a chance to sneak into medical school. Instead, on the eve of her escape, she becomes an unwilling pawn in her family’s schemes with a rival clan.

Finlay Shaw, the disgraced younger brother of the laird, has spent ten long years atoning for his past failures, but nothing can wash away the stain of fratricide. When the clans order him to escort Jory to her new life as a nun, thus securing an alliance with the freshly formed Black Watch, it’s his last chance for redemption. Too bad for Finn, Jory has no intention of following orders.

Trapped on the road together, often with only one bed between them, the two butt heads and match wits, forced to acknowledge the dark shadows that have haunted them both for years. Can they learn to trust each other, and themselves, to fly in the face of their families’ wishes, or will they choose the solitary futures they always believed they deserve in this unorthodox runaway bride story?

Loved Jory Mackintosh and this historical romance novel. Well written and will definitely be recommending.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Jory has ambitions that keep her well away from marriage. Becoming a nun is not one of them, yet she's being sent to a convent anyway. Her escort, Finn, is on a mission of his own; having an awkward girl in tow is an annoyance, but delivering her is the simplest part of his task. Or... not.

I found this a little slow to start, but once the road trip got going I really enjoyed the plot, the historical detail and the obvious chemistry between the two main characters. Jory is independent, determined, and yet so naive: full of plans which don't stand up to reality, but fiercely unbowed regardless. Finn is almost too good to be true: still trying to atone for decade-old actions, he deals with Jory more leniently than she deserves at times, but the connection and attraction that develops between them helps both come to terms with the painful parts of their respective pasts. Overall a solid, well-written, four-star read.

Jory, amor you're so cool wow.
Seeing what she went through to try to make her way independent of any one? Absolutely inspiring.
strong women just hit different <3
4 stars mostly because it's not necessarily my style and i got lost a bit in the beginning.
But i loved jory so much, finn too.
Overall this was such a fun experience, thank you netgalley for the arc.

Love the cover (so cute) and the premise. The story was alright, a bit slow in some places. Still worth a look if you like historical romance set in Scotland. (2.75 ⭐️)

Jory Macintosh is determined to make her own future after a life that’s constantly been at the heed of others. Finlay Shaw is trying to atone for the sins of his past. When the unexpected pair are thrust together by their two families on a journey across Scotland, it’s all they can do not to kill each other. Instead, they form a tight friendship and love.

This book was really enjoyable. The author has a fun way of immersing you into the setting of 1700s Scotland while still retaining her own voice. I was worried going into it that it would feel like an Outlander knockoff, but it held its own very well. At times the plot felt a little rushed, especially at the beginning, but the historical details and story had me forgiving this one small flaw. Overall it was a fun, quick read!

Thanks to Netgalley for arc in exchange for an honest review!

I think this is a sweet highland romance. Very light, not much at stake. Jory and Finn are not especially unique, but they're easy to root for. I was a bit bored by the plot, which mostly takes place on the road and just kind of consists of a series of episodes.

The cover art is what motivated me to review this book. However, once I started reading I became bored and pushed myself to get through each chapter. I didn’t connect with the characters and the writing was just okay.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"Mistress Mackintosh and the Shaw Wretch" follows Jory, the poor cousin of a Scottish clan who is unlikely to marry because of her scoliosis, and Finlay, a high-ranking member of a different but allied clan whose social standing was wrecked by some poor choices in his youth. Jory is being forced into a secret convent, and Finlay is tasked with dropping her off, which Jory resents. She plans to run away from him, steal her own dowry, and escape to Edinborough where she wants to disguise herself as a man and become a doctor. This is, of course, an incredibly stupid plan but whatever, it's a romance novel and I can live with an eye-roll-inducing plot. Misadventures occur and, naturally, they fall in love.

Jory is the absolute worst. I think she's meant to be a "strong, independent woman" but really she comes across as whiny, childish, ungrateful, and honestly just super unpleasant to the people around her. She treats Finlay like trash for over 30% of the book because... he's a dude? I guess. Seriously - she barely knows him as a person, outside of one interaction when they were kids where he wasn't particularly nice. Big whoop. She's defensive, takes almost everything he says in the worst possible faith, and thinks she knows better than him about literally everything. This is despite him being a practiced soldier and her having barely left her Uncle's home her whole life. Finlay, who by all rights should've said "eff this bish" early on, still treats her like a queen. There is honest to god a scene where she leaves him stranded, with no clothes, steals his horse, and runs away - despite knowing perfectly well he'll get in a ton of trouble if she doesn't show up at the convent on time - and instead of getting mad at her, HE GIVES HER A FULL BODY MASSAGE. Like....that is a completely irrational reaction to what happened. Basically, she gets to be as terrible as she wants because....empowerment? I guess...and he just sorts of takes it on the chin because she's a goddess and he should enable and support her in all things, even when she's being shitty for no reason.

I think this book is supposed to show a relationship where the woman is empowered and respected, but really it just shows a very immature woman and the man who is patient enough to deal with her. This is too bad because Finlay was a pretty interesting character whose arc I would've cared about otherwise. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't expect characters in books to be perfect. I wouldn't have an issue with reading about a sort-of-unhealthy-but-it-works relationship if the book is self-aware about what it is. The tone of "Mistress Mackintosh and the Shaw Wretch," however, feels very much like it's trying to be #couplegoals.

Another issue I had is that, while the setting was well written in terms of description and historical detail, all the character's attitudes were super modern (see above). Now, there's nothing wrong with making an artistic choice to basically take modern ideas and foist them off on historic characters, but, as a reader, it's hard to really feel enveloped by the world when you're constantly getting pulled out of it anachronistic characters. There was nothing keeping Jory from being a contemporary romance heroine except for the setting, which I personally find irritating because THIS IS HISTORICAL FICTION. Like, there is literally a character who tells Jory "You'd thrive there," - a very "of the moment" phrase, and at one point Finlay also goes full-on late-90s Dad joke, telling Jory that her eyes may "stick that way," when she rolls them. These are both pretty small moments and wouldn't be a big deal as one-offs. When they're littered through the text, however, the dialogue started to feel really disjointed from the setting. That said, I fully admit this is a personal preference issue, and didn't count it against my star rating.

All told, I'm giving this book 2 stars because the writing is pretty technically solid, and I thought it was cool to see a heroine with scoliosis, which was probably pretty common at the time. You can also tell the author has a genuine interest in history and clearly did her research, including some cool details. I just happened to hate the romance which is kind of a big deal in a romance novel.