You can never go wrong with a historical romance especially if it involves a brooding Scotsman and a pretty aristorcratic lady. I loved that this had a mystery subplot and the spice was phew!

This was a good read with passion, mystery and drama. The elite group is under attack with one dead and one injured adding to the pace and drama. Cam is an alpha male who protects and gets what he wants. Esme is more timid and not one of your forceful heroine's which are popular at the minute she needs a strong man to take care of her. The only drawback is he is a bit manipulative but Esme spots this and drama ensues. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

They meet in a brothel.

Which usually means it will be an interesting book, Good start. Cam is bodyguarding an earl (who is utilizing the brothel's workers) when he meet Esme. He's taken right away with the young and innocent Esme, who is not a brothel worker. She's a lady doing some, um, research.

Cam is a Scot but perhaps not a very good bodyguard (as in he drops the ball when it really matters to Esme) and he does some very underhanded things, takign away Esme's autonomy and ability to make choices.
Recommend.

I've read three books by Jennifer Haymore this year and The Spinster and Mr. Scott had me wrapped around its little plaid finger. The following two books didn't reach that level of devotion, but they were still sweet. Her Scandalous Scot featured the heavenly Scottish burr and a kilt made for stroking, but it lacked the strong emotional connection of its predecessor. I am certainly not a naysayer of the "instalove" trope and had no problem that our couple was exchanging kisses by the second chapter. They had plenty of physical chemistry, but it didn't extend to their emotional bond. Kissing and hugging are great, but it won't help you overcome difficult obstacles in the future. The hero wasn't thinking much farther than the edge of his kilt. That doesn't mean I'll refuse any Highlander kisses along the way.

Her Scandalous Scot had a great premise and an exhilarating beginning, but it was just missing that final dollop of deep heartfelt connection. The heroine was a clandestine romance novelist and she was at a brothel to gather research. As one does... She met Cam patrolling the door for a wealthy client and he thought she was one of the "staff". They get hot and heavy until she's pulled away by the madame. The couple tiptoe around each other until they finally slide the "dirk into the sheath". I'm trying to use euphemisms in order to prevent Amazon from blocking my reviews. I'm basically saying when the final deed was done, the hero had nothing left to give. I'm sure that situation was played hundreds of times in that time period, and even today, but I wanted more for the sake of the couple's happiness. Cam was only concerned for his end goal of getting Esme where he wanted and didn't consider the future consequences.

Her Scandalous Scot had a firecracker beginning and fizzled out once it reached its parabolic climax, pun intended. Goodreads states that this series was rebranded with a new cover and content changes, which makes me curious to how different it was before the revision. I'll continue to read Jennifer Haymore because I like her writing and I'll always perk up my ears when I hear Highlander romance. Perhaps with the next installment in the series we can combine the tenderness of Book One and the physical chemistry of Book Two into the perfect kilted hero. A Sassenach sure can dream when it comes to Her Scandalous Scot.

Poundcake Library
Review Published June 7

4.25 Stars
Camden McLeod is one of seven Highland Knights, veterans of the Napoleonic Wars they’ve sworn to serve the crown, never expected to play bodyguard in a brothel nor could he anticipate meeting a bright, innocent lass with lush lips and a secret he’s dying to uncover. Lady Esme Hawkins sister of a Duke has some secrets one being a clandestine author of racy romances. Which is why she carefully disguises herself before entering a notorious brothel to do research. But when Esme comes face-to-face with a brooding Scot, she can’t refuse a harmless kiss, a kiss that inflames desires ripped from the pages of her novels.
The second book in the series but it’s easily read on its own, a well written fast paced book with strong characters. I loved Cam, loyal, strong, reckless & sometimes unintentionally thoughtless. I also loved Esme who was awkward amongst people so found solace in her writing. They were attracted to each other from their first meeting & quickly fell into lust but they also confided in each other & fell in love. However Cam put his size tens in it right up to his armpits & nearly ruined everything. Added to the mix is someone targeting the Highland Knights, the villain isn't hard to work out but the reasons why are only revealed at the climax. An engrossing read
This book was previously published under the title Highland Awakening, The Highland Knights, and is reissued with a new cover and content changes.
My review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

While working as a bodyguard, Cam comes across a beautiful woman he is wildly attracted to. Though she is a duke’s sister, Cam refuses to give up his pursuit of Esme. When someone starts attacking his friends they both must figure out who the foe is. I received an ARC from NetGalley and Victory Editing for my honest review.

Oof. It is really difficult for me to dislike a Scottish hero. Camden MacLeod though may be my least favorite hero of the year. He becomes proprietary over Esme immediately after meeting her and starts to intervene in her life and making decisions for her without her consent. He's manipulative and subversive and Esme deserved so much better.

MacLeod is a part of the Highland Knights tasked with protecting secrets of the crown and peers of the realm. Esme is the (secretly) illegitimate sister of a duke who writes erotic romance on the down low. The two cross paths at a brothel where Cam is guarding a skeevy earl and Esme is doing research for her next book. Cam later sneaks into Esme's room and goes through her writing desk to read the notebook she's already asked him not to look at. He then uses the information he finds as a means of ending her soon to be engagement. Then he decides he wants to marry her after they have sex and bribes a maid to inform the duke that a man has snuck into Esme's room in an effort to pressure her to marry him.

No matter how hard I tried, I could not get behind this hero. Super disappointing.

A Really Enjoyable Read

Lady Esme, a secret author with family scandal is quite an independent person and when she comes across Camden McLeod and is kissed senseless is suddenly quite attracted to the wrong person. She is on the brink of getting engaged and doesn’t want anything more to upset the family!

Camden McLeod couldn’t resist knowing more about Esme and wanted her quite desperately, he was one of the Highland Knights and heir to an Earldom, he had no plans to ever marry or have children but Esme tempted him like no other.

Enjoy this wonderful, witty, romantic and steamy read which has a link into the next book which I’m really looking forward to reading.

I would definitely give this author and series a chance, well worth a read!

I voluntarily read and reviewed this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was an entertaining, well-written book. It was steamy, fun and fast-paced. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more books by this author.

such a fun book. i loved these characters and their interactions. Jennifer is an amazing author and spins such great tales

The Wolf and the Fawn!
From first meet, I was hooked and chomping-at-the-bit intrigued my Cam and Esme. Two that seem so opposite in nature on the surface; his bold, arrogant, strength against her shy, skittish, doe-eyed innocence as they fascinate on closer acquiescence and internally appear to reverse flip... Esme has a deeply hidden core of resilience and strength, brought to the surface by Cam, that was masked by an anxiety fueled by a fear she will cause shame for her family. While Cam is awash with fragility and insecurity, brought on predominantly by his overbearing, self-centred, abusive father, the guilt that springs from that and a deep fear he will become just like him, that manifests as a driven obsessive one track mind. So, yes two never more unlikely to meet in a bordello yet really make you glad they did.
Like the book Esme so doggedly clutches, I to became fascinated with uncovering their secrets and peeling back each layer, reading between the lines and attempting to understand their fears, drive and unfurling awakenings - whether sexual or emotional.
That sparks an intriguing beginning, heavily... and so deliciously...charged with a sexual tension, magnetic pull, a hidden sensual allure and curiosity. Resulting in this raw vulnerability that cuts and scars them both deeply yet has a soothing intimate touch that calms them, gives them strength and balances them out beautifully. Creating this intricately sensual, carnally (bordering erotic) explorative, passionate side that pulls them together and crackles between them yet where a deeper connection and intricate understanding of the other resounds just as brilliantly, if not more profoundly. That feds that zap and spark of instantaneous recognition and hard to forget allure that holds a fascination for them both to unpick each layer, burrow deeply and revel in all their secrets until they know each other inside and out. Becoming rather fun and revealing in all its intensity!
Where even as fallibility breeds painfully misguided mistakes and impatience, fear and impulse seeds reckless manipulation... which at times was so heartachingly hard to stomach it almost became too difficult to see how they could survive such a high intensity relationship and atone for such heinous machinations or be ultimately forgiven... that you surprisingly still see, and crave the happiness they find in each other and will love to overcome the darker misguided track they momentarily stumbled onto.
With the added bonus of becoming entangled with the powerful, if emotionally wounded, Highland Knights - a  mercenary, exmilitary, security band of brothers - of which Cam is a member. That interweaved drama, thrilling twists, mystery and a murderous side plot into the mix. Which heighten the intense, obsessive nature of our brooding hero and sucks you into his fragile emotional turmoil as he attempts to unravel and seek out the ever encroaching danger hiding in the shadows and understand the overwhelming, all encompassing love he has for Esme at the same time.
A compelling, well written read, that tangles you up emotionally and blends revenge, crippling vulnerabilities, steamy intimacy, murder, historical abuse, dark secrets, intense passions and multifaceted personalities into one delightful, hard won, steamy, love story.

Haymore has effectively whetted my appetite in this branched out series, from what I can only assume was an engagingly statisfying lead series about the scandalous House of Trent (Esme's family) - with this only being my second book by her and the first in this exciting series for me - as I now have a desire to hunt out all that came before and find out where it will all lead.
I'm really looking forward to the next as wounds appear to cut deep and scar profoundly for troubled Colin and Emilia. Can love help heal? I can't wait to find out!

I like the writers style and might explore more from her in the future but this book was incredibly weakened by its overtly controlling, posessive and borderline abusive hero.

The plot is not a common one I've read so it had me hooked from the start. Cam is an Earl with daddy issues (I'm starting to get tired of daddy issues honestly, but ok whatever) but has largely ignored his title and polite society and works as a bodygaurd in an elite unite of the highlands or something. He is protecting some fat old posh man in a brother when he encounters Esme who is there to conduct research for her novels. They have an instant connection and kiss - and I really mean instant - insta lust comes barrelling at us in an instant. It is eventually revealed that she is the brother of a duke and he an earl - so they're all part of the same society and encounter each other again.

Post this point, our hero goes into Fifty shades esque alpha man. Cam is controlling, posessive, seduces Esme with a singular obsession, and manipulative as hell. These are characteristics beloved by many readers so I won't deny that this is a popular trope, but for me personally, whether it is an HR or CR I cannot deal with such kind of hero's. Alpha men who are just written as people in control or with that sexy, commanding aura I love! But this man was trying to control her to the extent of telling her who and what she wants in life, which I do not find romantic from any angle.

Up until a point it was still managable because he hadn't done anything truly awful. But towards the end of the book his manipulative tactics are a bit much for me.

(view spoiler)

Post this point Esme does take a stand, but that's also short lived. There is a mystery of who is killing the men of the highlands, and that was actually quite interesting. But this aspect of the romance kind of put me off the whole thing.

In short, its written well, has an interesting romance, and if hero's like Cam are your thing I think you'd love this book!

I like this series and liked these two leads especially, will likley read her House of Trent series since many of the characters in here are form that series. However it's a re-release so I assumed some things might have been cleaned up and made more for modern times, and there were some lines of dialogue taht were still shocking to me (while perhaps realistic for the TIME) could have been cleaned up in the re-relase.

When his father, the Earl of Sutton, washed his hands of his sister, Camden McLeod turned his back on him, the title and all of society. Becoming one of the seven Highland Knights upon his return from Waterloo, he never thought he’d sink to guarding an earl in a brothel. Then again, if he hadn’t been, he wouldn’t have met that mysterious and innocently sensual lass.

Scandal and gossip turned Lady Esmé Hawkins, the youngest sister to the Duke of Trent, into a socially awkward creature. Keeping her family close and her secrets even closer, she hides in her writing. One night, during one of her clandestine research outings, a brooding Scot with a devilish twinkle claims a harmless kiss. The pages from her racy novels suddenly come to life, stirring a desire deep within her.

As luck would have it, their paths cross once again the next night.
Her inquisitive boldness quickly invades and conquers his dreams and desires. His urge to protect and possess takes over. Their bond grows and so does their fear of losing their hearts.
But when someone starts going after the lives of his fellow Knights, strong emotions raise even greater passion, and lead him to act impulsively and betray her trust.

📚 Intriguing mystery with a dash of danger and delicious steam, this is one of those books I simply could not put down! A tale about loyalty, friendship, family, deception, forgiveness and love. Interesting multi-layered characters, palpable chemistry, clever writing and a compelling plot. I simply loved it!
📚 Society outcasts, warrior/writer, possessive hero, grovelling, steamy, open door

Thank you to Jennifer Haymore and NetGalley for this eARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

This book has it all. Betrayal, secrets, revenge, murder, kidnapping and hot 🔥 chemistry. It also has a very cute-meet to start it off with.
When Cam and Esme meet for the second time, Cam knows that despite Esme being all but officially engaged, this is a woman he must persue to see where it goes.
Esme isn't as sure about Cam. But she realizes that she has more attraction to him than the man that is courting her.
There is a mystery revolving around both main characters and a lot of secrets. Cam is the target of a murderer who has already killed once and seriously injured another.
At the same time he becomes so obsessed with Esme he starts doing things to help her see that he is the only one for her.
I have to admit that Cam annoyed me. I thought he crossed the line, forcing Esme's hand. I thought she forgave him too easily.
The story was fast moving and full of action.
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I want to thank Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book

This is an engaging read with an interesting introduction. Added to this is an electric chemistry between Cam and Esme, but also mystery, betrayal in several aspects, redemption and forgiveness for the mistakes made.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book. I am leaving this unbiased review voluntarily.

This is the first book I have read by this author and the second in the Highland Knights series. which centres around a group of protectors and the women they fall in love with.

In this book Esme, who carries many secrets within her family encounters Camden in a bawdy house and the two of them feel an instant attraction. Actually, the steaminess of this book seemed to escalate quite quickly.

There is an interesting murder mystery going on in the background but what most captivated me about this book is the way the characters are portrayed. They have plenty of faults - Cam especially can be overbearing and manipulative - especially with Esme. Esme can come across as being a bit of a wilting violet at times, but she redeems herself in the end.

The end of the second book seems to lead into the next book, which definitely sounds interesting. Overall I enjoyed this historical romamce.

This is the second time I read and reviewed this book as this book is a reissue and was originally under the title Highland Awakening. Furthermore Amazon posted my 5 star review back in 2017. Now in this second reissue there are some content changes and again I gave it another 5 star review. My review is similar with some minor changes with my second review for the same book. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did…..Celtic Barb’s Book Review Blog

London, 1816
This hero of the story is the handsome, strong, braw, highlander, Camden McLeod, a member of the secret Scottish mercenary elite group The Highland Knights. Camden, known as Cam, is a man who likes and is used to having things his own, precise way! The heroine is Lady Esme Hawkins, the introverted, shy, sister spinster of the Duke of Trent , who is one of the most important men in all of England! Another interesting layer to this story is Esme has a secret past that caused a scandal and nearly ruined her and the Trent name. Esme wants to make this up for past mistakes to her brother of such a high status and wants him to trust and believe in her again.

Cam and Esme meet where she is in disguise ldoing research at the most unlikely place a man brothel and he is on assignment for a Viscount at a classy expensive first class brothel where. They both share a very passionate kiss and embrace as they have instant chemistry and attraction with a dash of lust. This is the last place you expect to meet an introverted spinster and sister of a Duke. Cam is curious about this woman, when questioned about her notebook Esme fears the worst! She feels if he caught just a glimpse of her writing it could cause her ruin and scandal which forces her to bolt and take off.

Cam and Esme meet again at a party her brother is throwing and this is where he finds out she is betrothed to Henry which doesn't stop Cam in his pursuit of Esme. He is determined to have her and makes it very direct by his feelings and actions. What makes matters worse is her betrothed Henry is a former schoolmate of Cam's from Elton. On top of this there is murder in the mix as one of the Highland Knights has been murdered and the entire group is targeted for murder as well.

Will there be more deaths among the Highland Knights? Could it be Cam? Will they ever find who is doing the killing and why? Who will Esme choose Henry or Cam? Is someone’s heart possibly going to break? Will Esme get ruined with her reputation destroyed if any of her writing is ever made public? Can this destroy her brother's successful political career? To have these questions answered and more you must read this mesmerizing book to find out!

Jennifer Haymore does it again with another quick paced page turner, in “Her Scandalous Scot ''. Furthermore this includes multi dimensional characters, fast moving conflicts, stunning settings, wicked villains that immediately takes you on the path of hatred, devastation and destruction, plus mystery, murder mayhem and so much more that includes love! All the elements historical romance fans want to read about and so much more! Another swoon worthy book that caused me to lose some hours of sleep, but definitely worth the loss of shut eye! This book is action packed and full of twists and turns, a heart warming riveting adventure from start to finish! Jennifer Haymore is an exquisite master storyteller in my opinion and will leave readers totally delighted! Readers definitely do not want to miss this exceptional read!

Even though it is a re-issue that I have read before, after-all this is my second time reading this story, as it felt like a brand new book to me. Especially since there is new content in it and it has been like seven or eight years since I originally read this Highland Knight series. Readers will be able to read this in series order or as a stand alone book. I always prefer to read in book order myself, which I highly Prefer in recommend. It was a delightful read! This series is a reissue from 2016 and as always this reviewer always follows Amazon’s review guidelines.

The Highland Knights Series
1. The Spinster and Mr. Scot formerly Highland Heat
2. Her Scandalous Scot formerly Highland Awakening

Disclaimer: I received an advance readers copy from the publisher. I voluntarily agreed to do an honest, fair, review and blog through netgalley. All words, thoughts and ideas are my own.

They met in a brothel and their chemistry is electric, a Highland Knight and the woman he falls in love with. There is passion in these pages a well as mystery, betrayal, redemption and love conquering all. Engaging read with an intriguing introduction to the next exciting book in series.

I received an ARC from Netgalley and leaving my review voluntarily.

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Highland Knights series. Previously published as Highland Awakening in 2015 and this version is updated with content changes. This book is connected to the House of Trent series. Lady Esme is the socially awkward sister of a duke but also a secret author of romance novels. While doing research at a brothel. She runs into Camden, while he is on protection duty of an earl. He doesn’t know who she is at first, but uncovers her identity while at the duke’s dinner party. She’s nearly engaged to a seemingly safe family friend and is trying not to succumb to Cam’s advances. These two are argumentative throughout the book, with Cam being overbearing about Esme’s social standing and obligations but also impressed by Esme’s secret career. We also have a deadly threat against Cam’s friends to contend with in the background. After reading this book, I’m interested in going back to read about Esme’s siblings from previous books too.