Boring. Next.

This is somewhere above a three but not quite a four. I liked the main characters, though I thought Mary was a bit over the top. I just wish that more time had been devoted to the actual romance between the hero and heroine. We have him running away from his feelings and her having to deal with everything going on while he's away. Like, I'm not really sure why they are in love with each other. Yes, the sex is amazing, but I don't see why she loves him. Yes, he's hot, but he's also a huge jerk for most of the book. I like them together, I just think that the actual romance was underdeveloped.

2.5 stars

This was my first book by this author and I absolutely loved it. I hope there's a story for Thomas, it sounds like he's got something interesting happening.

Merged review:

This was my first book by this author and I absolutely loved it. I hope there's a story for Thomas, it sounds like he's got something interesting happening.

I love historical romance. Where else would I get the chance to walk the line between classic romance and regency fantasy. Through the pages of The Scottish Duke, Karen Ranney lured me back in time with the pageantry of a ball, the ambience of forbidden love and a dance of danger between the haves and the have nots. Lorna and Alex swept me into their dance of dangerous attraction, sensuous love and potent personalities. So realistically presented, there were moments where imagination collided with logical. Creatively engrossing.

This was the first book by this author that I have read and I was very pleased with my choice.

The story was lovely and different from most historicals. The story begins with our heroine Lorna sneaking into a "fancy dress ball" with the intention of getting closer to our hero, Alex. She's a maid in his castle and has been right under his nose for two whole years and he hadn't really noticed her. As we come to learn later he never noticed any of his staff, especially the maids. Due to following the advice of his housekeeper because anytime he would smile or show any attention to them they would giggle and sigh over him endlessly. Something he also wasn't very aware of: his handsomeness.

As the story progresses our heroine and hero officially "meet" - sorta. No real names were revealed or identities but their chemistry is instant and literally explodes off the pages as they go from simple banter on the terrace outside the ballroom during a fierce highland thunderstorm to running through the rain and making love in the conservatory on the "fainting" couch. Much to our hero's surprise, his irresistible vixen is a virgin, or as much as is whiskey haze allows him to believe. Which leads to some rather terse and mean words to be exchanged and then we move on.

We transition to about 8 months later and we learn our heroine Lorna is living in the village down the road from Blackhall in a horrible little one room apartment that she can barely afford. And that she's heavily pregnant with Alex, The Duke of Kinross's child. Her friend and fellow maid, Nan, informs Lorna she's left a note for the Duchess of Kinross (Alex's mother) informing her of the impending birth of her grandchild and her living circumstances. Lorna doesn't like that Nan did this much to her independent stubbornness but it was out of her hands now. This leads to Alex's mother informing Alex of the news, much to his disbelief. He hadn't been able to forget Lorna, depsite not knowing who she really was. And despite all of this, he couldn't stop looking for her or expecting her to make contact. Why would he expect this, you ask? Well, because of his unfaithful first wife, of course!

You see Alex was married to Ruth three years prior. She supposedly was the type to crave adoration and attention. Something which apparently Alex didn't give her enough of while working on his scientific projects. Alex later realizes she never really cared for him and he was simply another bauble to have and to show off. Turns out Ruth looked to other men for the attention Alex didn't give her enough of, and wasn't quiet about it either. She didn't care to flaunt it. Everyone knew. We find out Ruth passed during childbirth where his son also died not long after, a son he still couldn't believe was truly his.

So as you obviously can see, our poor hero has some serious trust issues and finds it nearly impossible to open himself up. Add the deaths of his father, brother and sister when he was sixteen and we definitely have our work cut out for our hero.

The story progresses from there with a confrontation between Lorna and Alex wen he goes to confront her. Convinced he will be paying off a greedy woman. What he finds is a very stubborn and independent Lorna backed into a corner and demanding he leave. It was quite amusing to watch that unravel as he honestly couldn't believe she didn't want anything and that she was actually demanding he leave without any demands.

Long story short (ironically it is a decently long story, but worth the read) our heroine goes to live on the Blackhall property and is taken care of by Alex. His mother befriends Lorna and is so excited for her grandchilds birth, all the while pushing for the two to marry before the child's birth in hope to protect her grandchild's future. Lorna and Alex do end up marrying three minutes before their son Robbie makes his debut in the world.

From there we follow Alex on his journey as he struggles with his feelings for Lorna and his son. He's completely overwhelmed by what he feels for both of them and the idea of having a wife again and now a family. He doesn't want to care so much, he's allowed himself not to all these years since losing his father and siblings and he doesn't think he can handle the pain from losing his new wife and child if he allows himself to care for them so freely. It's rather bittersweet to go with him on this journey and see him finally realize his mistake in running away right after the birth and wedding to Lorna. And realizing his new wife wasn't going to stand for him to act that way.

Lorna was a lovely character. She was so strong and proud. She was a refreshing heroine I think. She became stronger as the book went on and fought for her husband and her child.

We also have the obsessive sister-in-law of Alex, Mary. She coocoo for cocoa puffs. She wanted Alex and did not take Lorna's appearance in Alex's life well. She was a constant thorn in everyone's butt. Entertaining, I'll admit. Especially when she finally got hers in the end.

I'll also note I loved that the author wrote his uncle quite well. I loved that I thought he was one of the bad ones in the beginning. I knew Mary was an issue right off, and I suspected his uncle might be but we later learn he wasn't. Not at all! It was refreshing to read and find that a character you would suspect being villainous and probably had cause to be wasn't. I really enjoyed him as well.

Only flaws were a few editor issues. Alec instead of Alex was seen once and his brothers name of Donald being told as Douglas. Simple issues.

first book I read by this author
it was a great read