The guy on the cover is really pretty, though

Oh, dear.

Well, it’s really not so bad as all that. But the bottom line is, I really, really wanted to love this book. I have loved the rest of the series. And, my very good friend — with whom I share the majority of my romance reads — recently asked, “Do you have a thing for Scots?” and I had to admit I do delve into Highland romance quite a bit, so this should have been such a home run. But it wasn’t.

I didn’t rate it right away, when I finished it a week ago, in case I needed to reflect on it for awhile. Having let those days of rumination go by, I now find I don’t actually even remember that much of it. Oops — that’s not a great sign.

The concept is the exact brand of ludicrous I love and expect from Tessa Dare: Madeleine Gracechurch is a young, shy, awkward girl when she first invents the swoonworthy, imposing figure of Captain Logan MacKenzie, her supposed betrothed and ticket out of having to enter a proper season in London. To make their romance plausible, she carries on a regular correspondence with the good Captain, mailing out letter after letter into the ether and never expecting that her letters might actually have an audience. Of course, because this is a romance, it turns out that not only have the letters been faithfully read by someone the entire time, but that someone is actually the coincidentally named Logan MacKenzie.

When Madeleine, in mourning for her dead fictional fiance (she had killed him when she was tired of keeping up the farce) moves into a castle in the Scottish Highlands that she inherited, she is stunned some time later when the very real Captain MacKenzie comes to collect his bride and his land.

Here’s what didn’t really work for me at this juncture. The idea is that MacKenzie was motivated to show up at Madeleine’s door because he harbored lasting resentment for a) English lords claiming parcels of the Highland for themselves after Scottish soldiers had vacated the region fighting for the English against Napoleon, and b) Madeleine unceremoniously killing him off in her letters. The former is completely justified, but as Tina Turner might say, what’s Madeleine got to do with it? The latter, well, I can understand how it might sting that the uplifting letters you had come to expect, that momentarily took your mind off of warfare, were no longer going to be arriving, but he took it very, very personally that Madeleine had the gall to kill fictional Logan, when living Logan was still breathing.

So, with those factors driving him, he takes advantage of Madeleine’s deception and blackmails her into actually going through with the marriage, so that as her husband by law he can claim the land for his band of men. I am no stranger to scoundrel behavior in romances, but this for some reason did strike me as especially mean: from Madeleine’s letters he’s very well aware of her awkward disposition and anxiety that make it unfeasible to do well in crowds and unlikely to find a husband. He is, therefore, also aware that invading her peace or banishing her from her quiet retirement in Scotland is upending her life in potentially disastrous ways for a woman of her situation. He’s willing to do this under the familiar heroic banner of “doing whatever it takes for family” (in this case, his band of warriors) or “getting justice.” But to me, these ruthless declarations and lack of empathy (at least outwardly) seem at odds with the man who had grown so attached to Madeleine’s letters — and probably Madeleine, by extension — that he nearly despaired at the promise of no longer receiving them. Anger is one thing, but I have a hard time reconciling the man who undoubtedly grew to care for the anxious but intelligent and determined girl who accidentally wrote him, with the one who promises to use her just as means to an end or else, without care for what happens to her.

For her part, Madeleine is a classic Tessa Dare bluestocking. She’s not without backbone, but she prefers academic pursuits — she’s an artist who primarily sketches organisms for biological books and manuscripts — to the feminine endeavors that are expected of her. Additionally, as mentioned above, she probably has some kind of anxiety disorder and really doesn’t handle doing well in crowds. It’s the main reason she wanted to avoid London and made up Logan in the first place. She’s clever and has her charms, but does best in isolation.

Overall, though I can’t hide my disappointment, this is still not a completely unsuccessful story. Despite getting whiplash from Logan’s intentions, he still had several very romantic moments and the chemistry between him and Madeleine grew to be very believable. I liked the device that though they were immediately married, he waited to consummate until Madeleine was ready, ratcheting up sexual tension and earning him “gentleman points.” It’s also abundant of Tessa Dare’s quirky humor, which for me is always a positive. This isn’t on overall loss, but it’s also not going to be included in the breathless list of MUST READ Tessa Dare stories.