Years after creating a fake-suitor via love letters (and subsequently killing him off and going into mourning), a young woman is shocked when a man shows up claiming to be her long lost love.
The heroine is a girl who is more consumed with her life's passion (drawing and illustrating) than social events and marriage. So much so that she created a fictitious boyfriend, a Scottish captain in the war, who she wrote letters to in order to escape being married off by her family. She suffers from panic attacks and is painfully shy in large groups.
About four years after creating her fake boyfriend to escape a set-up wedding, she realizes she can't go along with the lie anymore. So what does she do? She kills him off... and proceeds to go into mourning for him, thereby refuting any future suitors.
So clever.
But then... surprise! Captain Logan MacKenzie shows up at her door, letters in hand, and uses them to blackmail her into marrying him.
“I'm Captain Logan MacKenzie. I received every last one of your missives, and despite your best attempts to kill me, I am verra much alive." He propped a finger under her chin, tilting her face to his. So she would be certain to hear and believe his words. "Madaline Eloise Gracechurch... I've come here to marry you.”
Don't lie! You're intrigued.
This book is so funny. I read another review warning not to read it at work because you'll laugh out loud... and I definitely did. I've added random quotes below for your enjoyment and to convince you to give this book a shot, especially if you don't normally read historical romance. What's the old saying? - Don't judge a book by its cover.
For example - at dinner with Maddie, Logan, her aunt, and five of the men he fought with in the war, Maddie makes him read a "poem" he wrote for her.
“Were I a bird, I’d sing for thee.
Were I a bee, I’d sting for thee.
Were I a peak, I’d tower for thee.
Were I a tree, I’d flower for thee.
Were I a flute—”
The reading was interrupted as Callum began to cough with alarming violence. Rabbie slapped him on the back with vigor.
“Do I need to stop?” Logan asked. “Are you dying?”
Callum shook his head.
“Because I wouldna mind it if you were dying.”
“No, no.” At length Callum looked up with a reddened face and choked out, “Dinna mind me. Do go on.”
“Were I a flute, I’d play for thee.
Were I a steed, I’d neigh for thee.”
This book is a comfort book for me, and it's always one I recommend to people who may be new to the historical romance genre, because you don't need to know about titles or the Season... the story is pretty self-contained to a small Scottish castle.
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