Review: A- rating...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 14, 2013
My Review:A-, 4.25 ratingWithout a doubt, I should have hated this book. There are all kinds of things happening in it that normally turn me right off a book, right up until the very end where I literally gasped. Not something that I normally like in my books...at all. BUT I loved this book. I fell in love with these characters. I loved the style the book was written in (I'll talk about that more in a minute). I loved the story...even while it tore me apart...throughout.This book is about Magda, or Maggie, as she's known to Harvey. She's come to Scotland to celebrate Christmas with her boyfriend, Beckman, only to find out that his twin brother was her tormentor that she still has nightmares about. In high school, Harvey teased and tormented Maggie to the point that she had to change schools her senior year in high school. But all that teasing was hiding a deep secret...Harvey was in love with her. Something he didn't even realize until she was gone.Harvey's based his entire life around Maggie and his lost love of her...his band is named Shaggy Maggie. That's what he used to call her because of her curly red hair. His guitar is named Maggie and he's even written several songs about her. But until she came to Scotland, he never realized his Maggie was his twin brother's Magda. He has fond memories of her, but she does not have those same memories of him. In fact, it's just the opposite. She hates his guts and what he did to her. But as the saying goes, there is a very fine line between love and hate.There were some details about the story that I didn't quite get...how Maggie and Harvey knew each other in high school when he's Scottish, she's American, and she never crossed paths with his brother. Also, I kept expecting something to come from the fact that Beckman, the twin brother, had to go back to America during the holiday as that seemed somewhat suspicious...but that may just be the romantic suspense lover in me. I also never quite connected with Beckman's character as much as I did all the other characters in the book...although I was still very emotional about his part in the ending that had me reeling.But honestly, the book was so good and riveting, that while all those things above crossed my mind, they absolutely did not hinder my enjoyment of this book (although they did knock it down from an A rating to an A- rating)...not one little bit. I loved this book. I hurt for Magda because her feelings are so deep and real for both these guys, but things are just different...more natural...with Harvey. She connects to him in a very different way than she does with Beckman. And I enjoyed the fact that both brothers saw that realistically, too. They may not ever discuss it with her, but it was obvious in the book that they both knew her well enough to know what was happening. I never knew where exactly this book was going to go...and honestly am still not sure where they are going to end up because this is the start to a series and nothing seems quite settled yet. One thing is very obvious though...these Irish men are very braw. Rawr!And this is where I should probably note the way the book is written. As a writer, I bow down to Tyffani Clark Kemp...whoa! She's written the entire book incorporating the Scottish accents. In fact the first three pages of the book on my kindle were a glossary to explain the accents/words/meanings of the phrasing. I'll admit, when I saw that at the beginning of the book, I was a bit scared, but once I started reading the book, I quickly settled into the rhythm of the accents. BUT that doesn't change the fact that I just cannot imagine how much work it took to write the entire book that way. It was truly impressive and made the book really impressive to read.I am dying to get my hands onto book #2 in this series. The author says that should be around Valentine's Day. I say she should write faster...hehe. It was a VERY good book.