Review: I enjoyed it, but also disappointing
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 21, 2014
This book is hard to review, on one hand there was a lot to like about it, but on the other hand there was a lot that drove me crazy. So I’m giving it 3 stars, and here is why:I thought the plot was pretty interesting, and it did keep me reading. The story is good, there are a few surprises, and doesn’t follow through in a typical way. In the beginning of the book, the Hero, Laird Iain MacKinnon kidnaps the heroine, Yvette Beauchamp. He means to kill her to seek revenge for her father killing his twin brother 3 years earlier. But his cousin Diarmid stops him, so Iain takes Yvette as his hostage to ransom her. So of course he is going to be mean to her, he’s her captor (title of the book) and she is his hostage. I don’t understand the reviewers who say he is too mean, under these circumstances, of course he is going to be mean. But as the book progresses, and the more time they spend together he becomes kinder. Even at 29% through the book, Yvette acknowledges he had ‘on a few rare occasions shown his tender side’. For example, he warns her the first night not to try to escape or he will punish her by beating her, and so of course she try's to escape, almost getting them both killed in the process, so he takes her to punish her but he just can’t do it – not so mean. Which brings us to Yvette, she is irritatingly snobbish & bossy, constantly disobeying him and talking back, even when he is being cordial to her. Several times she says something like ‘I am an Earl’s daughter’, you can’t, or I can’t, etc. She fails to understand she is his hostage. It became quite repetitive and I sometimes almost wished he would beat her just to get her to stop. Despite that flaw, I mostly liked her as a character, I liked all the characters and thought them all well developed. Some scenes with the cousin Diarmid were pointless, it just added needless drama and did nothing for the story. But both the Hero & heroine grow throughout the book.I think Yvette starts to fall in love with Iain when he gives her a choice, he is the first man in her life to do so. Iain lusts after her the whole book, but I think he starts falling for her shortly after she does, but Iain tries to deny that he is falling in love with the daughter of his sworn enemy. And there are some very sweet romantic scenes. There are some conversations with crude language which doesn’t seem to fit in with everything, and then times where the language seemed too refined for them. Especially since it happens sporadically & uncharacteristically in both cases, it was just distracting.***minor spoiler alert***There’s this scene in the second half of the book where h begs H to make love to her, he says no because of his honor, but then teases her by placing his erection up against her “sex” and “nudges” her, she moves to try to get him to penetrate and he gets all made at her. The whole scene is confusing and laughable. Immediately after he throws her in the dungeon! When he takes her out he doesn’t even apologize but asks her to marry him, and she does! It all makes no sense, completely out of character for them, I just don’t get it. ***end spoiler alert***There are a few grammar/spelling errors, nothing too big and only slightly distracting, but still simple errors a good editor probably would have caught. Like her room is an “oriel” at the top of the stairs, but once it’s incorrectly spelled oriole (which is a bird). There are also small contradictions in the story/time line, again a good editor would have caught those.In conclusion, I was able to get into the book and connect with the characters enough to feel strong emotions, the heartbreak, the anger, the love, the humor. But there were times where it became disjointed and took me out of those feelings, therefore I might recommend if you need an easy read and can do so for cheap or borrow the book for free. Don’t waste too much time/money on this. It was nice while it lasted, but in my opinion I will probably never read another book by this author.