Review: A Scot to the Heart

A Scot to the Heart by Caroline Linden
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.3 stars 

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

Great God above, he was heir presumptive to the Duke of Carlyle. 

Second in the Desperately Seeking Duke series, this follows Captain Andrew St. James, who we briefly saw in the first (About a Rogue). To get the full overreaching arc of the series, you want to read this series in order. The author does a small recap by showing us the scene where Andrew and Maximilian (hero from first) are called to Carlyle Castle by the Duchess and told that her son, the current duke, is in ill health and that they are two of a possible three heirs. The scene is this time shown from Andrew's point-of-view and he is our captain out of the “An army man, a cardsharp, or a Frenchman,” heirs and currently, the most promising one to inherit. He's shocked but also carefully joyful as to what this could mean for his mother and three sisters. He joined the army when he was eighteen to keep his family out of debtors prison after his father died with numerous unpaid bills and he had to find a way to support the family. He plans on resigning his captaincy and going home to Edinburgh to alert his family. He's given the same deal Maximilian was by the Duchess, 500 pounds to use wisely, stay respectable, and return in six months time for the Duchess to judge their progress. 

And she was so tired of toeing the many, many lines laid down by people who told her that all her desires and interests were wrong or unseemly. 

In his first night back to Edinburgh, Andrew goes to an oyster cellar with his bestfriend Felix Duncan and he is instantly intrigued by a woman there and they share a searing kiss before she disappears on him. The woman turns out to be widowed Ilsa Ramsay and a good friend of his sister Agnes. Ilsa grew up with a loving but controlling father and then married a man that kept her even more locked up, she's bursting at the seams to have even a little freedom. Her husband died in a duel over a year ago and she is getting her first taste of freedom but society restrictions and her Aunt Jean who lives with her keep trying to keep their thumb over her. Ilsa never does anything that is completely wild, you have to keep in mind the scope of late 1700s that this story takes place, but I still felt some of her struggle got lost. I did greatly enjoy the talk of oyster cellars and their new infamy, adding some flavor of the times, which, besides some mentions of wigs and woman wearing kerchiefs to cover bosoms, I'm not sure I totally felt a distinction from Regency sub-genre feels. Reading this in the twenty-first century, I also had to smile at Ilsa and Andrew starting their romance, essentially, with a drunken kiss in a bar. 

Drew had been gleaning scraps of information about Ilsa, and the picture they formed made his heart ache. A lonely childhood, raised by a strict aunt while her father worked. More tutors and instructors than friends. A husband who wouldn’t allow her to ride, even though she relished it. 

The first book worked hard to set the scene for the whole series, this scaled things back and for the vast majority of the story, focused on Ilsa and Andrew. I usually favor angsty hard won love but Ilsa and Andrew had a light and easy fall in love that was warming in its own way. They have beginning heated attraction but they also so clearly become friends through it all. When Andrew has to check on a Carlyle holding, Stormont Castle, he invites his family, a few male friends, and Ilsa to join him. At the castle is where their friendship blossomed and they just made me smile. There's a scene where Andrew is going to pretend to be a ghost to give his sisters the scare they all have been wanting and he invites Ilsa to pretend with him. I feel like I don't read enough stories that have the leads being so light-hearted with each other and then the way the eye contact starts to get heated in a way that they both realize they love the person they are having such fun with, gives the romance such a great different dimension. 

There was no one else in the room. It was only the two of them, moving about each other more and more slowly and deliberately, every touch lingering, every glance heated. Then there was no music, just the thud of his heart and the husky invitation of her whispers as she tugged at his clothing, pressing against him as he undid the laces on that scarlet gown and tasted her skin . . . 

It was around 60% that these two both have realized their love and it honestly felt like the story could be wrapped up but then the story goes in a bit of a different direction. While these two are falling in love, there is a lingering to the sides story about robberies in Edinburgh that suddenly comes to the forefront with about 30% left. It felt a bit awkward as romances tend to solve the action and then leave the ending for the romance between leads, this swapped those two. It didn't fully work for me, as I was mostly here for the romance and with that kind of run out of steam because of declared love, I lost some steam to keep engaged in the story. Basically, Ilsa's father is accused of the robberies and the town starts to turn on her and she decides she must find her father who skipped town and try to help to prove his innocence. Andrew does go with her but I still felt like this plot thread was placed out of order. 

Holding her close, he pressed his cheek to hers and whispered, “Let the world go hang. I love you, Ilsa.” 

There was some skipping of time that had interactions I would have liked to see between Ilsa and Andrew and Ilsa's pet pony Robert ended up feeling more hokey than cute eccentric. However, I still enjoyed the little things that make Linden's stories stick-out, the overreaching series arc, the brief but deep mention of Andrew's family not wanting to be English (his mother's cousin died at Culloden and her father barely survived the English brutality after), and the general light, developed friendship between Ilsa and Andrew. There was obviously something between Andrew's sister Agnes and his friend Duncan and that tease has me wanting to read their novella. We also have yet to meet the frenchman who is the third possible Duke of Carlyle heir and I can't wait to read his story as he looks to be paired with the Duchess of Carlyle's ward.

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