The Victorian Rebels Series Book 3
Laird Liam Mackenzie is known as the Demon Highlander. He’s a former solider, war hero, and highland chief of the Mackenzie clan.
He’s returned from years of serving abroad where he developed a notorious reputation. Now he needs a governess to help educate his children, who he left to their own devices while he was away.
Miss Philomena Lockhart is running from an abusive marriage with the help of Dorian Blackwell, who happens to be Liam’s half brother. She takes up the position of governess in the highlands of Scotland, hoping to be safe from discovery.
The plot is a good balance of intrigue and foreshadowing to keep the reader interested. Unlike the first two, it’s not drowning in angst, with just a nice underlying simmer of tension between the characters. There’s also a sub-plot mystery regarding an old legend to add a little intrigue.
Both Liam and Philomena have secrets. Both experienced abuse and violence in their pasts. Liam’s a tortured soul, moulded by his father for a life of violence and he doesn’t believe he’s fit for anything else. This seems to be the theme for all the males in the series so far – they’ve all suffered and experienced terrible things. However, I felt a bit ambivalent towards Liam. He’s not screaming angst like the previous two Victorian Rebels, as he’s not been the victim, but the perpetrator of the violence. He was shaped into this persona by his father after years of mental torture during his childhood, but I just didn’t get the same feels and empathy for him.
Philomena’s trying to lead a quiet life, out in the wilds, hiding from her past, and is in constant fear of discovery. I felt that she was portrayed quite well, but could have had a little more depth. She’s obviously been raped and mistreated by her husband, but apart from a small lapse where she can’t continue she doesn’t seem to show any other disinclination to jump into bed with the Liam. She admits Liam’s a very large and powerful man and could easily over power her, and I expected her to be more reluctant to be in a physical relationship.
The love story is not slow burn, but not scorching. It’s a nice, steady build of tension and heat. In terms of sex scenes, there’s not many full scenes, but the kisses and small scenes are sensual and steamy.
I didn’t notice with the others, but the author has a dream-like quality to her prose.
There’s plenty of long and flowery sentences describing not only the setting, but the feelings and emotions of the characters. I’m not usually one for too much of this, but it was quite nice in this story.
“The indigo mists climbed and caressed her body as though trying to seduce her with embracing wisps of moisture.”
Sentences like that were very evocative and they made it easy easy to imagine the wild surroundings.
Overall, this was a nice, warm, and fuzzy read: Not brimming with angst, a dash of intrigue, and a slow building romance with some steamy interludes.
Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Feels: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Heat: ⭐️⭐️
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
