Series: Victorian Rebels, Book 5
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Genre: Historical Romance
Release Date: October 3, 2017
Source: Publisher
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N
They’re rebels, scoundrels, and blackguards―dark, dashing men on the wrong side of the law. But for the women who love them, a hint of danger only makes the heart beat faster.
Gavin St. James, Earl of Thorne, is a notorious Highlander and an unrelenting Lothario who uses his slightly menacing charm to get what he wants―including too many women married to other men. But now, Gavin wants to put his shady past behind him...more or less. When a fiery lass who is the heiress to the land he wishes to possess drops into his lap, he sees a perfectly delicious opportunity…
A marriage most convenient
Samantha Masters has come back to Scotland, in a pair of trousers, and with a whole world of dangerous secrets from her time spent in the Wild West trailing behind her. Her only hope of protection is to marry―and to do so quickly. Gavin is only too willing to provide that service for someone he finds so disturbingly irresistible. But even as danger approaches, what begins as a scandalous proposition slowly turns into an all-consuming passion. And Gavin discovers that he will do whatever is necessary to keep the woman he has claimed as his own…
A seductive earl who has never met a woman he couldn’t charm meets his match in a spitfire American in The Scot Beds His Wife. Kerrigan Byrne’s fifth Victorian Rebels novel is an energetic enemies-to-lovers tale with a delightfully unconventional heroine.
Sam grabbed my attention from the start. She’s full of spirit and strength that I just adored. Sam has had a hard life and at the beginning of The Scot Beds His Wife she makes a split-second decision that changes her life forever. Sam makes difficult choices and takes on the consequences of her actions. She doesn’t back down, but she’s not invulnerable. Life has never given her reason to trust, to hope, and I wanted her to find the home and love she yearned for with Gavin. Speaking of said hero, Gavin was a bit harder for me to like. He’s a man who goes through women like water in order to mask his pain. Like Sam, Gavin is seeking home and he has a childhood that just broke my heart. I understood his determination to get his hands on the land he believes Sam owns, though I wasn’t always keen on his attitude when he was denied. I will admit Gavin’s anger toward his brother Liam also put me off him at times. I tried to see things from Gavin’s point of view, but as I am attached to Liam after reading and loving his book, The Highlander, I just couldn’t work up much sympathy for Gavin and his hostile attitude. To be clear, he isn’t a bad hero. He’s protective and caring of those he lets in his heart and he does develop into a great match for Sam over the course of the story.
Ms. Byrne excels at delivering passionate romances that are just bursting with emotion. For me, Gavin and Sam didn’t quite match up to the previous Victorian Rebels romances in this respect. There was lust between them and definite sparks, but both Gavin and Sam have significant secrets. Sam in particular holds onto her secrets for so long that it drags the romance down a bit because she and Gavin are unable to be truly open with each other. That being said, I did like them together quite a bit even when they were at odds. They’re a fiery pair and by the epilogue I was smiling at their interactions.
While the story never drags, much of the action in The Scot Beds His Wife takes place in the last quarter of the story. And what a final act it is – I was practically glued to the book. Everything I love about Ms. Byrne’s stories comes into play; there’s action, danger, emotion, and a satisfying happily ever after. So while The Scot Beds His Wife may not be my favorite story in the Victorian Rebels series, I still really liked it and I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on the next book.
FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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