Seduced by a Scot

September 10, 2018
London’s sixth Highland Grooms historical (after Tempting the Laird) is enticing from the very first page as an 18th-century Scottish expert in crisis management meets his match. Nichol Bain is hired by Calum Garbett to repair the engagement between Calum’s daughter, Sorcha, and Adam Cadell, son of Thomas Cadell. The engagement is part of a business deal between Calum and Thomas, but Sorcha and Adam are opposed to it. Winning them over requires finding a husband for Maura Darby, Calum’s ward, who had been banished from the Garbetts’ home after Adam kissed her. After rescuing Maura from the filthy hovel where she’s been staying, Nichol and Maura travel to the estate of Dunnan Cockburn, the man who has agreed to marry her. Maura is unprepared for the sparks that flare between her and Nichol, and she realizes she feels safe with him. Nichol has never met a woman like Maura, who ignites his deepest emotions. London’s story highlights the reality of the limited options for unmarried women in 18th-century Scotland as it showcases two magnetic protagonists and their delightful journey toward love. Agent: Jenny Bent, Bent Agency.

Narrator Derek Perkins does justice to the characters in this historical romance with his range of Scots burrs. The story begins with two lost souls: the beautiful ward, Maura, and the intelligent self-made man, Nichol, who meet when he is hired to make another aristocratic problem disappear. Perkins's delivery of Maura's low and throaty alto voice reflects her educated, independent spirit. In counterpoint, Nichol is given a deeper chested rumbling voice that provides a perfect balance to hers during their dialogue. Perkins further adds to the listening by bestowing the secondary characters with varied voices that range from educated to lower class. A.M.G. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine