March 22, 2021
But, what about Francesca?
http://www.suzanneenoch.com/So, is this the last of the MacTaggert’s series…or is there room for a few more stories? Well, I don’t know, but I do know that all three of the brothers have found their happy ending. If you enjoyed Wild Wicked Highlanders, all is not lost! There are some secondary characters who might get a story – Jane for one. I also would hope that Ms. Enoch fixes the romance between Matthew and Eloise. And, when I say fix, I mean do something with that snake of a fiancé Matthew, besides break his nose. In case you didn’t guess, Matthew has never been one of my favorite characters. He’s a weasel. Maybe Eloise can forget what a drip he was, but I can’t. But, Hit Me with Your Best Scot isn’t about him, it’s about Coll MacTaggert, Viscount Glendarril and Persephone Jones aka Temperance Hartwood. Yes, watch out for a name change part way through the book!
If you are not familiar with this book, or this series, let me remind you which one this is. This is the series with the mother who has been on my Mommie Dearest list for the last two years. At seventeen, Francesca married a Scotsman by the name of Angus MacTaggert. She hated Scotland. She wanted to reside part of the year in England. Angus wouldn’t let her. She had three boys, then she had a girl. When she had her daughter, she decided her daughter couldn’t grow up in Scotland. She abandoned her husband, and three young sons, and hunkered down in England for seventeen years. Never during any of that time did she attempt to see her sons. Needless to say, the sons are not all that fond of her. And, neither was I. Now she is forcing her sons to marry an English woman, or she will jerk the money which runs the Scottish estate out from under everyone. And, that also includes the people who live on that estate. The three sons sullenly go to England, and at the time this story starts, two of them have found their better half. That only leaves the eldest, most stubborn one: Coll. When I opened this book, I was hoping for a resolution to the Francesca/Angus story. Did I get the resolution I wanted? We shall see later.
One evening while Coll is escaping from his mother’s matchmaking clutches, he ends up backstage at a theater. There he sees the actress Persephone Jones, and he is instantly smitten. Coll and Persephone are mature people, neither are innocent. They are both aware of how to play games, and they proceed to use each other. Don’t get too upset with that, because they are honest with each other in their manipulations. I thought their chemistry was interesting, and honest. That means there are no big secrets, right? Well, that’s not quite true. There are secrets. Persephone has a secret. Not only that, but someone is trying to murder her. Then there is the pretend romance she and Coll play, just to annoy Francesca.
Coll was a wonderful hero. He was strong, protective, loyal, understanding, sexy, and in the end a friend. Coll and Persephone make a delightful couple. They are comfortable with their reaction to each other, and it isn’t long before they are playing tiddlywinks. While they are twiddling, Coll is searching for the person who is trying to murder Persephone. And, here is one of the irritating moments for me. If Persephone had told Coll her secret, it would have helped him find the villain. Considering how honest they were with each other, and that they had already shared spit, it was disappointing to me that she didn’t confide in him sooner. But that was just a minor hiccup. Now, let’s talk about the major hiccup in the story.
There are two hiccups for me in, Hit Me with Your Best Scot. It may be because I’ve been following this series from the beginning. I’ve been hoping for a strong wrap-up of two plotlines which were threaded through the series. The first plotline involved the very young Eloise and her loathsome toad of a fiancé Matthew. They are both very young. Eloise seems to be especially young, and overly class conscious. I was hoping that there would be some indication that she was having second thoughts about marrying Matthew Moosebutt. I’m still hoping that Ms. Enoch does something further with Matthew and Eloise, because their story in this particular book left me feeling empty. The other hiccup in the story was BBBIIIIIGGG. Francesca and Angus: the parents from hell. For two books I have been waiting for something to happen which would redeem Francesca and Angus. It didn’t happen. Oh sure, we find out that she did write letters to her sons, and her sons wrote to her. And…Angus hid them allll! There was the biiiggg scene where Angus brings in a big-o-box of letters and dumps them on a table. See, your mother did love you!!! She wrote alllll these letters to you for seventeen years, and I hid them!!! See, she’s not so bad. And do you know what I say to that my little Petunia’s? To quote Daffy Duck: PFFFFFFTTTttt! I’m hoping Ms. Enoch is not finished with Francesca and Angus, because that plotline needs to be resolved. But there was nothing in this book that made me look at either Francesca and Angus and say, oh you poor dears…you have suffered so much. Oh, you only had your children’s best interest at heart. Again, I will let Daffy Duck speak for me: PFFFTTTttttt!
So, what did I think? I actually liked the parts of the book which Coll and Persephone inhabited. I thought they made a great couple. I was also pleased that Coll didn’t turn out to be the Bonehead he was represented as in the first two books. In fact, he was a wonderful hero. Coll and Persephone were a delightful couple, and the romance in this story was excellent. The mystery/murder was also interesting. I just wish Francesca/Angus/Eloise/Matthew had been handled differently, or maybe a hint as to future stories. As it was, those four characters “bummed me out.”
http://www.suzanneenoch.com/So, is this the last of the MacTaggert’s series…or is there room for a few more stories? Well, I don’t know, but I do know that all three of the brothers have found their happy ending. If you enjoyed Wild Wicked Highlanders, all is not lost! There are some secondary characters who might get a story – Jane for one. I also would hope that Ms. Enoch fixes the romance between Matthew and Eloise. And, when I say fix, I mean do something with that snake of a fiancé Matthew, besides break his nose. In case you didn’t guess, Matthew has never been one of my favorite characters. He’s a weasel. Maybe Eloise can forget what a drip he was, but I can’t. But, Hit Me with Your Best Scot isn’t about him, it’s about Coll MacTaggert, Viscount Glendarril and Persephone Jones aka Temperance Hartwood. Yes, watch out for a name change part way through the book!
If you are not familiar with this book, or this series, let me remind you which one this is. This is the series with the mother who has been on my Mommie Dearest list for the last two years. At seventeen, Francesca married a Scotsman by the name of Angus MacTaggert. She hated Scotland. She wanted to reside part of the year in England. Angus wouldn’t let her. She had three boys, then she had a girl. When she had her daughter, she decided her daughter couldn’t grow up in Scotland. She abandoned her husband, and three young sons, and hunkered down in England for seventeen years. Never during any of that time did she attempt to see her sons. Needless to say, the sons are not all that fond of her. And, neither was I. Now she is forcing her sons to marry an English woman, or she will jerk the money which runs the Scottish estate out from under everyone. And, that also includes the people who live on that estate. The three sons sullenly go to England, and at the time this story starts, two of them have found their better half. That only leaves the eldest, most stubborn one: Coll. When I opened this book, I was hoping for a resolution to the Francesca/Angus story. Did I get the resolution I wanted? We shall see later.
One evening while Coll is escaping from his mother’s matchmaking clutches, he ends up backstage at a theater. There he sees the actress Persephone Jones, and he is instantly smitten. Coll and Persephone are mature people, neither are innocent. They are both aware of how to play games, and they proceed to use each other. Don’t get too upset with that, because they are honest with each other in their manipulations. I thought their chemistry was interesting, and honest. That means there are no big secrets, right? Well, that’s not quite true. There are secrets. Persephone has a secret. Not only that, but someone is trying to murder her. Then there is the pretend romance she and Coll play, just to annoy Francesca.
Coll was a wonderful hero. He was strong, protective, loyal, understanding, sexy, and in the end a friend. Coll and Persephone make a delightful couple. They are comfortable with their reaction to each other, and it isn’t long before they are playing tiddlywinks. While they are twiddling, Coll is searching for the person who is trying to murder Persephone. And, here is one of the irritating moments for me. If Persephone had told Coll her secret, it would have helped him find the villain. Considering how honest they were with each other, and that they had already shared spit, it was disappointing to me that she didn’t confide in him sooner. But that was just a minor hiccup. Now, let’s talk about the major hiccup in the story.
There are two hiccups for me in, Hit Me with Your Best Scot. It may be because I’ve been following this series from the beginning. I’ve been hoping for a strong wrap-up of two plotlines which were threaded through the series. The first plotline involved the very young Eloise and her loathsome toad of a fiancé Matthew. They are both very young. Eloise seems to be especially young, and overly class conscious. I was hoping that there would be some indication that she was having second thoughts about marrying Matthew Moosebutt. I’m still hoping that Ms. Enoch does something further with Matthew and Eloise, because their story in this particular book left me feeling empty. The other hiccup in the story was BBBIIIIIGGG. Francesca and Angus: the parents from hell. For two books I have been waiting for something to happen which would redeem Francesca and Angus. It didn’t happen. Oh sure, we find out that she did write letters to her sons, and her sons wrote to her. And…Angus hid them allll! There was the biiiggg scene where Angus brings in a big-o-box of letters and dumps them on a table. See, your mother did love you!!! She wrote alllll these letters to you for seventeen years, and I hid them!!! See, she’s not so bad. And do you know what I say to that my little Petunia’s? To quote Daffy Duck: PFFFFFFTTTttt! I’m hoping Ms. Enoch is not finished with Francesca and Angus, because that plotline needs to be resolved. But there was nothing in this book that made me look at either Francesca and Angus and say, oh you poor dears…you have suffered so much. Oh, you only had your children’s best interest at heart. Again, I will let Daffy Duck speak for me: PFFFTTTttttt!
So, what did I think? I actually liked the parts of the book which Coll and Persephone inhabited. I thought they made a great couple. I was also pleased that Coll didn’t turn out to be the Bonehead he was represented as in the first two books. In fact, he was a wonderful hero. Coll and Persephone were a delightful couple, and the romance in this story was excellent. The mystery/murder was also interesting. I just wish Francesca/Angus/Eloise/Matthew had been handled differently, or maybe a hint as to future stories. As it was, those four characters “bummed me out.”
Time/Place: Regency England (I guess)
Sensuality: Warm/Hot/Mature
Book: B
Francesca/Angus/Eloise/Matthew: D
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