Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage: Highland Pleasures, Book 2

I thought this was going to be the usual 'period romance' you know - rake sees beautiful woman over dance floor but things go wrong type book - but I was very pleasantly surprised. It had everything - romance, humour, intrigue, tears - just a very good listen that was well written.

I have listened out of order so I haven't heard book 1 yet but I can't wait, I would have preferred to listen in order but it did not detract from the book's enjoyment in any way.

Worth my credit? Oh yes absolutely, and it will be an automatic download for the rest in the series. If you like these types of romance novels then you HAVE to get this series !!

Beautiful, Sentimental, Mysterious

When Isabella & Mac, remember how each other felt at the loss of their baby, and when Mac reads the letter Isabella had left him the night she left him... So moving.

I Love the Mackenzie Brothers, but my favourite is still Ian... he does not understand Irony or sarcasm, and I just love how she plays him.
I also like Daniel ( Cameron's Teenage son) he is quite "cheeky"

I LOVE this series, you will laugh and cry, I really cannot wait for Cameron's story. It was my FAVOURITE .

Get this series you won' be sorry.

Many things: The narration was awesome, the story was engaging and exciting. I don't believe there is a woman that would not want to be loved the way Mac loved Isabella, and I am sure most men wish they had it going on like Mac. He is magnificent (after he got over his traumatic childhood issues).

The Love story. The strength that Isabella exhibited is the kind of strength women claim to have, but very few actually do.

She has the voices down extremely well. The sexy scottish accent, the British accent, the confident/sexy tone she gives Isabella and the no nonsense masculine twist of all the males, gave me goose bumps.

No. I wanted it to go on... So I tried but failed to strech it out.

The love scenes were HOT HOT HOT.

I thought I had over indulged in Regency/Victorian romances to the point that I just could not swallow one more. Too much sugar is bad for you. But then I read a review of The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie that totally captured my attention. I learned it was coming out in audiobook and bought it the day is showed up on Audible. And it did not disappoint. The book was not defined by a time period. It had a fascinatingly weird hero and an equally fascinatingly eccentric heroine. They could have been dropped into Rome in 200 AD or Australia in 2010 and it would not have mattered. They would still have been unique. And thoroughly enjoyable.

So I had high hopes for the next in the series - Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage. Hopes that were ultimately dashed. There was a spark of the eccentric in both of the main characters but that spark was totally undeveloped. Instead he just seemed cruel and self-destructive and she was vapid. Their background was not developed, the explanation of why he treated her so cruelly was weak and just made him more unlikeable. And the fact that she put up with it just made her unsympathetic.

The villain was also only marginally developed and caused very little conflict. The villain, his daughter and his dying ex-lover are totally superfluous. They are introduced, then basically forgot,

The only thing that saved the book were the brief moments when Ian showed up. The author and the narrator understand this character and the way his disability is used to point out the weaknesses of others and flaws in their logic is inventive. Too bad she made Ian's wife, as fascinating as Ian in the first book, such a nonentity in this one. If you blinked you missed her. And you definitely missed her wit.

To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. If it had not been for the brief glimpses of Ian, I probably would not have finished the book.

When Isabella and Mac were introduced in The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, I was dying to read their story, but it didn't turn out to be as great as I was expecting. It just didn't have that heart melting romance nor sizzling love scenes like the first book.

This is a story about forgiveness, about fighting for a marriage that was once great but got lost on the way. I found this book to be predictable with no significant character development. All the characters seemed the same on the first page as they were on the last, except with fewer misunderstandings between them.

I felt this story was long. I didn't understand the drama and hesitation from Isabella. She loved her husband and he clearly showed her pretty quickly that he had changed but yet she kept going hot and cold. And the whole imposter thing was strange and unclear.

This is a good story and the last chapter and the epilogue were amazing! I guess that the first book was so incredibly good that my expectations were too high. I'm looking forward to listening to book three though.

Narration: Good narration by Angela Dawe but she still cannot do any accent other that American. Her British accent is bad and her Scottish accent is worse. Other than that she does great male voices and adds passion and feelings to each character.

I found the first book in this series very clever, with good love scenes and interesting story, but sadly the second book was tedious and I couldn't wait for it to end.
The reader got by in the first book because her robotic style of reading fit with an autistic style of speech, but sadly not in the second. I don't think I will continue with the series.

After reading the first book in this series I was eager to hear the next book and it didn't disappoint. Lady Isabella married Mac MacKenzie after knowing him one night. She was young and he was impetuous but now she is older and wiser and knows exactly what she wants and won't settle for less. Mac must go through a journey of discovering who he is and how to win his wife's affections back. This story is touching and human. It shows the flaws we all have deep within us. I love lady Isabella's tough but loving character, she holds her ground and demands that Mac realize how selfish he has been. Ashley's ability to flesh out these two characters and make them interesting is spot on. From beginning to end the listener is drawn in to this story. The complex characters and their relationship to each other and the storyline are enjoyable and I couldn't stop listening. The narrator is good but I wish she could read with more emotion, sometimes she comes off flat and cold. Other than that this is a great listen.

It's not a bad audiobook. Ashley just came up short, because the first book was so outstanding. This is a pretty cookie-cutter historical romance that becomes interesting about the time Ian and Beth show up. And it's interesting because of the characters, not the story. On their own, Mac and Isabella are wonderful secondary characters. Their book just doesn't make the same impact as others in this series. I think you could actually skip this book if you wanted to. Do not skip Cameron's book. We see the whole family, but the story stands on its own and Cam and Ainsley are a strong couple.

The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie: Highland Pleasures Book 1, by Jennifer Ashley and Narrated by Angela Dawe will leave you breathlessly wanting…

This book by Jennifer Ashley, was my first exposure to the author. I enthusiastically must say that before I finished book 1, I had already purchased the entire series, anxiously reading/listening to Angela Dawe’s masterful performance! I am currently in the second half of book 3, and loving it!

Jennifer Ashley has a wonderfully vivid imagination as is reflected throughout the Mackenzie Brother’s series. She artfully illustrates her characters and their environments so that the reader is magically transported into the book to observe each, as their stories unfold.

Each wild and somewhat mad Mackenzie brother is absolutely, and unconditionally devoted to his family, despite growing up with an abusive father. They are all large, and powerful of stature; each one uniquely gifted. They are proud Scotsmen, who live life with a hearty fervor. They are faithful, caring, attentive, and fiercely protective. While they share these traits, as the glue that binds them; they are vastly different in temperament and personality.
The women in their lives are strong, intelligent, and accomplished, making the journey delicious.

A must read for those who enjoy Historical Romance Novels.

I think the MacKenzie series is one of the very best! You are with them each step of the story - amazing!

The other 3 MacKenzie Books - the Madness of Ian MacKenzie is the best of all!

Ian MacKenzie

The book is so moving and so well read! Angela Dawe is awesome!

Read them - The best Keeper to come along in a long time - what a fab discovery!