The Lady and the Laird

Scottish Brides, Book 1

By: Nicola Cornick

Narrated by: Alison Larkin

Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's Summary

An Indecent Proposal

Lady Lucy MacMorlan may have forsworn men and marriage, but that doesn't mean she won't agree to profit from writing love letters for her brother's friends - letters that become increasingly racy as her fame grows. That is, until she inadvertently ruins the betrothal of a notorious laird....

Robert, the dashing Marquis of Methven, is onto Lucy's secret. And he certainly doesn't intend to let the lovely Lady Lucy have the last word, especially when her letters suggest she is considerably more experienced than he realized.

But Lucy's knowledge is not based on past seductions. If she continues to write letters, she'll need to conduct some firsthand research. Robert has secrets of his own, but he is all too willing to aid a lady in need, especially when he desperately needs a bride....

©2013 Nicola Cornick (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Regency Lovers Will Enjoy

This first novel in the series is a well paced story that is not an intellectual romance but a light-hearted, cute and entertaining book. It’s a feel good Harlequin romance with a spunky heroine and strong hero.

This is the love story of Lucy and Robert. The first part of the book is focused primarially on their backgrounds: before they met and how they met. The second half shows their lives as a couple.

Anyone who enjoys regency novels will like this one. It’s very sweet

{Note: I finished this book before reviewing it. The author’s writing is somewhat vague in areas of less importance and more detailed in the areas of value. This lets us focus on the major points and skim the minor areas. Very cleaver use of words and time.}

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Disjointed!

I really did want to enjoy this book, but it was poorly written, in my opinion. It was disjointed. Nicola Cornick lays no foundation for many scenes--some explained how and why later, some not. One example: the heroine, Lucy, was kidnapped at her uncles request, she was knocked out and awakened to the hero administering to her, with no indication how he got there, how he found out she'd been taken, and how he'd rescued her from the kidnappers. Later, he told her he had run the kidnappers off....and still later, in his thoughts, he mentioned Lucy's sister told him she'd been carried off--but it does not say how she knew.

I'm on the second half of the book now, but don't know if I can sit through another 4 hours. When I was a teenager we called nonsensical things 'corny'...I think 'corny' is a fit description of "The lady and the Laird".

Alison Larkin has a nice voice, but she certainly can't do male voices--some of her voice inflections make me smile, although not meant to be humorous.

Nice Adventure, Characters, but missing something

I love me a good Highlander romance, and even though this one started out great, it lacked something....

THINGS I LIKED ABOUT THIS BOOK:
1) I really liked the author's writing style. Nicola Cornick is good at laying out beautiful settings that ranges from house parties, society gatherings in castles, a Scottish island, and forest terrain, alike. I felt like the story was constantly flowing from setting to setting, and it was quite enjoyable.

2) The characters were interesting and adventurous. This may be civilized 19th century Scotland, but all of the characters still oozed some of the fervor of their medieval predecessors...you know...the warrior-spirit is present in all of them to some extent.

The clan families of Lady Lucy MacMorlan and Laird, Robert, Marquis of Methven are explored and presented with diversity. Robert's cousins and friends are fun and yet become serious when engaged in battle defending their lands against their enemy's clan (Laird Wildred). But, it's not all about battle, they also fight in the court system for lands as well. (The villain was devious and evil and I liked how both Robert and Lucy, alike, defeated him.)

Then, You have Lucy's stodgy, somewhat underachieving brothers coupled with herself and her very intellectual, vivacious sisters that make the family moments super funny & riveting.

Also, I LOVED the Highland Ladies Blue Stocking Society that Lucy belonged to--What an adorable group of ladies!

3) The storyline and plot were constantly moving and fun. The banter and flirtatious interaction between leads and other couples in the story really provided some of those LOL moments and created some really nice sexual tension. I like the part of the sensuous letters Lucy wrote for her brother's friends that caused havoc in decent society. I love how Robert pursues Lucy without end after he finds that she is the author of one of the letters to his fiancé who ended up leaving him at the altar. Robert pursues Lucy for two reasons, First, she is really the only eligible lady left from the clan that he is allowed to marry in order to keep his lands, according to stipulations of some 15th century agreement or law. Second, he adores her....I mean adores her and wants her. Lucy is definitely Robert's soulmate.

4) The leads: Both Laird Robert and Lady Lucy are very likable characters. They had initially met each other, quite by accident, at Lucy's father's house party. As teenagers, they shared embraces and kisses, that neither of them forgot. Unfortunately, both leads lose a sibling and this loss grieves them to the point that neither have healed from the losses.

THINGS THAT ANNOYED ME ABOUT THIS BOOK:
1) Ok, Robert's chase of Lucy and their chemistry was great. Believe me, Lucy wants Robert, the problem is that she fans the flames of her fear SOOOO MUCH that it paralyzes her ability to trust Robert. So that means, that she makes these stupid decisions where she hides things from him that makes this part of the storyline SOOO FREAKEN PREDICTABLE TO THE READER. I mean, it's evident that her deception is going to pop up at the wrong time only to damage the growth she had made with Robert.

2) Both Robert and Lucy REALLY NEEDED SOME TYPE OF GRIEF COUNSELING, but let me say, Lucy was way worse. She allowed fear to set in so much that it made her come across as a mental case during her moments of intimacy with Robert. And, I think I could have bought it, but it was just not consistent with her character. In that, Lucy is this intelligent, well-read lady whose reading includes Italian and French pornography. And, this gal writes erotic letters for goodness sake!!!

So, why did she carry so much fear about consummating her marriage? Even though her fear is explained, I don't feel that it's good enough of an explanation. I felt like Lucy's character was stronger and that it shouldn't have been so personally destructive to her. So, where Lucy withdraws physically, Robert withdraws emotionally and that just got on my nerves. I'm like, "Come on! Work it out people!!! Talk to each other....you've come so far! Stop acting like idiots."

NARRATOR: I'm quite addicted to audiobooks and I really liked Alison Larkin, the narrator. I thought she did a good job creating both male and females voices. Her pace, and cadence throughout the book was also very good. She helped make the listening experience enjoyable.

In conclusion, I will read another book by this author even though I was annoyed by some of the character traits of the leads in this book. I prefer leads who are decisive and not deceptive. But, seeing that it was only in one area that the leads displayed weaknesses, I can overlook that and start reading the next book, at some point.

Good not riveting

The narrator was OK but o think she made the story less interesting and less compelling. It was hard for me to feel the spirit of the characters. Also, the scene transitions seemed abrupt at times and I couldn't remember how a character got from one place to another.

Outstanding storyline!

Wonderful writing and engaging story; HOWEVER, the narrator could have been better. (Second book has a different, more energetic narrator!)

It was okay...

This is pretty much your typical bodice ripper, which was disappointing to me since I thought the story line had promise. There was nothing particularly moving, funny or anything more than average in it. The narrator was pretty hokey too and overdid it in parts. The audio quality was a bit off - the cuts were obviously edited together in parts so it sounded a bit off. I don't really recommend it.

I've read worse

the narrator wasn't very good. the story was ok. there should have been an epilogue.