Gruff, sexually confident, secretly a smooshable teddy bear, reads in bed wearing “sexy” spectacles, etc. As a protagonist and a love interest, Logan is perfectly nice. ALL ABOUT THAT PLAID?Īnother thing I just don’t understand is the appeal behind a kilted Scottish man with an accent. With all the books on the market about wallflowers and tomboys who are so “unconventional”, I’m left to wonder where all the books about the “conventional” Regency ladies are. Bot that Maddie’s character was poorly drawn or that smart women don’t deserve representation, but…I’m tired of shy protagonists. Perhaps it’s just the authors I’m reading, but I honestly feel like the “quiet and brainy” heroine is a bit overdone.

This plan, of course, backfires spectacularly. Rather than brave crowded drawing rooms, she decides to invent a fiancé, a conveniently absent Scottish captain fighting in France. In When a Scot Ties the Knot, heroine Maddie has severe social anxiety. This whole book is just made of squishable perfection, revolving around just one question: what happens when your imaginary fiancé comes to call and brings devious plans of matrimony with him? AN “UNCONVENTIONAL” HEROINEĭare’s trademark (aside from her always excellent sense of humor) is her heroines-women who in some way don’t fit society’s ideal. When a Scot Ties the Knot is extremely cute, and it has a lot of what protagonist Maddie would call “squish” on the insides. Tessa Dare is always an author I can count on for the sweet and charming side of the romance genre. He’s wounded, jaded, in possession of her letters… and ready to make good on every promise Maddie never expected to keep. The real Captain Logan MacKenzie arrives on her doorstep-handsome as anything, but not entirely honorable. Until years later, when this kilted Highland lover of her imaginings shows up in the flesh. Maddie poured her heart into writing the imaginary Captain MacKenzie letter after letter … and by pretending to be devastated when he was (not really) killed in battle, she managed to avoid the pressures of London society entirely. One who was handsome and honorable and devoted to her, but conveniently never around.

So Maddie did what generations of shy, awkward young ladies have done: she invented a sweetheart.Ī Scottish sweetheart.

She was certain to be a dismal failure on the London marriage mart. On the cusp of her first London season, Miss Madeline Gracechurch was shyly pretty and talented with a drawing pencil, but hopelessly awkward with gentlemen.

When another scot ties the knot