An English Bride in Scotland by Lynsay Sands
Warnings:
Verbal abuse
Mentions of physical abuse
Minor character death
Annabel's sister, Kate, was to wed Ross MacKay. But she ran off with the stable master's son so now Annabel has to do it. Annabel was sent off to live at an abbey when she was seven, by the way. She has been there for 14 years.
After their quick wedding, Annabel puts on a chemise carouse and Ross has the genius idea to get her drunk and seduce her out of it before bedding her. That plan backfires when she passes out. Which, good. No getting your new wife drunk to bed her, Ross. He does take the chemise carouse off her after she passed out and do a little creepy staring. But then he tucks her in and cuts himself to fabricate that they consummated the marriage. Which, ugh. That is all so 🙄🙄
Ross is an absolute horndog. He just really wants to have sex with his new wife. And he is thinking about it, in detail while they travel back to Scotland. And poor Annabel is full of beliefs that she learned from the abbey. So a lot of religious shit about sex is evil, women are evil, blah blah blah.
Ross super wants to bang his pretty wife. But she gets out of it by saying it’s Wednesday, cause apparently the church says no sex on Wednesdays. Huh. Anyway, Ross (with the help of his friends) comes up with a plan to take Annabel on a picnic and have sex with her. Cause, it doesn’t count as bedding if there is no bed. Part of me wants to roll my eyes but fuck it, their logic is funny as hell. And it is less annoying because Ross is less “wanna fuck my wife” and more “want to give my wife all sorts of pleasure, bet she is prettier when she is out of her mind with it.” Still a bit eye-rolling, but hey, it’s a historical romance.
While on their picnic, Annabel admits that she isn't the eldest daughter and Ross is all "I know" saying that he went ahead with the marriage because he wanted her.
They finally have sex and I am very disappointed in Ross. Mr. I-Want-to-Give-My-Wife pleasure got his wife off once with his fingers and then plowed into her without a care. More foreplay, sir. Prepare her to take you better. But alas, that didn't happen so poor Annabel was in pain. Basic sex shouldn't be painful.
Poor Annabel got stuck in her dress and then saw a man while she was stuck in her dress. And later Ross kindly reminded me that she also saw a man while they were camping on their travels back to MacKay. Forgot about that. Coincidence?! I think not!
Annabel mistakenly feeds Ross's father's dog cheese. Which results in doggy diarrhea. So she goes off to pick some flowers to mask the smell. And she comes across the man she saw on their way from England to Scotland! She stabs him and he runs off. The stabbing was an accident.
Annabel tells Giorsal (Ross's sister) and Seonag (a servant) the entire truth and they declare they will help her fully adjust.
- more backstory is revealed - Ross and Giorsal's cousin Derek felt he should have been made clan chief. He ambushed Ross and Ross killed him. Derek's mother and sisters worked in the castle, but left in a huff after Derek was killed. Which, fair but dude brought it onto himself. So. Now we have a suspect on who sent the fella following Annabel.
To protect her, Ross declares that Annabel can't leave the castle. Well, this should end well…
Annabel sort of sneaks off to go to the village. Which, I understand her frustration and need to go to the village but still. Anyways, she accomplishes her goal and then Ross finds her. And... There is a bit here where Annabel decides she is going to distract Ross from being angry at her by having sex with him. She admits this to him and he is like "I'm not going to beat you" and then they do it in a barn. Then they fall asleep. While asleep the dude that has been following them knocks Ross out but Annabel wakes up. She swipes him with Ross's sword. Then attacks him with a board. All while naked. After their attacker runs off, Annabel (unable to wake Ross) makes a pallet out of random things in the barn and pulls Ross on it. This wee little lass is badass.
While Ross is still knocked out, Annabel's sister shows up. You know, the sister that was supposed to marry Ross but ran off with a… the… *looks at notes* the stable master's son.
Annabel let's it slip to Ross's men (Gilly and… Marach?) And his uncles that she was raised in an Abby.
Ross finally wakes up (dude missed soooo much). Annabel comes clean about being raised in an abbey which he's like "eh, okay, explains some things. And you're smart and figure out how to do things you need to know." And, Annabel's sister… Well, she gets all handsy with him and manipulative with Annabel… Ross is not happy with that. He is happy with his pretty wife though.
Annabel's sister (I know her name, I just refuse to use it) destroys all of Annabel's dresses. Annabel yells at her. Then Annabel has to figure out how to get to the village and bribe a merchant (the one that was injured way back and we all forgot about) because he was pissy about being injured and is gonna tell other merchants not to sell to them. The sister comes up with a plan to put Annabel in a chest and send it to the seamstress in the village… which… seems suspect. And yep. That was a bad idea. And the man who has been attacking Annabel this whole book is revealed. It is apparently the stable master's son that Annabel's sister ran off with.
So, it ends up Annabel's sister was the cause of, like, all the problems, but if it wasn't for her Annabel and Ross wouldn't have been married. And they're in love. And the sister is being sent to the abbey. Which she will hate. Love that for her.
I wasn't sure where to fit the notes I made about Annabel's family into this. So, here they are.
-the mother is just ew. Do not like.
- fuck Annabel's mother. Seriously. Fuck. Her.
- fuck her father as well.
- well, Annabel's sister is a twat.
- Annabel's sister is the worst. Just the absolute worst. Horrid little thing. Send her away, Annabel.
- Annabel refers to herself as "overlarge" a bit. Probably because her mother was horrid and insulted the girl for having big boobs. Such a horror.
My only criticism really is that the writer does use accented dialogue which when overdone annoys the hell out of me. But this one wasn't overdone thank the gods. Because I love Lynsay Sands too much to be annoyed with her.
Some moments were eye-roll-inducing, but again, historical romance. The past was the worst.
I love Lynsay Sands' work. I prefer her paranormal romance books but her historical romances are still fun reads.
That's all for this week. Go follow me on Tumblr for daily updates.
“Life is too short to read books that I'm not enjoying.”
-Melissa Marr
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