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25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
With her improper English takes on men in skirts!!, October 7, 2003
Katie Macalister with her Noble Intentions gave us delights and out-right howls as she blithely waltzed her way through Regency England. In her second book, she taught us romance with Improper English, a brilliantly witty book with characters to live long in the imagination and heart. Her third book found her once again in Regency era, and she proved yet another time she has a way with the clumsy heroine. Her fourth full book finds Katie back in contemporaries, this time doing to the Scots what she did to the Brits in Improper English. Another of her `first person' adventures that will have you laughing till your sides are sore. Personally, I find writing in 1st person a pain, and I usually have a problem reading them. It makes me feel like I am crawling around inside someone's head. However, Katie Macalister is at home in first person, a master at it, so she soon makes one forget this `immediate' narrative is not how everyone should do it. Katie avoids all the 1st person pitfalls that make the structure slightly claustrophobic with all the I, me and my...she sparkles, intrigues and is just one of the freshest voices to hit romance (and young adult, too, as Katie Maxwell for Dorchester's Smooch Line).So buckle up, for Katie gives you romance, love and the whole damn thing - sheep included. She blows the lid of the time honoured secret of what DOES a Scotsman wear under the kilt? It is wildly comical, and fast becoming Katie's trademark - she gives you the less than perfect heroine. I find it so comfy her females are so very human. Kathie Williams is a mystery writer in England for a writers' conference. She is a bit overwhelmed by jet lag and ends up sleeping through a big part of the first day - unfortunately it is in the hotel lobby! Not bad enough she naps in public, she drools on her new silk blouse! Embarrassed, Kathie is ready to crawl under the table and hide ...but for one thing: Iain MacLaren. The handsome Scotsman is also attending the mystery writers conference. Sparks fly between the two and suddenly, she believes in love at first sight. Kathie falls desperately for the Alpha Scot, so she is delighted when Iain insists she come visit him in Scotland after the conference ends. Wow what a storybook romance, right? You meet the man of your dreams, he is to-die-for sexy, has a kilt and does not mind you drooled on yourself in public! Wrong, as Kathie soon finds out. Iain is divorced with two grown sons. The first one hates her on site and thinks she is a floozy. Luckily, the second one is more welcoming. But then, waiting for them is Iain's neighbor, once upon a time lover, and she is determined to break up the romance in quick order. Despite a man less than forth coming about his true feelings, a neighbor who wants to bury the hatchet - in Kathie's head, a son-in-law to be from hell, and flocks of smelly sheep, love finds a way. Then Kathie has to face a Scottish wedding from Hell, with her domineering mother and Iain's first wife making it the wedding event of the year. Katie writes about Scotland with a true voice. Being a Scot, I often have the cringe at some of the mistakes of Yank writers when they use Scotland as a setting. She keeps it true, right down to the sheep and the realities of business side of it. I laughed, I cried. Don't think it gets any better! Keep them coming, Katie! They are a sparkling delight!
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