Looking to avoid the social pressures of entering society, British heiress Madeline Gracechurch starts a correspondence with a fictional fiance, a highland captain named Logan Mackenzie who is ” off fighting in the Napeloenic Wars”. After a few years, when her lie starts weighing on her, she decides to kill him off and be done with it.
With everyone thinking she is heartbroken, her family sends her off to their Scottish castle to mourn and live in peace–which is perfect for the extremely introvered Madeline
That is until a real Logan MacKenzie shows up at her door.
The real Captain Logan MacKenzie has been getting her fake letters for years. With the war over he needs land for his men who have lost everything and Maddie presents the perfect opportunity. He threatens to reveal Maddie’s lies unless she marries him so he can have proper rights to the land. That’s right, blackmail. Which means….it’s Marriage of Convenience Time !
I heard a lot about this book from bloggers and I see why—our heroine Maddie is basically your typical nerd. She’s bookish, introverted, socially anxious and loves science.
My favorite thing about this book is how Maddie thinks Logan is pretty attractive but it’s not until she sees him wearing his spectacles and reading a thick book in bed that she’s all like:
Now, the plot description makes it seem like Logan would be kind of a jerkass, but he is actually the biggest woobie I have read in anything ever. Seriously. In fact his entire band of men are sob story after sob story–don’t even get me started on the guy with the brain injury who has a dead family but keeps forgetting about them because he can’t retain long term memories.
I listened to this on audio and the narrator, Carmen Rose did a great job. Jess mentioned to me that books with Scottish characters are often written in dialect so I’m glad I did this on audio and I wasn’t reading the accent. Also, I’m sure I’d trip over some of the Scottish pronunciation.
I see why Tessa Dare is so popular. Her books are historical but clearly have a modern and very feminist bent. I didn’t think I’d be into the marriage of convenience plots, but she made me enjoy it. Also can I just say from Say Yes to the Marquess to Romancing the Duke this series has the best names.
