Monday’s Trivia Question: What was the name of Queen Victoria’s Scottish Estate?
Answer: Balmoral Castle
Fun Fact: In The Bridegroom Wore Plaid, The MacGregor’s estate neighbors Balmoral
THIS SCOTTISH EARL’S ESTATE IS IN PERIL…
Ian MacGregor, the new and reluctant Earl of Balfour, has grudgingly accepted that he must wed and English heiress to repair the family fortunes. He’s even picked out a likely candidate to woo.
BUT SO IS HIS HEART…
When Ian befriends penniless spinster Augusta Merrick, they both know it’s only a means to get to the wealthy girl she’s chaperoning on a tour of the Highlands. But their attraction grows despite their better judgment, and it becomes increasingly impossible to see how Ian can betray either his family—or his own heart. (from the back of the arc)
Book Details:Title: The Bridegroom Wore Plaid, Author: Grace Burrowes, ISBN: 978-1-4022-6866-3, Release Date: December 2012, Format: Mass-Market Paperback, $7.99/£5.99, How I Read It: Mass-Market Arc from publisher, Rating: 4 Crowns
My Thoughts:
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single, reasonably good-looking earl not in possession of a fortune must be in want of a wealthy wife.”
The opening of the book pretty much sums up Ian MacGregor’s plight. With the eldest MacGregor brother having left for Canada years before and now believed to be dead Ian, reluctantly, steps into the role of Earl of Balfour. Now the only thing left to do is secure a fortune for his Clan by marring an English heiress.
Wooing Eugenia Daniels was supposed to easy although he never counted on his feelings for Augusta Merrick, the poor relation she brought as her chaperone and Eugenia’s unwillingness to be wooed.
Ian was a likeable character yet I still found, on occasion, that I wanted to shake him and yell, ‘chuck the heiress and focus on Augusta”. You could truly feel his struggles throughout the novel.
Augusta Merrick was spunky—I am so glad that she was not one of those whiny characters. She saw what she wanted tried her hardest to get it.
The rest of the Daniels family and MacGregor clan truly made this book come to life and Fiona, the youngest member of Clan MacGregor, made the book shine.
Things that I enjoyed:
I loved that Grace Burrowes pulled the emotions and hardships of Clan MacGregor’s sufferings and the harsh reality of the aftermath of the Highland Clearances and wove them into the character of Ian. He truly had the character of a Highlander in the Victorian era, which made this book a brilliant read.
The family saga aspect of the book—while the novel focused on Ian and Augusta, Grace Burrowes made sure that the secondary characters shared their stories as well.
Things that I did not enjoy:
With the book being set in Aberdeenshire, and filled with Highlanders, I was expecting to see some Gaelic phrases—not the ‘and she uttered this Gaelic’ that was found throughout the book.
I was also expecting to see Doric phrases not the Lowland Scots that appeared in the book. Although overall, it was nothing to fash yourself about.
Overall:
Grace Burrowes takes a tale of romance and turns it into a novel about family dedication. Each time I open one of her novels, I know that I am going become acquainted with a family rather than just the hero and heroine and The Bridegroom Wore Plaid was just that.
Not only does it follow Ian MacGregor’s struggles, it follows the struggles of the Ian’s family giving the book the feel of an intricately woven tapestry rather than just a portrait of the hero and heroine.
Filled with struggles, Scottish sentiment, family dedication, and the requisite villain (which I figured out from the get-go) The Bridegroom Wore Plaid was the perfect introduction to a new series, which I am eagerly awaiting to devour.
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