Frontier troubles

The Scotsman Who Saved Me (Seven Brides for Seven Scotsmen #1)   by Hannah Howell.  

The story begins in the Arkansas Ozarks in 1860. The MacEnroy brothers come across a burnt cabin, dead bodies and two survivors Lady Emily Stanton and her nephew Ned, hidden in a tunnel in the root cellar. The events go on from here.

There were some amusing parts. Iain's wooing attempts of Emily for one. The 'shagging' discussion was particularly noteable. (I did investigate to see if that word was in use in these times and apparently it was. Check the Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

I liked Iain MacEnroy, I Emily Stanton. There's a batch of interesting secondary characters in this story who stand out. I really liked Mrs. O’Neal and Mabel who was happy to shoot a nasty character if Emily wanted her too.

There's a dastardly cousin Albert hunting down Emily and her nephew Ned. There's a nefarious Bank Manager trying to take the MacEnroy's down, and then the canny lawyer who assists Iain.

The playfulness of the series title referencing Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was truly clever.

I am a huge fan of Hannah Howell's. I adore her Wherlocke and The Murray's series and have read them all.

By comparison, The Scotsman Who Saved Me just doesn't have the same intrigue, suspense and wonderful characters that I expected. Which is sad because I so-o was looking forward to reading this new Howell offering. It could be that I just don't really enjoy historical westerns, even when handsome Scots are part of the scene. This is not my preferred historical genre. Obviously others really enjoyed this novel. So I think I have to put my response down to personal preference. 

All in all though, an easy and enjoyable read after my head got around the brogue usage.

A NetGalley ARC

***