This was far fetched in parts and I feel like it could have been much better with a few things tweaked. Fine story though. ( )

... problem solved ... sort of!

A well to do Scottish family has a problem. Their ward has attracted the eye of their daughter's fiancé. Of course Maura Darby is to blame! Not! I fairly burned at the treatment this young woman had handed out to her by the Garbett family who was supposed to protect her. As for the weak willed groom who threw himself at Maura and was not man enough to own that it was he who made advances! Words fail me!
The family turns to Nichol Bain, a fixer of dilemmas the aristocracy finds themselves in.
His answer is very neat. He aims to kill two birds with one stone as it were by marrying Maura off to an older bachelor Nichol had been asked to find a wife for.
Only Nichol had not counted on Maura and her will!
I found this to be somewhat of a roller coaster read. I felt for Maura and her treatment by the family. I was appalled by their actions of taking her heirloom necklace, the only thing she had from her mother.
I enjoyed Nichol, but the chemistry between him and Maura was a non event for me.
There were however some intriguing and humorous moments despite my previous comment.

A NetGalley ARC ( )

I received an ARC of this book to read through NetGalley in exchange for a fair review. Seduced By A Scot is the sixth book in Julia London’s delightful Highland Grooms series. It can be read as a stand-alone but I do recommend reading all the books in the series as I enjoyed reading them. Maura Darby our intrepid heroine’s story is a bit of a twist on Cinderella and Julia pulls no punches in describing how bleak the situation could be for an orphaned young woman at the time. Nigel Bain the hero makes his living solving other peoples problems moving constantly from job to job perhaps in an attempt to escape his own demons. These two meet up when Nigel is charged with the task of solving the problem of Maura (sorry I can never resist a Sound of Music reference) His proposed solution of marrying her off to a Prince doesn’t work out so well when the Prince proves to be not so so charming. I loved how Maura even after years of abuse is strong and resilient and quite able to rescue Nigel when the tables turn.
Highly recommend. Medium steam. Publishing Date October 30, 2018. #NetGalley #SeducedByAScot #JuliaLondon #HQN ( )

3.5*/3.75*

I’ve received this eARC at no cost to the author.

Seduced by a Scot is the sixth book in the Highland Grooms series. After such a good fifth book, I thought it might be difficult to come back to that excellence. But Maura and Nichol came pretty close to it. Maybe because Maura (after leaving her house, of course) reminded me of Catriona? I don’t know. What I do know is that I really enjoyed this book.

Both Maura and Nichol have had a hard time in life and, in this book, both of them find themselves without a place to call home. Even if it might seem that the attraction isn’t immediate, we can feel the sparks growing.

We have a strong perspective of how women were seen in the past (I mean, some of us today are still experiencing this - sadly), and how most males thought it was always their fault that they caught someone’s eye. Because, of course, even if she pushes them aside, it’s still her fault because she’s pretty? Thankfully (and as expected), the hero treats her like a real person, even if he tries to lead her to a life she doesn’t want. He believes it’s the best for all involved, but when things between them start to change it’s hard for Maura to keep to the plan, and Nichol showed a huuuuge resolution almost to the end. Sometimes, his prerogative in forcing her to this “good life” that he envisioned for her as a bit too much. It felt like he was doing the same that had been done –no, forced on to her for her whole life. And didn’t really like that.

Also, for a very intelligent and resourceful man, Nichol wasn’t the brightest in the bunch when it came to understanding why the Baron MacBain acted the way he did. I knew right from the start, he literally tells him to his face. I can understand that a child might not put the pieces together, but adult Nichol (and Ivan – his brother - to be honest) should have known the truth a loooooong time ago. He even says so himself!

Anyway, those are the only reasons why this book has a lower review score than the previous one (which was 4.5*).

Maura was so determined and I’m pretty sure she would have made it on her own (which would have been interesting to see). The story contains a bit of a Cinderella and Rapunzel vibe to it, which some readers might appreciate.

In the end, it was a sexy book, with determined characters that overcame their struggles and past emotions, even if sometimes behaved unlike themselves. ( )