Review: Beware a Scot’s Revenge
12th Sep 2008
This time, we’re reviewing Beware a Scot’s Revenge, by Sabrina Jeffries.
“Someone’s going to call your bluff someday, Venetia – you’d better hope it’s not a handsome man.” – Mrs. Charlotte Harris, headmistress.
Lady Venetia Campbell’s visit to her childhood home in Scotland takes a dramatic turn when she’s kidnapped at pistol point by her father’s sworn enemy. Sir Lachlan Ross is widely feared in his guise as The Scottish Scourge, but Venetia remembers her former neighbor as a handsome youth whose attentions she craved. Now a wickedly sexy man, Lachlan’s appeal is even more intoxicating…and much more dangerous. Though Lachlan tries to treat her as his foe, his scorching kisses tell another story. And despite his plan to use her as a weapon against her father, Venetia is determined that Lachlan’s lust for revenge will be trumped by an even more powerful desire…
Webmistress Niki: I chose this book because I enjoyed the first Sabrina Jeffries novel we read so much, and wanted to read more in the series.
Belle: Why are we letting the Webmistress choose our reading material, again?
Claire: Didn’t you like it, Belle? Kidnapping!
Belle: Well, kidnapping, yes. And a near beating to death. And the wildcat. But once again, Sabrina Jeffries has ruined a perfectly acceptable tale of a kidnapped heiress by the son of a wronged man (or is he?) and their eventual marriage with her Pretentious insistence on demonstrating just how much she has researched every tiny detail of this period.
Webmistress Niki: Yes, speaking of the research, I want to talk about the cover.
Claire: Oh, I like the cover! I love the ones where the front cover is all pretty and demure, but on the inside there’s a shirtless man!
Webmistress Niki: Right, but did you notice that in the illustration (which shows a particular scene from the novel), Lachlan’s towel is tartan for some reason?
Belle: Well, it is set in Scotland, Niki.
Webmistress Niki: Exactly! Don’t you see the irony here, in light of Jeffries’s discussion of the way Sir Walter Scott’s pageantry romanticized Scottish culture and made the kilt the universal symbol of Scottish attire?
Claire: Scottish culture is romantic, though, Niki. They have such nice accents!
Belle: And I think kilts are very masculine. Claire, note that for our next novel.
Claire: And kidnapping!
Belle: We’ve done kidnapping, Claire. Remember? Twice.
Claire: Oh, right. Well, it’s still very exciting.
Webmistress Niki: I think we should discuss the story.
Belle: Certainly, if you wish. What is there to discuss?
Webmistress Niki: It’s a pretty complex plot, Belle. And there’s enough sexy stuff to satisfy even you, I’d think.
Lachlan waited until he was sure that Jamie and the lass were well out of hearing, and unlikely to return and surprise him.
Then he unbuttoned his trousers and drawers. Seizing his rampant erection, he pumped it with frantic motions. Before he climbed into that torture chamber of a coach with her, he needed to ease the tension she’d roused. Otherwise he’d never be able to behave himself. He had at least another day of smelling her and hearing her sing and watching her twin beauties rise and fall with each of her breaths.
“Holy Christ!” he muttered as his cock spent itself into the bracken. Just thinking of her breasts made him come off. How the devil was he to last more days with her in a coach?
Belle: I do have to reluctantly applaud Ms. Jeffries for creating a hero so overcome with passion that he succumbs to his mighty urges in the full knowledge that there are protective mother wildcats in the vicinity.
Claire: You know, this is the second novel by Jeffries that we’ve read, and I noticed that there’s some discussion of masturbation in both of them. It’s a little unusual for this genre of romance, and I think it’s quite refreshing. I like the way she portrays a wide variety of healthy sexualities in normative ways.
Belle: …what?
Webmistress Niki: Anyway, I liked it a lot. Five stars!
Claire: I think I’ll name my new kitty after Venetia! Five Clars!
Belle: Two stars – one for the wildcat and one for the bondage.
Comments Off on Review: Beware a Scot’s Revenge