Wild and Wicked in Scotland by Melody Thomas
Ah, the age old story. An arranged marriage, a bride who wants to experience life and a groom who is a spy running for his life so he can implicate a Russian crime consortium. Oh wait. . .
Adelaide Mary Cassandra Sheridan, Cassie to her friends, has run off to Scotland to be with her friend after she is deserted by her bethrothed at their betrothal ball. She just wants to see the world and experience some life before she’s married to a man she’s never met and doesn’t know. So she runs away from her parents to Scotland to see her dearest (and really only) friend and have a little adventure before her wedding.
Devlyn St. Clair, the Earl of Hampstead, is a man a personal mission. He’s just killed the son of a Russian diplomat and he’s heading to Scotland to meet with his superior to turn over the evidence that he believes is the final nail in the coffin of the Russian dipolmat, since the diplomat is actually the mastermind behind the spread of Russian crime consortium into Britain and America.
That’s alot to deal with. Plus theres a dead twin brother, massive amounts of deception and lies, and a Russian widow at the center of it all. On a historical side note: were there Russian crime consortiums led by shifty Russian diplomats in Victorian England? Not sure, that part was a bit hard to swallow.
There’s just so much happening in the plot, it gets a bit distracting. Sure, Cassie and Devlyn fall in love, but they have to overcome so much. His lies, her lies, their parents lies, the government’s lies. . . I did feel compassion for the characters, but geez, how many plot twists are going to be in the story? It’s alot to ask two characters to completely ignore their pasts (especially a spy) with so much going on with secondary characters and plotlines.
Plus Cassie is nineteen. Not that I admit I’m much older or wiser than she is, but she’s nineteen. She makes emotional mistakes and puts her pride first sometimes when she shouldn’t. And Devlyn is just an arrogant man and always puts his pride first. However, they both admit that life without the other is bleak and not worth it in the end, so it kinda makes up for it.
The one thing that stuck out the most that bothered me was how much Devlyn put himself down. With the honor, loyalty and skills this guy has he shouldn’t do that. And he thinks that Cassie is the pure, innocent thing there to save his soul. Little cliched maybe?
It just is a bit fast paced and there are so many things thrown at the characters that it’s the sheer talent of Thomas that the reader can get to know the characters enough in between the action to care about them and be happy with the HEA.
Grade: C+
