Monday, September 30, 2013

The Untamed Mackenzie (Highland Pleasures #5.5) by Jennifer Ashley

A Woman of Breeding Meets a Man of No Standing...

In The Untamed Mackenzie, Jennifer Ashley finally lets us in on the mystery that is Detective Inspector Lloyd Fellows, the Mackenzie bastard brother whose first introduction to readers in the guise of a quisi-villain. Happily, Lloyd is believably portrayed in this novella as a Mackenzie worthy of his name.

Ashley portrays Lloyd as a man on fire. A man in the throes of a passion that leads him to place in jeopardy everything he holds dear for Lady Louisa Scranton, the woman he has secretly loved from a distance without hope of a real future. The magnetic pull Louisa feels when she is anywhere near Lloyd is felt throughout, as Ashley uses more sexual tension and sensuality than graphic sexual scenes to build on the romance. The passion is reciprocated, but is the love? And even if it is, how can they have a future when she's a Lady and he's nothing but a well-respected policeman?

There is a crime, of course, with Louisa as the main suspect and Fellows as the investigator. Lloyd pulls all the stops to save his love with help from the Mackenzie clan and Scotland Yard detective Pierce. This side of the story was satisfying to me. I was somewhat disappointed, however, by the length of this piece.

It's interesting that I abhorred Lloyd Fellows in the first book of this series and at the time thought his was a superfluous character -- I remember just wanting to enjoy the romance between Ian and Beth. Yet, while reading this novella I found myself thinking that Ashley created Lloyd as such a conflicted character that a more in-depth exploration of those conflicts (both past and present) would have been welcomed. However, although I would have loved a longer book with more page time to also develop Louisa's side of the romance, as a novella filled with impulsive, passionate thoughts and actions, The Untamed Mackenzie worked for me. Grade: B

6 comments:

  1. Hello Hilcia!
    Humm...but this ends up with a wonderful HEA, right?
    They seemed a good match...
    ****

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  2. Hey Sonia!

    Of course! This has a wonderful HEA! Mackenzie style. *g*

    And yes, they are a good match. If the story had been a bit longer, my grade would have been higher. I think it needed a bit more from Louisa. But overall, I enjoyed it a lot. Now, I can't wait for Daniel's romance to come along. :)

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  3. Good! Next time I'm buying ebooks, I'll get this one too. :)

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    1. Sonia, you should definitely get it. This novella is definitely part of the series. I'm reading The Wicked Deeds of Daniel Mackenzie right now. Good so far, but then I love Daniel. ;P

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  4. I'm glad it turned out to be good! I don't really read this series though, :( never got around the first book

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    1. Alex, I enjoyed this novella. This is a pretty solid historical romance series, and only 6 books long (so far *g*). I like the development of the Fellows character throughout the series. It's not easy taking a villainous type character most readers abhorred to one who definitely deserved his own HEA. Nicely done. :)

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