Title: The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (Highland Pleasures #1)Author: Jennifer Ashely
Genre: Historical Romance
Heat Index: 4 out of 5
Release Date: April 28th, 2009
Word/Page Count: 320 pages
Format: Purchased
The year is 1881. Meet the Mackenzie family--rich, powerful, dangerous, eccentric. A lady couldn't be seen with them without ruin. Rumors surround them--of tragic violence, of their mistresses, of their dark appetites, of scandals that set England and Scotland abuzz.
The youngest brother, Ian, known as the Mad Mackenzie, spent most of his young life in an asylum, and everyone agrees he is decidedly odd. He's also hard and handsome and has a penchant for Ming pottery and beautiful women.
Beth Ackerley, widow, has recently come into a fortune. She has decided that she wants no more drama in her life. She was raised in drama--an alcoholic father who drove them into the workhouse, a frail mother she had to nurse until her death, a fussy old lady she became constant companion to. No, she wants to take her money and find peace, to travel, to learn art, to sit back and fondly remember her brief but happy marriage to her late husband.
And then Ian Mackenzie decides he wants her.
The first of a new historical series.
Maniai's Review:
What a creative story! Not without flaws, granted, and I'd honestly give it more of a B than a solid B+, but it left me in a good mood, hence the charitable rating.
I'll leave the summaries to the other reviews here (I suck at summaries, and really, you can read the blurb and get a better idea than I can give you.). But in short, this book is all about Lord Ian Mackenzie, whose 'madness' is evidently Aspergers. I'm still not sure what my opinion is on that; if it should be celebrated that Ms. Ashley utilizes it as an appealing quality of a romance hero, or if I should frown because it's kind of like cashing in on it, romanticizing it, etc. So I'll leave that to the Internet Social Justice League instead. I personally thought Ian was delicious, and Beth was basically a prop to highlight how yummy Ian was. And yet, Beth's borderline mary-sue qualities didn't grate. I liked her. I think a heroine with stronger or more distinctive qualities would have muddled up the chemistry. She worked, and Beth and Ian worked well together.
I also really liked the fact that the mystery part of this story actually eluded me. So many times in romances, the mystery is secondary and obvious. I was glad to see that I had it wrong, right up to the reveal.
The writing in this was decent. My only criticism was the overuse of people's names when "he" or "she" would have been sufficient.
I look forward to reading the next book in the series, about Isabelle and Mac, and can't wait for the stories about the other brothers.
Poena's Review:
It's all about the hero in this story. Either you will love him to bits and love the story or you'll be scratching your head wondering what the fuss is all about. I think the love comes from the fact that he's not your typical romance-alpha. My heart went went out to him because this was a time when just about any side-step from the 'norm' was considered 'madness' and often leading to some heinous 'health care'. Ian suffered which really just means he's a 'tortured hero' with a heart of gold ;)
As for the heroine - whatever her name was - well, she's probably a bit of a 'sue' but at least that's not the typical TSTL (too-stupid-to-live) annoying, dim-witted, omg just-die-already, bimbo. So yeah, I loved Ian and the book was fun to read because of him.
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